PART 7
37
I awoke spread out on a comfortable mattress with my eyes still closed.
I felt fantastic.
Since I had first been knocked out on the island, I had been moving through events numbed, in a sort of daze. But now I felt like myself again. Better than myself. Instead of being in a fog, I was hitting on all cylinders. My nanites must be getting the hang of boosting my physical well-being and mental acuity.
This was in stark contrast to how I felt emotionally. I was devastated by Tessa's betrayal. She had not only been willing to deliver me to certain death, she had tried to shoot me herself.
It was like the most horrible nightmare I had ever had, except it was real. She had used me completely, and was dedicated to a purpose I considered evil. If not for the nanites, I suspect I'd be completely debilitated, curled up into a fetal position, possibly weeping, but certainly in the depths of severe depression.
I had loved her that much.
Hell, I was pretty sure I still loved her, even though I now hated her also.
Even with the nanites trying to settle my stomach, I felt sick. But I had to put it all out of my mind for the time being, and get the lay of the land—whatever it is I'd now be facing.
I gathered my courage, opened my eyes, and looked up.
The smiling face of Nick Nicola was staring back at me. "It's about time, mate," he said good-naturedly from a chair overlooking my bed.
I surveyed my surroundings and discovered I was inside what looked to be a very high-tech hospital room. "Where am I?" I asked.
"On an underwater shelf in the Pacific. More specifically, in a room in Sentinel's small medical wing." He paused. "We think of it more as a sickbay than a hospital."
I didn't reply.
"I know it's been at least twenty-four hours since you've eaten," said the captain, "so I'll make sure food is on the way."
"Thanks," I said. "And does your sickbay have a bathroom?"
Nicola laughed. "I guess eating isn't the only thing you haven't been doing lately."
I lifted myself from the bed, proceeded to use the bathroom, and then returned, this time sitting on the edge of the mattress facing my host. "Ready to tell me your real name?"
"Sure," said the captain with a grin. "But that doesn't mean we're married or anything."
I laughed.
"Turns out my real first name is the same as yours—Jason."
"I'll be damned," I said. "Is that why you keep saving my life?" I added wryly. "Because we share a name?"
"That's exactly right, mate," he replied affably. "If you'd have been named Niles I'd have killed you myself." He held out a hand. "I'm Jason. Jason Barcelo."
"Nice to meet you, Jason Barcelo."
"Actually, like I told you back in Australia, you should still call me Nick. I haven't used my real name in years, even within my own organization. And why confuse yourself."
I nodded. "Nick it is."
"So ... Jason," he said, gesturing toward my head, which was no longer bandaged—or injured. "It appears you were holding out on me during our previous discussion."
"Would you believe that I've always healed really fast?"
"No. But I would believe that you have as many nanites in your veins as Tessa."
"Yeah, I can see how you might come to that conclusion," I said with a smile. "I would have told you about them last time we were together, but you seemed to be in a big hurry. I didn't want to burden you with too many details."
"Very thoughtful of you," replied Nick in amusement. "Bottom line, though, is that you were barely holding on to life when we were flying here. Now, just sixteen hours later, you don't have a bloody scratch on you. The nanites are more effective than I thought."
"Apparently so," I replied.
"Although I have to say I'm getting used to the wonders of alien technology. So it takes a lot to impress me." He paused. "Speaking of which." He turned away from me and spoke into his comm, ordering the base's AI to put the room into what he called transparent mode.
Three of the room's four walls vanished.
I gasped, and not just because it seemed as if nothing was holding the ocean at bay. I gasped mostly because of the view, which would impress anyone, regardless of how jaded by tech they might be.
We were on a shelf in the Pacific Ocean, indeed. I just didn't realize it would be a shelf in such relatively shallow water. Or that we would be facing an epic coral reef with a spectacular view of enough diverse and brilliantly colored marine life to dazzle a lifelong scuba enthusiast.
The color palette of the coral itself was as vivid and varied as I had ever seen, a rainbow of sometimes neon colors as beautiful as anything on Earth, without even counting the thousands upon thousands of breathtaking marine creatures, be they fish, sharks, turtles, manta rays, seahorses, jellyfish, or a glorious variety of other examples of the artistry of nature.
Beyond the vast wall of coral was an even vaster volcanic island, which had just become fully submerged beneath the waves, probably only a hundred years or so before, giving me a perfect view of a glorious atoll.
An atoll was formed when a reef grew in shallow water around an island rather than near a continent. The reef I was viewing had probably begun growing before mankind walked the Earth, eventually forming an elaborate and breathtaking structure. The island had then proceeded to slowly sink into the sea over millions of years. This left the mesmerizing sight of a sunken volcanic island playing the part of a skull, while the coral reef ringed it like an underwater crown of thorns.
I knew everything there was to know about every step of atoll formation. What's more, if I focused on a given coral or sea creature, I knew enough about each to fill an encyclopedia.
I gasped a second time as I realized a sobering little detail: I had previously known nothing about the marine world. I had never used an atoll in a novel, and just a few days earlier I couldn't have defined the word if my life had depended on it.
The nanites were once again acting as a second brain, augmenting my knowledge effortlessly. It was truly an amazing feature of an amazing technology.
I continued to ogle the most magnificent visual spectacle I had ever seen for almost a minute while the captain waited patiently.
"Unbelievable, right?" he said finally. "Like I said, it takes a lot to impress me. But this facility always does. We're now on the long, north-facing wall of a five-story rectangular structure, about a block and a half long. On the top floor, to be more precise. Other than the sickbay and fitness center, this section—the view section—is mostly comprised of individual residences.
"This entire wall faces the reef, and evenly spaced rooms of various sizes jut out from it like the air-filled bubbles in bubble-wrap, although they're cubic in shape. The point is that for each room, three of the walls show a view of the reef when they go transparent. The units are also built for privacy. Even if you're in a transparent room, you can't see into another transparent room nearby."
"Then why not just keep them transparent?" I asked. "At all times?"
"Not advisable. The view is mesmerizing, and the ever-changing marine life is endlessly fascinating. When the walls are transparent, it's difficult to focus on anything else."
I watched an octopus change position on the reef and disappear, as chromatophore cells in its skin matched the bright blue color of the coral it was near. I nodded, not taking my eyes from the reef. "Yeah, I get that," I said.
I forced myself to look away from the ocean, which appeared to be held at bay by an invisible force field rather than a window.
"Hard to imagine your organization is large enough to fill a facility this extensive," I said.
"It isn't. Not by a long shot. But if you're going to go to the trouble of building an undersea paradise, you should plan for the future. At the moment, much of this facility is unused, but we have ambitious plans to grow the organization, especially if we can achieve certain goals."
"This is all fascinating," I said, "but it's time to get down to business. I need you to tell me more about the Sentinels. Pick up where you left off in the woods. Explain how you have access to UAVs and other alien tech when you're not affiliated with the Federation. I'm ready to be much more open-minded and receptive to what you tell me than I was earlier."
"Why? What happened on the island before we arrived? How did you get on the outs with Nari?"
"You first," I said.
The captain studied me for several long seconds. "Okay, mate," he said affably. "You got it."
38
I stared at the sea life around me for several more seconds and then sighed. "Can you make the walls opaque again?" I asked, not wanting anything to distract me.
Seconds later the sickbay returned to the condition it was in originally.
Just after it did, a tall, raven-haired nurse entered the room, introducing herself as Davi Ann Hardy, and asked how I was doing. Before I could answer, a woman named Cheryl Cavanagh entered the room as well, bringing trays of sandwich wraps and chips along with an assortment of drinks, which she set on a table in the middle of the room.
Nick explained to the nurse that I had made a miraculous recovery—not wanting to take the time to explain nanites—and that I'd be checking out soon, and thanked the woman named Cheryl, ushering both out of the room and closing the door.
We relocated to the table and I tore off one end of a chicken Caesar salad wrap and chewed gratefully.
"Did Nari tell you about an alien species called the Swarm?" began Nick while I continued to devour the wrap. "One with all the charm of an army-ant colony, but not quite as cuddly."
I swallowed. "He did."
"Yeah, I thought as much. But that's a lie. There is no such species. I mean, come on, mate, really? A species that exists solely for the purpose of wiping out all life in the galaxy?"
I opened a cold bottle of apple juice and took a swig. "Why would he lie?" I asked, deciding to play devil's advocate, even though I knew he was telling the truth.
"To get you riled up against the actual species coming this way. A race we call the Benefactors."
"And you know about this species how?" I said.
"I'll get to that in a minute."
"No need," I said, shaking my head. "It's obvious from the name you gave them. You and they are allies. Which also explains how you have all this advanced tech. I thought you didn't trust any aliens. That you were all about the human race exclusively."
"We are. But this species has proven itself trustworthy—and extraordinary. They're everything the Grays and the Federation pretend to be—and so much more. Thousands of years from now we'll be welcoming them as equals, with much to thank them for. Not that we won't have had endless discourse with them holographically before we meet them in person. But I'm getting way ahead of myself."
I considered this carefully. "You said they're everything the Grays and the Federation pretend to be. Who do you mean by the Grays?" I asked, once again knowing the answer.