The Great Altruist (4 page)

           
“And why didn’t you?”

           
“For starters, you were always around people. Even when you reached the city, you went to where the people were – the one place, in fact,” she said. “I never risk being seen. But when those men attacked you, I needed to intervene.”

           
“Thank you for doing that,” Jadzia said.

           
 
Genesis hovered over to Jadzia’s side and sat on a tree-limb just above her. “You’ll find I’m able to do a lot more than that,” she said proudly.

           
 
Jadzia brushed off her cockiness and curled up tighter into a ball as the bark of the tree scratched into her back. “I wish I had some clothes.”

           
“You get used to it.”

           
“How do you not freeze to death?”

           
“That’s another thing I can do!” she said with a pretentious smile. Without waiting for Jadzia to request a demonstration, Genesis flew from her perch and landed on a pile of sticks on the edge of the clearing. Her hands glowed a deep burning red and within seconds the sticks caught fire and warmed the cool air of the clearing. Jadzia jumped up and crawled beside the fire, while still endeavoring to cover herself along the way.

           
“Thanks!” Jadzia said. She reached toward a fallen tree, snatched a dry branch, and tossed it into the flames. Before the branch ignited, Genesis’s hands turned blue and immediately the fire went out; ice crystals covered the wood. “Why did you do that?” Jadzia said. “I’m freezing!”

           
“I just wanted to show you what I can do.”

           
“Well, you don’t need to show off!”

           
Genesis frowned like a stubborn child. “Fine,” she said. A second later, the fire burst forth again and Jadzia inched closer to the flames. Genesis sat on the opposite side of the fire and scowled. Stubborn and upset at Jadzia’s lack of interest in her abilities, she folded her arms beneath her breasts and fell to the grass.

           
“I still wish I had clothes,” Jadzia said.

           
“I can get you something to wear. But they'll just disappear again the next time we travel.”

           
“Next time? Where are we going?”

           
“You don’t want to stay here the rest of your life, do you?”

           
Jadzia looked around the clearing and closed her eyes as the peace and quiet lingered. “Not forever. Why did you come to me?”

           
“I’m here to help you.”

           
“Yes, but what makes me so special?” Jadzia asked abruptly. “So many people have suffered worse than me. And so many women have endured what you just prevented.”

           
“I have my own reasons for choosing you. I’ve actually been watching you for some time.”

           
“Watching me? How have you done that?”

           
“To me, time and space are like an enormous stream of energy, like a powerful river. To enter the stream and travel, I convert myself into pure energy. I can do the same with anything living, as I did with you. But near that stream, I can see everything that happens.”

           
“Like watching a fish in a stream?”

           
“Exactly,” Genesis said. “Only the stream is constantly moving and changing because the actions of everything shift its direction. Reentering the stream means I have to predict where things will be during the split second I need to emerge.”

           
A branch snapped somewhere in the distance and Jadzia instinctively covered her bare skin. Her eyes darted across the woods, but she saw nothing. “Are you sure we’re alone?”

           
“Completely. There are no people for a hundred miles in every direction.”

“Good.” Jadzia crawled away from the fire and knelt beside the creek that ran through the clearing. She bent over and dipped her head toward the water and took a long drink. Satisfied, she scurried back toward the fire. As she lied back on the thick and soft grass, she was happy she no longer had to sleep on the stone floor of the church.

           
“I need something to eat,” Genesis said. “Are you hungry?”

           
Jadzia shook her head.

           
“I won’t be gone long.” She disappeared into the forest.

           
Almost as soon as Genesis left, Jadzia closed her eyes and fell asleep.

           
Genesis returned from fruit-gathering and lied on the grass beside Jadzia and watched the moon and stars while she ate. “You’re in the best hands now,” she said aloud for the benefit of no one. “I won’t let any harm come to you.” Genesis yawned and fell into a deep slumber.

           
The next morning, Jadzia opened her eyes and was overjoyed that her escape from Germany was not a dream. Not far away, Genesis’s hands glowed a bright but deep red as she hovered over the small pile of dead branches. The wood instantly caught fire. As she threw more leaves on the fire, she noticed Jadzia was awake.

           
“I’m sorry if I disturbed you,” Genesis said, “but I do sometimes get a little cold. Using my powers to heat myself gets tiresome. Besides, I like fire.”

           
Jadzia smiled and stood up to stretch.

           
“Are you hungry?” Genesis asked.

           
“A little.”

           
“Do you know how to clean a fish?”

           
Jadzia nodded.

           
“I’ll make you a deal: if I catch the fish, you have to kill and clean it.” She handed Jadzia a sharp piece of rock.

           
“Why won’t you kill it?”

           
“I don’t kill anything if I can help it.” Genesis hovered over the small creek and spotted a few fish just below the surface. With great elegance, Genesis focused on the largest fish and lifted it from the water with nothing but her concentration. The fish gasped for air as Jadzia reached over, grabbed the fish from its suspension in midair, and killed it with the rock. Genesis stoked the fire and moments later, the fish was roasting over the flames. While the fish cooked, Jadzia sat idly by and dipped her toes in the creek. Genesis searched the forest for mushrooms and returned with a meager supply of vegetables just as the fish was cooked. She gathered rocks in the creek and formed them in a circle, and then filled the basin with water. Using her hands as before, she heated the rocks until they glowed. Soon the water simmered.

           
“This might hurt a little,” Genesis said as she reached for Jadzia’s hands and touched them. Jadzia recoiled instinctively and watched her hands turn a light blue. “Eat.”

           
Jadzia reached into the cauldron of soup with her hands that felt frozen. The hot liquid touched her cold hands and returned them instantly to a healthy pink. As she sipped the broth, it was the perfect temperature. After each handful, Genesis reached over and touched her hands to cool them again.

“Slow down,” Genesis said as she broke the fish and tossed one half to Jadzia. “We’re in no rush.” She sat on the warm stones and reached forward with her hands to scoop out the soup. Her hands turned blue as well and returned to normal once she ate.

           
Jadzia finished her portion of the fish and wiped her mouth clean. She took a long drink from the creek and looked around at the forest. Animals moved about, but the sound of humans was noticeably absent. “Where are we exactly?” Jadzia asked.

           
“Canada. This place has the same weather as Germany.”

           
“Why not someplace warmer? I am naked after all.” To her surprise, her nakedness had become less of a concern the more she realized how secluded they were. Genesis was right: she got used to it. And after six long years of harassment for being the “prettiest girl in the camp,” she relished the freedom.

           
“I suppose I could have. But this is a place I’ve been to before and I know it’s secluded.”

           
Jadzia dipped her toes into the creek and watched as the fish cleaned her feet. “Do you
mind
if I ask you a few questions?
”
she asked.

           
“Not a bit.”

“Where are you from?”

           
“I don’t know. I woke up one morning as you see me now; the only memory I had was my name.”

           
“And there’s nothing else you remember?”

           
“When I first awoke, I had no idea where I came from. For months, I struggled with a feeling deep inside that forced me to find people like myself. I discovered other humans by accident, and once I saw how different I was from them, I tried to isolate myself from everything. But the feeling inside only grew stronger. That’s when I discovered my strengths.

           
“It was those months spent alone that showed me what I could do. And then one day, the greatest power I have emerged. I tried to lift the largest thing I could find, but it wouldn’t budge. That’s when I noticed a way to enter the stream: trying to move the boulder caused a tiny hole to appear.”

           
“A hole?”

           
“Yes, as though the air was torn in two. It was big enough to walk through and when I did, I discovered that I could move through time as easily as I could breathe.”

           
“Where did you go?”

           
“I spent, what you would consider years, travelling across the stream, learning all I could to master the power. But the feeling never went away. The more I avoided people, the more I wanted to help them. And that was before I learned of all the wars, of the millions of ways humans have invented to inflict pain on one another.”

           
Jadzia's mind drifted while Genesis spoke. She couldn’t help the flood of memories from the last six years from resurfacing, all of the torture and death she witnessed, pain so intense and suffering so acute that her stomach turned on end. She fought the images from her mind and addressed the awkward silence. “You mentioned last night that you are here to help me,” she said.

           
“I’m going to take you back in time and help you fix a mistake from your life,” Genesis said plainly as she licked her fingers clean of the soup. Her eyes widened as she watched for Jadzia’s response.