The Dreaming: Dark Star (Book 5)

Part 3 - (Adell)

Adell was sleeping a dreamless sleep when the door to his room opened, waking him up.

He was on his side, with his back to the door, but he knew who it was. He opened his eyes and stared at the white wall in front of him. He wouldn't make the first move. Instead he focused on the white wall and regulated his breathing.

He was in a holding cell. A nice holding cell with a comfortable bed and a desk and table with chairs and a thin rug covering the concrete, but a holding cell nonetheless.

He'd been in here for three days, waiting for Silas to come back. Waiting to find out if Silas had succeeded or not.

He knew Silas hadn't gotten what he'd wanted by the way the man breathed, in and out through his mouth. They were the breaths of desperation, like a young man yearning for a woman he would never hold.

A warmth spread through Adell's body. The warmth of victory. He'd spent the last thirty years planning, working the timeline, weaving it like an enormous tapestry that covered the entire universe. And it had worked.

Silas hadn't gotten Phiona. Liran and Imorah were safe.

Adell smiled at the wall, and took a deep breath, letting Silas know that he was awake.

"Look at me," Silas ordered quietly.

Adell turned around and sat up, the smile still on his face. There was nothing they could do to him now, and there was nothing he could do, but wait for Imorah and Liran to arrive.

Silas swung every so lightly backward, losing his centre of gravity, as if physically struck by the smile on Adell's face. He stammered, "I..."

"You?" Adell asked.

Silas looked down. Finally he looked back up again and asked, "How did you do it?"

Adell's face fell flat; his smile disappeared. He hadn't expected vulnerability from Silas. He suddenly felt shame for gloating. The man was defeated and it didn't please Adell the way he'd thought it would.

Adell licked his lips, wondering if he should reveal his biggest secret. Would it matter at this point?

"All of our scenarios, hundreds of them, and not one of them predicted this outcome. How did you do it?" Silas prodded.

Adell shrugged his shoulders. No, he shouldn't reveal the truth yet. Not yet. He calmed his breathing, not wanting Silas to sense his eagerness. He was almost aching to tell him what he'd done.

Then suddenly, Silas was upon him, pushing him against the wall. Adell was pinned, Silas using the weight of his body to pin him to the bed, and the full force of his anger to pin his head to the wall, crushing his neck with his arm.

The guards standing in the hallway, came in, their weapons drawn.

"Tell me what you did!" Silas screamed in Adell's face.

Adell looked away. He couldn't breathe - Silas was pressing on his throat with his forearm, digging into him. Adell choked. He sputtered, but couldn't get a word out.

"What did you do!?" Silas continued yelling.

"Sir," it was one of the guards-he was wrestling Silas off of Adell. "Sir, please stand back." The guard's face was ashen pale with shock. It was an incredible taboo in The Family for one such as Silas to ever touch anyone in a physically aggressive manner. Not only taboo, but against the Code of Ethics to harm a prisoner.

But Silas refused to move. "Tell me what you did!" he yelled at Adell, over and over.

Adell was seeing stars, about to faint, when finally both guards hauled Silas off of him. He bent over, gasping for air.

Silas hung like an empty pillowcase drying in the breeze between the two guards. "What did you do?" he asked again and again, his tone softer now, broken.

Adell rubbed his throat where Silas had been pressing. It was difficult to swallow, and he didn't even know if he could talk. "I... I..." he stammered.

"Tell me!" Silas screamed.

Behind him, more guards had come to peer inside the door as their commanding officer broke down. The two guards holding Silas were trembling, unaccustomed to such violence.

Adell couldn't speak normally, but he managed to croak, "Virus."

There was silence-only the laboured breathing of Silas, overcome by his anger, now stilled by shock. His eyes widened as he comprehended the word. Finally, after a moment, he repeated, "A virus?"

Adell nodded. He swallowed, his throat on fire. "Degenerative. SAL." He couldn't speak in complete sentences-each word was a crucible of fire.

"What did you do to her!" Silas screamed, and broke down crying. "What did you do to her?"

Adell couldn't say the words. I killed Sal. She's dying, he projected telepathically.

Silas fell to his knees, and the guards, who didn't have the skills to hear him, looked at each other in confusion as Silas began to weep.

He'd killed SAL, a Sentient over 250 years old. And not just any Sentient, but SALVATION, The Family's SALVATION. The last Sentient. The only Sentient.

She wouldn't die right away. It would be a slow process, like Alzheimer's. She'd waste away, from brilliance to incomprensible mutterings. Slowly over time, her ability to reason, her ability to create art, to speak, to calculate... it would all disintegrate into madness. Adell had spent thirty years developing the virus. He'd injected himself with the nanobots right before they'd captured him. She'd been infected when she downloaded the contents of his Internal two weeks ago.

But he couldn't say it. He looked away. He hadn't expected to feel shame, but he did.

Finally, Silas looked up, his face covered with tears. "I'm going to fix this. I'm going to stop it. I'm..."

"It's too late," Adell croaked, unable to look at Silas.

"No, it can't be!"

"It is."

"No, no, no...." Silas whined.

"Yes," Adell replied. Imorah and Liran were on their way. Imorah would be able to do what her mother and grandmother had not-Adell knew it. She was strong. She would do it. She had to. She was strong. She had Liran.

-

-

-

---

-

-

Author's Note

So we begin Parts 3 of Dark Star... Liran and Imorah have finally met. Adel has successfully set up their path, but will everything go according to his plan? Somehow I don't think so....

Thank you for your patience while I'm travelling. I had an amazing camping trip in Italy and I feel very inspired.

I'll be posting once a week on Fridays.

Thank you for reading!