The Cupel Recruits (20 page)

“Some of those that are actively destructive are Dark Janae,” Kyle explained, “They only become Dark Janae because Valswak empowers their bodyless souls. Without him, they would just be free-floating energy, with very minor abilities to influence, but nothing dramatic.”

“You’ve created all your own enemies. Maybe they wouldn’t be so destructive if you didn’t treat them so,” Juliet nearly spat the words.

“You are mistaken, my dear. We have given them every chance and tried to help them. They are what they are,” Ruth answered.

“Stone, please check on Phoebe. She should be in the holding area, ready to be assimilated. I’d prefer you stay with her, even though she’s not yet with body or conscious,” Ruth instructed. Stone departed soundlessly, with a nod to Gabriel on the way.

“I’m going to check on George, and stop in to make sure the project team is on task. You don’t need me for this,” Ruth relayed and then she, too, exited soundlessly.

“It’s time for this team to learn monitoring and guiding souls,” Saraceni began,

“Gabriel, let’s start with your connectors. Wood?” Wood flipped on the two monitors again, but this time Lela and the Africa crew, in the cavern, appeared on the monitor on the right, and two unshaven, dirty men appeared on the monitor on the left. Gabriel watched for a moment, taking in the scenes. Lela was sleeping, as most in the cavern were. It looked to be late afternoon there, perhaps just prior to sunset. The unshaven man was punching away on a waterproof computer resting on his knees as he lay behind a rock in what appeared to be an environment out West, or at least somewhere very dry. He snapped the computer case shut and spoke to his partner in a language Gabriel did not understand. It was the voice Gabriel recognized, for the man before him did not look like James at all. Though he’d met the man several times through Lela, Gabriel wouldn’t have recognized James if he passed him on the street. His hair wasn’t long, but not short either. Bleached out by the sun, it appeared nearly platinum blonde and the sun had etched lines into his face Gabriel did not remember. Add to that a pile of dirt, a 12 o’clock shadow and about a 20 pound weight loss, and the thin man with dark circles under his eyes just barely resembled the inner shell of James Matthews.

“Geez, he looks like hell,” Gabriel muttered mostly to himself. Wood, being the only other person close enough to hear him agreed.

“Yeah, the Dark Janae have been after him for a while. He’s strong, though, he won’t turn,” Wood reassured him.

“What do you mean ‘after him’?” Gabriel asked.

“You know, making life seem hopeless. Nudging the variables so all his challenges and lessons hit him at once rather than spaced out over time. They have limits to what they can create outright, but there is no end to the manipulation.” Gabriel nodded understanding, crossing his arms slowly in front of his chest as he leaned back slightly and shifted his attention to his sister. She slept completely sprawled out, shifting around frequently. Definitely not the cute little kitten-like sleeping he loved so much about Gretchen. Gabriel remembered how he loved to watch Gretchen sleep and then chuckled a bit as Brett Davies stepped over his sister’s sprawling form to gather a backpack from against the wall.

“Do we have any ability to impact that manipulation? Push them away or anything?” Gabriel asked.

“We can’t outright push them away. The only person who can directly manipulate from outside is Valswak. We can introduce countermeasures, though, and provide tools, encouragement – ancillary things mostly, but they do seem to make a big difference sometimes.”

“How come he can manipulate directly?” Gabriel said incredulously. It hardly seemed fair; the rules should at least be even.

“Because he wrote the code,” Kyle supplied. “He secretly gave himself full access and no restrictions in the very program itself. It can’t even be rewritten; he locked it.” Gabriel sighed deeply, realizing they were not in as good a position as all the surrounding technology made it seem. Wood pressed a button and the controls to the monitor slid out of the space beneath the screen. He tilted them down at a slight angle toward Gabriel.

“Okay, let’s give him some help.” Wood said. After a few taps of the keyboard, the field radio at James’ hip beckoned and he answered.

“Red Wolf 2,” James droned in rote fashion. He was barely awake, coasting on fumes.

“Red Wolf 2, return to base. You and 1 there have a 24 hour sleep pass. We need you fresh before tomorrow. Head out in 10.”

“Yes, sir,” James affirmed, marveling at his good luck as he shared the news with his partner.

“Gonna take a lot longer than 24 hours for us to be fresh again, but I’ll take it!” he replied. “Real food!” the man added as he shoved the MRE he had just withdrawn to eat back in his pack. Reflexively, they continued scanning the horizon as the ten minutes passed before they could leave. Wood showed Gabriel, who then held the controls. After a moment of silence between the men on the screen, Gabriel managed a small guidance.

“You gonna call your girl?” Red Wolf 1 asked.

“What girl?” James said. He had given up hope of that at least a month ago. He could barely survive, how was he supposed to keep someone an ocean away in consideration?

“The one in the picture that’s so worn her face looks like my Grandma,” Red Wolf 1 replied. “You better get a new picture or she’ll be like 90 by this time next month!” he teased.

“I don’t understand,” Gabriel said plainly, “We’re supposed to be helping. Certainly there is something more important we could be working on than my sister’s love life.”

James rubbed the back of his neck and barely even considered the question. He almost didn’t care at this point. Of course he cared, but not overtly. It just seemed an untenable situation to him in his present circumstances.

Saraceni explained, “First of all, he is her binary soul match, which means they will work closely here and need to prepare for that there.” He adjusted the controls so that each person on both screens reflected in a series of colors, much like heat-sensored photography, but with distinct color signatures and patterns. “And secondly, we need him to help convince her to complete her mission there.” Gabriel focused intently on the screen , noticing that Lela and James had color patterns that matched identically: bluish toward the top, magenta in the middle, yellow to the center left and green at the bottom part of the body with a thin red line right across the knees. Quite distinct from everyone else. The other people showed as their own unique rainbow mixtures of varying colors, but each very distinct from one another. A couple pairs looked very close, but none as identical a match as James and Lela. It was then they noticed one figure in the cavern in Africa was solid gold light from head to toe.

“Who’s that?” Alexander pointed at the man on the screen, worried his daughter might be in danger from one of those creatures.

“That’s a Kajika.” Kyle explained. They flipped the screen sensor back to the regular picture view. The Kajika was an African guide hired to assist the team, the one who had spoken to Lela on the bus, in fact, though Gabriel did not know that. He sat in the dirt in native clothing and no shoes eating rice.

“He is protecting,” Saraceni informed. “We assigned him to her when you came here and we made the decision to leave her there.”

“You decided to leave her-Why?” Alexander asked softly, “Why couldn’t she just come here with us?” Saraceni patted him on the back, much like he had seen Alexander do to Gabriel.

“I’m sorry, Alexander, I know it is difficult. She wasn’t ready. If we bring her here too soon, she will be unsuccessful and frustrated, and hold back the others. Besides, she is the only one we trust in position where she is to complete the assignment there. It is imperative and we needed someone of one of the highest levels within The Cupel, which she is.” Saraceni attempted to lessen the blow. Alexander looked at his daughter asleep on the screen and suddenly became overwhelmed with thoughts that she had been left all alone and now she’d have an assignment to complete on her own. Gabriel returned to the controls on James’ monitor. He pressed the final stroke and nothing happened. He looked at Wood.

“Here, you forgot the suggestion,” Wood said, making the adjustment.

“How can you tell when there’s one loaded and not?” Gabriel asked, “I thought there was one in the holding box thing over here?” He pointed to a box at the bottom right of the controller.

“No, that’s for direct suggestions. Indirect suggestions are up here.” Wood adjusted and a smaller banner box revealed at the top.

“Oh, the decagon design, I see,” Gabriel then moved the controller to see the indirect suggestion at the top banner and in a moment it was gone. Red Wolf 1 turned to James.

“I really think you should call her while we’re on sleep pass, or at least email her.” James did not respond. “You might not think you want to now, but you’ll regret it later and I don’t want to be the one dealing with you crying in your beer and sobbing hysterically in front of the women I’m trying to pick up when we’re in a bar back home.” James smiled slightly. As if he would ever publicly cry in his beer-or privately, for that matter. The two men rose and began to run at a measured pace back toward the base. Wood muted the volume on the monitor and shifted his attention to the cavern monitor.

“What-that’s it?” Gabriel queried.

“Yeah, he’s good, he’ll think about it a while and then do it,” Wood confirmed.

“How do you know?” Gabriel wasn’t convinced.

“This indicator here. See, it’s gold now. It was grey before.” Pausing upon reaching for a third monitor, Wood glanced at Saraceni who nodded. The third monitor showed James typing an email in a cramped bunk back at the base. Gabriel looked from that monitor to the muted one, where the men were running in time, and then to Wood.

“Which one is right?” Jack asked, puzzled. The entire team was huddled around the monitors, learning throughout the entire exercise.

“Both are right,” Saraceni responded.

Wood clarified. Pointing to the one where the men were running, “This one is now…” and then he turned to the one where James was back at base emailing, “and this is the future.” The team reacted in surprise.

“Why am I not surprised?” Juliet asked, “But if we can see the future, why can’t we just see the outcome of all this?” she asked earnestly, seeming for the first time like the curious young woman who had arrived on the first day.

“Well, it can only see into areas that are not grey. Plus, it’s a future picture of the thread or strand that exists right now. It can change, though,” Wood answered.

“The bike spoke thing again,” Gabriel muttered. “So if we stay on the current path, then this is what will happen, but if we change things, we can change that future, jump over to another thread, so to speak?”

“Right,” Saraceni confirmed, “it’s wet design, Gabriel. You’re all familiar with that. In fact the entire Cupel is wet design work. It was created, yes, but that is not a one-time historical event that is complete. It is presently and continuously being created.” The team nodded in assent. They grasped the concept, not unlike specific scientific projects they had each worked before, only on a grander scale-all of space and time.

“Well, can you tune in on their future?” Alexander turned the attention back to Lela and those in the cavern. Wood adjusted the controls and as soon as the picture emerged, Saraceni was quick to speak. A brutal war was going on between villages on the future screen.

“This is the main future thread related to their activities at the moment. It doesn’t mean these particular people will be in the war,” Saraceni reassured, lest Alexander think Lela would be battling it out in the Continent Civil War. Alexander looked at Lela still sleeping as one of the other people (Rachel, the intern) performed some tests on the DL mineral. It was a rare opportunity to test such a large amount and Lela had files full of incomplete test scenarios.

“So, how does their thread become that battle?” Alexander asked. The Civil war picture changed to a different village.

“That’s near my hometown,” Enam exclaimed, “very far from where we were just looking, which is closer to the sea.”

“Enam, that is a continent-wide civil war that will embroil all of Africa in 30 years of bloodshed,” Saraceni advised. Enam slumped in his chair. “
If
Lela doesn’t complete her assignment, that is.” He turned to Alexander before adding, “Now you see how important it was she stay behind and how much faith we do have in her. The assignment should also help her learn the remaining lessons to pass her test after this cycle, if she does all she should.”

“How does it start?” Enam asked, still a bit off-kilter at the idea of it.

“Events have already set in motion which, left unchecked, will produce this result,” Saraceni advised.

Kyle interjected: “It’s the Africa project-It must be stopped.”

“But that project is bringing malarial medications, and schools-fresh water!” Jane had worked on the project team as they all had and was very invested in the benefit they could bring to so many needy people.

“Yes, Jane, and the deliverables aren’t the issue. The compromises made to get those deliverables are. The funding came from multiple corporate sponsorships, many of whom are seeking land and mineral rights. The short-term benefit is clear, but in 6 years, each of these corporate sponsorships will evolve into zones involved in border wars. From there, sides are chosen, alliances are made, and 30 years of fighting will follow. The majority of the people they will heal and educate will be killed. Soldiers arriving from distant lands will be killed. Nearly everyone involved will be killed. It is the result of a thread we started to bring you all together; we can’t allow this,” Saraceni reported.

“How can
we
stop it?” Gabriel queried.

“Lela has to sabotage the project, so it never gets fully off the ground,” Saraceni responded. Gabriel shook his head at Saraceni. There was no way she would do that, he knew. He knew her better than anyone.