Son of Tesla

SON OF TESLA: Chapter 55

THE WORLD WAS BRIGHTER than it had ever been.

Jem couldn't move his body, but his mind was alive with alien sensations. The fog of being shot faded away and he watched Petar stepping away from a bank of monitors below him. He backed up beside a man Jem had never seen before. Spoke to him. His whisper seemed to shoot straight into Jem's ear.

"It has to build the resonance," Petar was saying. Jem could feel the vibrations working inside him, flowing through his body like a cool rushing stream. Every second, the room became more vibrant. The sensation was tactile; Jem felt it like a guiding hand. He felt the lights beaming on his skin. Felt the air inside the room shiver and shake in response to Petar's voice. It was as if it were all becoming a part of him.

He watched and felt the vucari thrashing into the room.

Watched and felt as General Samil stepped through the opening.

Felt the bullet breeze through him as it plunged into Petar's back. Felt his body shiver as the other man dug the knife deep into Samil's throat.

Felt the general's words like a summer rain as he said what he'd done to Jem's mom.

His body seemed to be locked into place, but Jem wouldn't have moved even if he could. It was perfect. Better than a date with Jayne Wilmer. Better than a quivering hug from his mom. A smile on her radiant face. Her spirit was with Jem. He knew that now. It had never left him. And his father was with him, too. They lived inside him, guiding him through life as surely as if their arms were wrapped around him.

He felt the sadness of knowing that his mother was dead, let it enter him and become part of him, watched it like a living thing, and accepted it with joy. Everyone was connected in this way, he realized. Intertwined and inseparable. It was absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.

But beneath the beauty he felt something else. It was dark, and it shifted away from Jem's consciousness like a cloud's shadow flitting across a midnight moon. Something was coming apart, fraying at the edges, dissolving into a black layer hidden just beneath the surface. The darkness trailed behind Petar, and in it reality boiled and fell apart like melted film. There were two realities existing in the same space.

And not only behind Petar, but everywhere, the black layer was breaking through, pushing with black hands into the fabric of space. As Jem dug into the splitting seams, the pattern lost its randomness, and Jem realized with horror that there was an intelligence behind it. Something massive and ancient.

Something that had been waiting.

And while these thoughts flowed through him, Jem watched. When Brodham lifted Petar off the floor, Jem sent strength flowing into his wounded body. He watched and felt Brodham's torn tissues and eased them into the right places again. Closed off the entry wound. Connected deeper into Brodham's being than he had ever been in anyone before. Brodham was just another part of him.

He felt Petar's heartbeat slowing as Brodham hefted him onto the platform. With a flick, he encouraged it to keep going. Just a little longer. It would all be alright.

Unmoving, he saw Petar wake up as Brodham approached him. Saw him try to speak, and knew what he wanted to say. He also knew that it had to be this way.

Brodham held Petar out to Jem, and Petar passed directly into his body. Their molecules broke their lifelong barriers and swirled into each other. The two became part of the universe, from its tiniest atoms to its largest galaxies, together, all of it one.

Then Jem felt another strange sensation, one he hadn't expected: Petar was becoming less. Parts of him were disappearing. From his feet to his hips, Petar was no longer with him. Jem looked, and couldn't find those pieces. They weren't a part of this universe.

And then he understood: Petar was transferring to Volos.

Petar continued to fade. Hips. Stomach. Chest.

Jem felt him gain consciousness, and he knew that Petar knew what was happening. Something clutched at him, and he welcomed it warmly. Petar clung to him, not with his physical body, but with his spirit. He wanted to stay. It will be alright, Petar, Jem said. It will all be alright.

No, Petar said. It's impossible.

Nothing is impossible.

I won't go back.

You must.

I'm afraid.

The grip on Jem became stronger. It forced its way into him and clung like barbed wire. Jem felt something fade, and realized it was part of himself. No. This was wrong. It wasn't supposed to go like this. Another piece of him slipped away. Just like that, it was gone.

And then it all collapsed at once. The room blinked out of view and Jem felt something sharp poking into his side.

He opened his eyes to a deep, orange sky burning over a dusty brown expanse of crumbled stone. A brilliantly large sun hung over the horizon, bigger than anything Jem had ever seen. It dwarfed him with its presence. Ahead of him, way in the distance, the barren plain slowly gave way to violet foliage that thickened into a dense forest.

Jem scrambled to his feet and spun in a slow circle. The dry, stale air caught in his lungs, choking him. To his left, under the leviathan sun, the ground turned black, scorched by the heat. He searched for Petar, but saw nothing but the endless orange stone under the endless orange sky.

He was on Volos.

And he was alone.

Thanks for reading my story! Please VOTE and let me know what you think of it so far, then check out Chapter 56!