Linka woke up, safe and warm in her room.
She wondered for a moment if it was all a dream. She never slept in her clothes. She never slept on top of the covers. She checked, and saw she was wearing her ring. She sat up and noticed that she had red dust caking her boots.
It had not been a dream. Linka suddenly found herself gasping for breath.
It was the middle of the night. She just stared at the ceiling for a long time, trying to process. Finally, she got up and went outside, striding quickly toward the forest. She followed the river upstream, until she came around a bend in the water and saw the Chemical Plant. It was poisoning her forest, her home; and with the summer, it would poison her family too; and nobody would ever find out.
She grinned savagely. This was one place that would not get away with it.
Kwame awoke in his bed, wondering if it was all a dream. It was before dawn. He looked around. He was back in his room; the clock next to his bed said that time had indeed passed...
He got up and collected his staff and his hand sickle. His ring was still there, and he hesitated.
There was nothing else for it, and he got up, went out to the edge of the grasslands.
With her mission done, and the sun back up; Linka could hardly contain herself. It was not a dream. She had been awake the whole time. Her skin was red with all the times she had pinched herself to see if she'd wake up. She had actually commanded the wind.
She could feel the breeze on her face, just like every day, but never had she been so completely aware of it. She was trying very hard not to start screaming from the pure amazement and thrill of power running through her.
"Linka, be gentle with the tomatoes will you?" Her grandmother chided her gently.
Linka forced herself to be calm. "Sorry."
"By the way, I woke up this morning and you were gone. Where did you go?"
Linka forced herself to stay casual. "I went for a walk. Along the river."
"Linka!"
The blonde turned and saw the little girl running up, full of energy as always. "Hey Ruby."
"Mom told me to come bother you."
Linka laughed, filled with amusement at this. "Really? And why is that?"
"She had company. A man in a suit came. He was wearing a tie and everything."
Linka and her grandmother both looked up. "Shoes?"
"Very shiny." Ruby reported dutifully.
Linka and her grandmother traded a look. This was news. The man was clearly not a local. And he was coming to talk to Ruby's family; which was highly unusual. Anything unusual was immediately considered to be bad.
Linka read these exact thoughts on her Grandmother's face. "Don't be a pessimist!"
"Well... I am Russian."
"So am I, and I don't automatically assume its bad news."
"Linka! Alana! Bad news!" Ruby's mother called across the field from the street.
Linka's grandmother had her trademarked look of resignation and smugness combined on as she waved everyone inside to discuss the matter.
"The man was from The Corporation. They wanted to buy our home." Sonja said.
"Buy it?" Linka asked in surprise. "Why?"
"Well, that's what I wanted to know. So I asked them."
Linka was still full of energy, barely containing herself. "And what did they say? What did they say? Tell us!"
Sonja looked at Linka. "Have you and Ruby been taking the same pills or something?"
Alana smirked. "Sonja, spit it out."
"Well, it seems there was a windstorm last night, just before dawn. A bunch of trees came down up the mountain or something, knocked loose some rocks, and changed the course of the river."
Linka said nothing.
Alana gestured at the river. "No it didn't."
Sonja smiled. "Seems it didn't divert far, but it's still been taken away from The Chemical Plant's property. The river comes up from the mountain down through our farmland now. The far section where we could never get anything to grow? It's a river now."
Alana frowned. "So they wanted to buy your land to get the River back on their property?"
Sonja nodded. "Suspicious isn't it?"
Linka had a private smirk of victory. "Well, if they were dumping, they're not doing it any more."
"What did you tell them?"
"They offered us what the land is worth, plus enough to get us anywhere that we can start again. Plus enough to replace the crops we'd be leaving... but this is where we've lived since leaving Moscow. To say nothing of what it would mean for the rest of the town once they pave the cropland over..."
Ruby had only followed half of this. "Does that mean we have to move now?"
Sonja laughed. "Oh, of course not sweetie. This is our home. They don't need our land. And we do."
And they don't need the river. Linka thought fiercely to herself.
Kwame kept going by rote. Put the staff into the ground, make a hole, plant a sapling. Again. Again.
But his mind was elsewhere, replaying the events over and over again; uncertain of what it meant, if it meant anything at all.
But he still had the ring.
Kwame held his hand out, and took a breath. He focused his attention on the ground and tried to will it. "Earth."
Even after what he had seen, a part of him wondered if it had all been a dream, if there was anything real about the ring or the others…
But as he said it, the stone in his ring shone, and the ground before him shook. Kwame planted his feet, willing himself not to run away.
The ground heaved and opened, a huge crack in the earth pulling open, stretching out from his feet toward the horizon. Ten feet, then twenty, then thirty...
No! No! Too much! Kwame thought suddenly, trying to will the open wound in the earth back together.
The ground hesitated, and started to close again.
Kwame was awed. The ground itself answered his thoughts... The dirt and the rock that had lain untouched and unbroken for eons, jumped upright and flowed to his will!
But eventually, the ground closed up, solidified, and came to a small break in the ground. Just the right size, just the right shape.
Hesitating, for this small hole was a huge thirty foot crack a moment before, Kwame slowly put a sapling down.
The earth closed in on it snugly. Not tightly, but as though it had been growing there for a long time.
Kwame threw back his head and laughed.
Wheeler woke up and groaned. "Man, what the hell did I eat last night?"
He stretched, fought to sit up. He was sprawled out in his chair in his room. He must have fallen asleep. It was not good to sleep sitting up, and his spine rebelled.
He was wearing the ring.
Wheeler stared at it for a long while, before pulling it off and tossing it in his rubbish bin. "Bad trip man."
He went to his computer, checked his email. His eyes went unwillingly toward the rubbish bin next to his desk. He forced his eyes back to the screen. Nothing interesting in his mail. He checked Facebook. Nothing new there.
His eyes were being drawn back again. His left hand was opening and closing. Something was missing… His thumb was rubbing over the mark on his finger where the Ring used to be.
Wheeler jumped up decisively and left the room. "Precious. My precious." He whispered ironically. "Yeah, right. That worked out so well for the last guy."
Linka was in the forest as the day came to its end; wondering about her new role in the universe. This power was something amazing, but... what was she to do with it? Gaia had told her to 'move the balance' back. The world was dying, and for reasons she would never understand, she had been chosen to fight back.
And she was not the only one.
She thought of the others, wondering if she should go find them. But even if they were all together; what would everyone want to do? Maybe they were supposed to work alone, spread across the world like this...
These thoughts brought her suddenly to the realization that she could smell smoke.
Linka rolled off the branch, hooked her legs over it as she dropped, spinning her down to the next branch, from there to the ground. She hit the dirt running and did not stop till she reached the river.
The smell was stronger there, and Linka followed it downstream. The river now led away from the fence line of the Chemical Plant, now onto Ruby's family farm.
Ruby's house was burning.
Linka knew. Even before she saw the tiny person face down on the ground, she knew. "RUBY!"
The tiny body moved to sit up; the little girl was sobbing. "I was taking a nap- I woke up-p, and the-#hic#, the house was burning. There was fire everywhere. Mommy came into my room, and told me to stay low to the floor. We ran to the door, and somebody had barred it. We couldn't get it open. Pappa t-told us to go for the window. They lifted me out... and the roof f-fell on them!" She broke down crying, and Linka held the little girl tightly.
Linka had little memory of what happened after that. A part of her was simply gone far away. She had little memory of her Grandmother pulling them away from the wreckage. She remembered pulling Ruby's face into her shoulder, so that she would not see her parents' bodies lifted out. She vividly remembered carrying the little girl to the Tenant Block, and tucking her in. She remembered bits and pieces of holding the little girl while she sobbed herself back to sleep.
Her next clear memory was slipping out of the bed without waking her, and going to the living room where her Grandmother was talking with Rustov.
"Ruby was right." Rustov was saying. "We checked and it looks like the door was barred. Somebody was trying to kill them."
"Are you certain?" It was her grandmother's voice.
"No. But I'm as certain as I can be. If Ruby's right and the fire started at the back of the house, there's no earthly reason why so much debris built up in front of the door before they could get to it."
"Why would someone want to murder her family?"
"Ruby said that somebody had come to see her parents this morning."
"There was a storm further up the mountain. The river shifted away from the Chemical plant. The man who came to see them was from The Corporation. He wanted them to sell the land that they had. Where the river had shifted to. They refused to sell."
"If The Corporation was dumping their chemicals into the river, then they would prefer to have that happen on their own property."
"I thought we had the chemical tests from the river?"
"I sent it on to the MVD. They said that The Corporation had their own test results that showed nothing. I tried to get them to do it themselves... But they said they had insufficient evidence. And if they had something to do with the fire; I doubt we'll prove that either. Every police force in the country is supplied by The Corporation; trained on their property, armed with their equipment..."
Linka could take no more and threw the door open. "Then they just get away with it?" She almost yelled.
Alana was on her feet instantly. "Lower your voice. Ruby's finally asleep and she doesn't have to hear this."
Linka reigned in her rage with difficulty. "What can we do?"
"I don't know." Rustov admitted. "And I tell you what else; they're going to get the land too. There were still a few payments on it to go. The bank will take back the property. And with the local branches all being owned by The Corporation..."
Linka could feel the frustration filling her. "That's it? We just let them win?"
"You have another idea?"
"We can take more evidence to the MVD and convince them to come here themselves."
"The Corporation has people everywhere. They would find out about an inspection and stop their dumping for a day or two. The river moves fast enough that there would be no trace."
"And frankly Linka, the amount of poison is not enough to hurt us once it goes through the soil and the plants."
"The river is killing wildlife!"
"But the river feeds us!" Her grandmother pointed out. "The forest will survive."
"You don't know that!"
"It always has before, and so have we. We just have to work a little harder."
Rustov turned to Alana, the matter already closed. "What do we do with Ruby?"
"We'll figure out a way to take care of her. Does she have any other family?"
"None that I know of."
Linka barely heard them. They had already dismissed the idea of seeking justice, of actually making this right, and had moved on to how to simply live with it. Linka knew her grandmother had survived worse than this; in fact she seemed to thrive on adversity, but as proud as she would be... Linka was miserable. It was her fault. She'd tried to fix the problem. And look what she had done.
Misery gave way to cold fury twisting in Linka's stomach. She realized suddenly why this power was needed. Why Gaia had given it out in this way, in this form. The power had to be wielded by a human. The problem was caused by humans. Humans in power who set all the rules; and corrupt humans who broke them as they desired and got away with it. Nobody fought it, because they knew they couldn't make a difference.
Linka could.
Emboldened, the young woman stood deliberately, and walked out, cool and collected.
"Linka!" Her grandmother called after her.
Linka ignored the call and kept walking. She did not run, did not rush. She walked purposefully toward the forest.
She barely registered the distance. She was not aware of the cold, or the darkness. She was beyond that. She imagined she could hear a drumbeat as she quick marched through the night, until she came to the hills, where the river began to gather speed for its journey past her town. She climbed until she had a clear view of the Chemical Plant's lights.
Taking a breath, she hesitated, one last time. Once she did this, there was no going back. I tried to play fair. You didn't want to play fair. I tried to make it so that there was nobody hurt. You didn't want to do that either. So now we play hard.
She thought of Ruby sobbing.
She let the fury silence her doubts, and then forced the emotions away completely. Emotion couldn't be part of this.
She made a fist and pointed it defiantly at the Chemical plant. "WIND!"
Her ring flared with cold blue light, brighter than it had ever been before.
The wind picked up and grew stronger; Linka tried something she had never tried before. The wind was hers to command now. Her power to wield.
She yelled again, and the wind curled back, tightened, and grew stronger still… And suddenly black clouds formed, in one place, directly over the Chemical plant.
Again! AGAIN! Linka urged herself, raising her fist higher, and the stone glowing brighter still.
The wind howled like a wild animal, and curled tighter and tighter at her silent orders. At first she could not make out the shape in the dark, just bits and pieces of debris spinning around in circles, the trash getting bigger and bigger till papers, then tiles, then wires and bins and eventually vehicles were picked up off the ground.
Air pressure was too much and windows exploded, the air below her vantage point filled with shards of flying glass. Linka could hear people shrieking against the whistling shrill of the wind.
The roar grew louder and louder, till one of the cars flew into one of the heavier trucks, knocking it off its wheels and letting the tempest pick it up. Too heavy to be carried even by the wind for long, the truck flew into a building.
The slam was enough to break the wall and the building was torn apart, the Tornado now clearly defined against the exploding lights and collapsing light towers.
People were running, people were screaming, buildings were coming apart. The huge chemical tanks were uprooted and left rolling…
And far up above, looking down at the plant from the edge of her forest… Linka watched what she had made. It was… magnificent.
Ma-Ti woke up late in the day and smiled, simply enjoying everything. Unlike the others, he had no questions as to whether or not it was real. He knew. The second he woke up and sensed the animals around his village he knew.
Ma-Ti woke up and lay still, already making plans. He could hear his mother humming to herself in the yard, his father mending something in the next room. Ma-Ti was reluctant to move. He could feel the Web brushing over him like the breath of Gaia and he didn't want to leave his bed and let his attention wander from it.
But eventually, he stood, and headed out. "Mother? Father?" He called calmly. "Can I talk to you?"
His parents came in. "Well, good afternoon." His mother teased. "How late were you out with Sergio last night? I didn't even hear you come in."
Ma-Ti smiled at them. "Something wonderful has happened to me. I have to leave home now. I will miss you; but I know that this is absolutely the right thing to do. I have finally found a direction that makes sense to me. I just wanted to tell you that I love you both and that you shouldn't worry about me."
His parents traded a stunned look... and burst out laughing.
Ma-Ti was taken aback sharply. "What?"
"Ma-Ti, you're not even sixteen yet. Where exactly do you plan to go?" His mother laughed.
Ma-Ti blinked. "I have to meet up with some friends of mine."
"And who are these friends?" His mother asked.
"You do not know them." Ma-Ti covered. "They... don't live around here."
His father was no longer smiling. "And... What exactly will you be doing?"
Ma-Ti didn't have specifics yet, so he put the best face on it he could. "We'll be trying to make a difference in the world. We might even be able to do it."
"Well, that certainly sounds important." His mother teased gently.
His father was not so amused. "Ma-Ti... Are you serious about this?"
"More serious than I have ever been in my life." Ma-Ti promised.
His father seemed very concerned. "Ma-Ti... You know we both love you. We need you to be honest with us. Are you in some kind of trouble? Have you joined a gang or something?"
Ma-Ti was stunned. "What? How on earth could you think that?"
"You wake up one morning and announce you're leaving home; meeting up with some friends we don't know to do something important and that we shouldn't worry. You wonder why we're reacting badly?"
Ma-Ti had to force himself to ignore what the ring showed him of his surroundings and focused on what he could see and hear with his own senses. His parents were not behaving at all like he wanted them to.
"Ma-Ti... You're fifteen. What's more, you're our son. You are our responsibility. Now let's stop this foolish talk, have some breakfast, and talk about what's going on here. If you're in some kind of trouble, we'll help you. But you have to be honest with us okay? You can't just run away from home."
Ma-Ti thought it over, and decided there was an easier way. He raised his ring. It glowed sharply, and his parents both went silent.
Ma-Ti started the conversation over again. "I have to leave home now. I will miss you; but I know that this is absolutely the right thing to do."
His parent's both smiled broadly as the yellow glow faded. "Oh, Ma-Ti of course we understand!" His mother gushed, and gave him a tight hug.
As she did, his father clapped a hand on his shoulder. "We're very proud of you son. We know you'll do what's right. Do you need anything for the trip?"
Ma-Ti smiled. "No. I imagine I'll find what I need."
The boy grabbed a piece of fruit off the table and ate it as he left his childhood home for the last time.
As he stalked off into the jungle, he could feel the animals around him; feel the plants and the trees. He smiled into the Webs as he walked. The energy moved from plant to animal to predator to plant, and he felt... nourished by it. The Ring led him to the watering holes and he had water. It led him to fruit trees and he had food, but found he didn't want it. He did not pause or halt for rest. He was plugged into the Life-Force of the Amazon Rain-forest. What was food and water to that?
And then he felt something new. Something harder. Ma-Ti knew instinctively that these had come into His Jungle to do something bad. He knew he had to stop them.
A very small distant part of him wondered when exactly the Amazon had become 'His Jungle', but he did not hesitate. He could spare time from his journey north to take a small detour.
Gi awoke and the first thing she checked was the clock. It seemed like the right amount of time had passed… So it couldn't have been a dream. The houseboat was empty, so her parents had either not noticed she had left, or had assumed she was off surfing by now. She thought about searching for the others as well, but her brain would not settle. She was jumping from project, to theory, to dream, to disbelief, to new idea, to mythology...
She needed to clear her head, and grabbed her surfboard.
Linka was worried. She had gained this power, and the first thing she did with it was cause a tornado to take out a factory.
She needed help. Needed a guide.
And she only knew a few people who could understand what was going on.
She came in to her room with a plate. Ruby was awake, looking out the window. From the look of her, she had not slept well.
Linka put the plate down. "Want some breakfast?"
Ruby shook her head. Her eyes were red. "What's happening out there?"
Linka took a breath. "There was a storm. A big one. It... It destroyed the factory near the river."
Ruby rubbed her eyes. "Bad day all over the place."
Linka reached out and rubbed Ruby's shoulder. "Ruby, I need your help."
Ruby looked up. "Okay."
"There's something coming up. I have to leave. But I don't-"
"WHAT?" Ruby was up off the bed instantly. "NO! Please! Linka, don't go!" She ran forward and hugged Linka tightly. "Please don't leave. I know I was happy for you, but I take it back! I take it back! I don't want you to go away!"
Linka struggled not to change her mind and promise to stay after all. She hugged the weeping girl back tightly until her sobbing settled. "I have to sweetie. But I don't want to leave my grandmother here alone. I need someone to take care of her. Someone young and strong and brave who can help her with the fields, help her around here, give her someone to love and someone who needs her. Can you do that for me?"
Ruby sniffed. "I... I don't know."
"You can have my room." Linka offered helplessly.
Ruby started crying. "I miss my mommy."
"I know." Linka hugged her tightly.
"Don't go away." Ruby sobbed.
Linka forced herself away from the emotions choking her up. Forced herself to stay frosty. Emotion couldn't be part of this. "I have to."
Linka went back into her living room. Her grandmother was at the stove. "She's not hungry."
"Grief. It happens. Leave the food." Her grandmother said.
"Grandmother, I was thinking about what you said, about how I have to think about my future."
"You're going to Moscow University then?"
"No. No... I think that I have something... else. I don't quite know the shape of it. But I know that... It's something I never expected before. And maybe..." She sighed. "Maybe I can make a difference. Do something that nobody else can." Linka shook her head. "It feels wrong, to do this now. But if I do go, then maybe..."
"That makes no sense."
"I know." Linka laughed. "But it's a big deal, and I have to see it through. But I hate to leave you alone. And I really hate to do it now. It feels wrong to leave at all, let alone now!"
Her grandmother smirked. "I'll take care of Ruby, my dearest."
"And maybe she'll take care of you too?"
"Maybe."
Linka took her grandmother in a warm hug. "We may not speak again for a time."
They both knew that Alana was not a young woman. This could easily be goodbye forever. "Then we had best say what we want to say now."
"I love you grandmother."
"I love you Linka. And I am very proud of you too."
Linka again forced herself away from the emotions choking her up. Forced herself to stay calm. Fighting tears, Linka collected her bag and headed out.
There were more vehicles outside the Tenant Block than Linka had ever seen. Some ambulances, some emergency crews, a TV crew doing a news report, and plenty of Trucks from The Corporation collecting supplies and personnel.
She pulled up her bike and started pedaling. The exercise helped clear her head and cool her emotions till she got to the highway. She knew she couldn't make it all the way to Moscow on a bike, no matter how much she liked riding...
Coming along behind her were some of the trucks. She slowed her bike and stuck out her thumb.
One of the transport trucks slowed and she smiled prettily at the Driver. "Heading for Moscow?"
"Yeah." The Driver called back. "I'm glad for it. There's nothing to do in that wreck of a town I just came from anyway."
Linka gave a tight thin smile at the man who so easily insulted her home. "Sure. Anyway, can I hitch a ride?"
Wheeler came off the construction site and went to the lot, and froze. The lot had been... cleaned. The dirt had been swept up; some of the wrecked debris had been moved aside; the overturned stacks of equipment and supplies had been restocked...
Uncertain, Wheeler quietly crept through the lot and found his brother hunched over one of the broken seedling trays. "JJ?"
His brother jumped up, looking guilty. "I... I was just..."
Wheeler glared. "What are you doing here? You ditch school again?"
"Sport day. Let out early." JJ looked down, still quiet.
Wheeler reached around his little brother, quick as a rattlesnake and caught whatever was in his hands. "What's this-" He was caught off guard at the seed packet. "Violets?"
JJ looked down. "They were mom's favorite."
Silence.
Wheeler reached out and caught his brother in a tight hug. JJ didn't hug back, but he still looked a little less guilty. "Dad told me that the patch got ripped up, and I figured you couldn't do it all alone..."
"I didn't think you cared about this sort of thing." Wheeler said.
"Well... I do."
Silence.
"It's mom's patch." JJ argued quietly. "And Parrot says it's good for you."
"It is." Wheeler agreed.
"So... I just wanted to help out."
Wheeler smiled. "Okay. Let's start over here. I splurged. Got some seedlings. They've already been growing for a week or three. Saves some time."
"What about the paint thinner?"
"They poured the thinner over the soil we planted stuff in."
"We?" JJ asked.
"We." Wheeler confirmed. His brother was a full partner in this.
"We." JJ seemed happy with that.
"So we've gotta find new places to plant. Grab a shovel."
JJ did so, and Wheeler knelt down next to the broken wheelbarrow, getting the wheel fixed without too much trouble. They rolled the wheelbarrow out and started collecting dirt from outside.
"Those flowers on the vines..."
"Creepers." Wheeler told him the term. "Ones that climb are called creepers."
"Well, how long you been growing them?"
"Since I got back from Yale."
JJ sighed. "Sorry they got wrecked."
Wheeler shrugged. "You remember all those monster movies you loved as a kid?"
"Yeah."
"There's always a moment when Godzilla or whoever knocks over a skyscraper. I build skyscrapers for a living. Takes hundreds of workers, years of planning and millions of dollars to get them built." Wheeler explained. "Every disaster movie, takes two seconds to tear them down. You know why the Lot being trashed is not making me crazy?"
"Why?"
"Because plants are not concrete. These things will grow back, with or without us. We just help it along."
"We do?"
"We do." Wheeler confirmed.
"We do." JJ repeated, feeling okay with it. "Hey Bro? Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What the hell happened at Yale? Dad wouldn't talk about it."
Wheeler sighed. "My roommate had a room with a closet space. A big one. Yale's made of old buildings, so there are some spaces in the walls after renovations. He found an empty space behind a wall and opened up a big area, about the size of another room. He made a space, filled it with marijuana plants, sunlamps, hydroponics, all that stuff, and then he shifted his bookcase in front of the entrance. Don't know how he kept it ventilated, but he did. He made a pile of cash selling it. I knew about it. I didn't care. Then mom died, so I left an anonymous tip, got him busted. But because I didn't give my name, they believed him when he told them it was my stash, not his. When they found out there was a history of drug abuse in my family, they were convinced. They couldn't prove it, and it was my word against his, so they played it safe and bounced me. I went back to my room and collected all the hydroponics gear. Thousands of bucks worth of stuff. He couldn't go and claim that it was his, so I got it all. Where do you think the container garden back home came from?"
JJ laughed at that. "There ain't no justice."
Kwame did not go to work. He went instead, to the Mission. His sister was unconscious; so he sat down next to her and waited, fingering his ring.
After a few hours she woke up. "...kwa...?"
"Hey sis."
His sister rolled over on her side, facing away from him. "G'way."
"What?"
"D'nt...wnt..." She was asleep again.
Kwame had tears in his eyes. He didn't know what to do. A hand came down gently on his shoulder. Kwame looked up and saw Dr Woolley, the American physician. "Kwame, can I talk to you?"
Kwame looked back helplessly at his sister, and finally forced himself to stand up and walk away from her enough to talk to the Doctor.
Woolley sat him down and gave him an earnest look. "Kwame, there's nobody I know, who has a stronger love for people that you. You would not believe how many people dump their sick family in here, and never return. And they love their families, and nobody could accuse them otherwise, but they can't bear to watch, when they know what the end will be. Kwame, you're so much stronger than that. And that kind of... moral strength; brings with it an unshakable love for others that most Doctors would envy. And that's why your sister loves you so very much. You know how much she loves you, right?"
Kwame looked up at him. "You're going to hurt me now, aren't you?"
"Don't come back."
"What?"
"There's nothing you can do for her, and she doesn't want you to see her like this." Woolley said. "I've lost a lot of patients to AIDS Kwame, and most of them, their dignity is the last thing to go. She's in a bad way. She doesn't want the only person left in the world that she loves to watch this happen."
Kwame was crying. He could not remember the last time he cried like this. It wasn't grief. He had a long time to get used to the idea that his sister was terminal. He was crying because...
"Everything's changing." Kwame whispered. "The whole world is coming apart and nobody cares. The people in my life are falling apart and there's nothing I can do. There's only one thing I can do, and I don't know how to do it!" He sighed. "Or if it's even worth trying."
Woolley leaned back in his chair and lit up a cigarette. "I was a doctor in LA. A plastic surgeon. I made more money there in a week than you do in a year. I threw away more food than you eat all month. I lived in a mansion with a swimming pool I didn't use and fast cars I never bothered to drive. It was... empty. The house was empty, the stuff I spent money on, I never used... So I came here. My first day, there was a measles outbreak. I immunized dozens of children, and they're okay. And that night, I met my first four AIDS victims, and I've lost them all. Kwame, you don't do the right thing because you think it'll make a difference. At least, I don't. I can't save the world."
Maybe I can. Kwame thought suddenly.
"You invest too much of yourself in anything, you'll feel it way too hard when you lose one." Woolley said. "Lifeguards, they say that the most important person to save is the lifeguard. In my case, the most important person to keep healthy is the Doctor. If I can keep myself from burning out, I can still save more people later."
Kwame nodded. "Numbers."
"Cold, heartless numbers." The Doctor agreed. "But in your case... Kwame, you could be sitting in an air conditioned office, eating well, living easy. But instead, you sunk most of your money into trying to save someone you knew couldn't be helped, you took a damn dangerous job, just to earn the respect of your co-workers; you get up before dawn to plant trees, and you volunteer half the night at a free clinic." Woolley squeezed Kwame's shoulder. "Give yourself a pass on this one. Don't let this one eat at you."
"She's my sister!"
"And there's nothing you can do for her here."
Kwame sighed. "There's... something I can do. It would take me away from here, but it might make a difference. And it's something I really want to do."
Woolley smiled, the relief on behalf of the young man clear in his face. "Then god be with you young man. Good luck, and I hope it works out."
Kwame stood up, shook his hand firmly, and made his way back through the ward. He paused to hold his sister's hand, and plant a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Goodbye."
Maybe he imagined it, but it felt like she squeezed his fingers back a little.
The two brothers stopped for pizza and ate it on their way home. The work between the two of them had been exhausting, but it had relaxed the tension between them. Though they were brothers, there was little they had in common.
Wheeler unlocked the door to the apartment building. "Don't tell Parrot we ate fast food pizza."
JJ grinned. "Scouts honor."
Wheeler hung up his jacket, and JJ collapsed in front of the TV. He flicked through a few channels; the news had footage of a tornado, which interested JJ enough to keep it on the screen for a while.
Wheeler saw the TV and swallowed convulsively. "T..." He tried again. "Turn that up Bro."
JJ did so.
"...Reports are conflicting as to the nature of the storm," the News Anchor was saying. "... but the earliest reports are that there was no storm front, and no high winds until the tornado formed, apparently spontaneously, over the facility and destroyed it completely. The tornado only lasted for a few moments, and completely destroyed the structure. Amazingly, nobody was killed, though several people within have been injured. More on this story, as it develops."
During the monologue, Wheeler had watched with growing amazement, at the image of a destroyed factory in a cold and windy place. Various emergency vehicles had been parked here and there, as well as a number of people helping the cleanup.
And in the background, was a familiar willowy blonde, turning away from the camera.
"Linka!" Wheeler gaped.
JJ blinked. "What?"
Wheeler spun away from the television and ran to his room, upturning his garbage bin instantly and sifting through it manically. Until he found the ring.
Suddenly very interested, he took a close look at it, and then slipped it back on his finger. He suddenly felt... very grown up.
JJ was watching from his bedroom door, peeking around the corner. "Wheeler... Are you okay?"
Wheeler hadn't taken his eyes of the yellow-red jewel. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
JJ was watching him carefully.
Wheeler gave him a comforting smile. "Go do your homework."
The questions in his little brother evaporated instantly. "Yes dad." He droned grudgingly and stalked off.
Wheeler went to his computer. He searched for Russian phone-books.
There were thousands of 'Linka's' in them. He did not know her last name, or if she had a phone at all. He tried Kwame, and found Deka Mining. There were contact details, but the time difference meant that the place would be closed now...
He tried Ma-Ti, and got nowhere; having the same problems as Linka. He had no idea what to search for.
He searched for Gi, going through Tokyo Institute of Technology records. With that, he found something at last.
Gi had been part of an engineering competition to create a solar car. She had her picture taken and her name recorded on the Tokyo Tech website. That led him to her Facebook Page. As well as her email address.
Wheeler clicked over and opened up his email account quickly.
Gi.
It's Wheeler. Are we dreaming?
He marked it urgent, and sent it.
He waited twelve seconds to see it he got an answer; before returning to look at his ring. He thought for a few seconds, and quickly jumped up; grabbing his jacket.
Kwame hefted his bag. He had only his water bottle, some cash that he had saved, the hand sickle, and one change of clothes.
He looked around his little home. He had made a decent living compared to most of his neighbours, but had given a lot of it to the clinic that took care of his sister. He worked so much, there was little point to spending a lot of time and effort on a home he used for sleep and little else.
Still, it was the house he had come to when still little more than a boy, fleeing a genocidal war. It was the house his sister had been born in. It was the house he had lived in, when he had told his family that he was going to business school. It was the house he had been in the day he learned that the rest of his family was sick, and the house his parents had died in. Once he took over the company, he planned to have it done up properly, perhaps raise a family of his own in it... The story of his life was written in these walls... And now it stood empty. He was alone in it. He was the last one left.
And when he left, he didn't even bother to lock the door behind him. He wasn't coming back.
"Hey! Avery!"
The young DemonZ looked up, and saw Wheeler closing in on him, big smile on his face. He was alone, the rest of his gang long gone, and he panicked. "No! Oh no, help me somebody!"
Wheeler closed in quickly as the kid turned to run and lunged, catching Avery around the collar. "Relax! RELAX! I'm not going to hurt you!"
"Really? Why not? I mean good!" Avery babbled.
"I just wanted to apologize. The fight got way out of hand huh?"
"Y-Yeah. I guess it did."
"So, I was thinking, maybe I could buy you a drink."
"I... I'm only eighteen."
"Well, I'm not." Wheeler said cheerfully. "And I'm buying."
An hour later, Wheeler and his new friend were halfway through their second six-pack; cackling like old chums.
Wheeler was not nearly as buzzed as he was acting; and being underage, Avery was inexperienced with alcohol and a bit of a lightweight. The gang member was completely smashed, having lost count of how much beer Wheeler was pouring down his throat.
Avery giggled. "And then I said, 'Oh yeah? Says you!'"
Wheeler cackled. "That is so FUNNY!"
"I know!" Avery laughed. Then he put a hand to his head. "Ooh. I think I might be a little... What's the word?"
"Drunk?"
"That's a funny word!" Avery giggled. "But yeah, I am. A lot."
"Well, tell me where to take you."
"Home."
"Oh, no I couldn't do that to you."
"Why not?" Avery slurred slightly.
"Well, do you really want your parents to see you coming home drunk?"
"Aww. Right. You're a pal Wheely."
Wheeler would have felt sorry for the naive kid. But he didn't. "Okay, how about a friends place then? You're a DemonZ. They must have a place to go. A place where they keep all their secret stuff. You can sleep it off there and nobody would ever find you."
"Oh yeah, there's a building on 8th street. Nobody cares about it; it's been empty for a long time. We take lots of stuff there."
Wheeler grinned like a shark. "Well then, finish your beer, and I'll take you there."
Avery clapped him on the shoulder, tossed back the last of the can... and passed out.
Wheeler stood, and hailed a cab; hauling him up.
The waves had been impossibly flat that day. There was nobody out on the water. Gi paddled out anyway. Even if she didn't surf, she was out on the water.
Her Bottleneck Dolphin was there, half out of the water, dancing ahead of her, chattering happily.
Gi smiled and waved.
The dolphin did a back flip and vanished under the water.
Gi sat on her board and looked at her ring. Wondering. Thinking.
"Ahh, why not?" She asked herself finally, and raised her ring. "Water!"
Her ring glimmered and instantly, her board dropped about five feet. Through sheer luck, she held onto her board and stayed upright, looking around in shock.
The water had pulled away from her, the ocean taking a deep breath.
Gi felt a cold spike of fear go through her. Everyone in Japan knew what a tsunami could do. Had she just caused one?
"NO!" She yelled; waving her arms at the wave as it rolled out from her.
The wave responded, pulling in tightly on itself. The roll was perfect, flawless. A shape in the water that ever surfer knew; deep in their bones.
Gi gasped and started paddling. The wave seemed to open to her, shape itself for her.
The tube lasted, rolled, extended out far further than any wave really should. It was flawless, it was perfect, it was unnatural in its excellence. From still water came a surfers dream, and Gi just kept going. She could have gone completely around the island if she'd wanted to.
Surfing meant touching the power of the Ocean, something vast and powerful and infinite and uncontrollable.
Except that she was controlling it.
Gi put a hand up and skimmed the inside of the tube as she surfed the pipe... inside the wave, beneath the vertical surface, was her dolphin, swimming hard through the water, keeping pace with her at eye level.
It was impossible. It was all too real. It was the ultimate wave.
And eventually, Gi let it drop away, unable to keep going for too much longer.
Gi nearly fell over. Elated, exhausted... It was a religious experience.
She actually fell off the board, and floated on her back. Breathing slowly, unconcerned... She told the water to take her back to the shore. Her ring glowed, and she started drifting back toward the sand.
The water brought her up to shore; let her rest there, the waves flat and nothing again.
Gi rolled to her knees, and fought to stand. She walked slowly over to her pack; which was beeping. Her cell phone was collecting her emails for her. She opened the instant message and checked it.
Gi
Its Wheeler. Are we dreaming?
Gi nearly dropped the phone and grabbed her bag, sprinting off the beach.
She didn't bother to head home. She went straight to an Information Kiosk instead. It was much closer.
AN: So. First blood went to Linka. She seemed the type. I didn't quite know how to get all these honestly good people to abandon their homes for some great crusade. I hope it felt right. Also, it may appear that we're focusing too much on some characters. The reason for that is the there's a marked timezone difference for all of them. They were all taken at night, so I'm trying to blur how long they've been gone and when their day starts. Don't waste a lot of time trying to figure it out, and just enjoy.
The next chapter will take a bit longer. The Word file got corrupted. Which was annoying. Still, that was two weeks well wasted.