Chapter 4


Elise excused herself when Pierre, Leon and Stephen began to discuss a rescue plan. She headed to her and her husband’s private dwelling in the eastern section of District Three. She arrived at a large circular area, where doors to various private dwellings were arranged around the circumference at three levels. She bounded up the uneven steps to the top level and opened the metal door to the right of the stairs.

She closed the door and lay down on her thin mattress, filled with dried moss and soft materials the humans had abandoned on the surface, and felt the coolness of the stone floor seep through and chill her skin. But the cold did not comfort her the way it had done on so many previous occasions. The room, an appropriately sized space for two, suddenly seemed to close in on her. The smooth omicron walls and rounded ceiling shuddered around her, as if they too weren’t happy with the way things were. Quiet and still, she closed her eyes and thought about Stephen’s return. She was certainly glad to see him and upset that Anton had not made it home, but news of the Indigene’s true beginning in life both frightened and confused her.

She turned onto her side and faced the wall, sinking into the soft mattress and tucking her arms beneath her. She recalled the woman—Isla—and the warnings she had carried with her. But she hadn’t been privy to details of any experiments, yet Stephen had been able to find out so much more with little effort. Why had it been so easy for him? She wasn’t sure which frightened her more; that the news was real, or a planted story that Pierre was so willing to believe. Should Isla ever have been trusted?

Elise sighed deeply, becoming more listless the longer she lay there. As she saw it, the Indigenes had two choices: either they did nothing and put in jeopardy the very existence of the Indigene race, or they fought back, thus revealing their location and their enhanced abilities.

She shifted onto her back, feeling her stomach rumble low and long. She realised she hadn’t eaten anything for days; she’d been far too worried about Stephen and Anton. She crossed one leg over the other at the ankles and rested her hands lightly on her stomach to stop the noise. The space was not entirely soundproofed and she heard someone approach and stop outside her door. She sensed it was Pierre, but she could not pick up what he was thinking. She turned her head and listened. His feet blocked the low light that normally seeped under the gap at the door’s base. She could hear his hand on the door handle. He hesitated. A few moments later, the low light returned. Under different circumstances, she would have opened the door for him, but she was in no mood for his company and grateful he felt the same.

Overwhelmed with mixed feelings about the news of their origin, Elise curled onto her side and pulled her knees up as far as they would go. She thought about Anton and how his capture tied into the information Stephen had relayed. Her head told her it was nonsense, a bunch of lies aimed at breaking apart their race’s solidarity. Her heart told her it was true and her fingers stroked her cool arm as she idly wondered how it would feel if it was warm like the humans’ arms. She shook her head and snatched her fingers away in disgust. She wasn’t human. She was an Indigene. Their race was unique.

But something nagged at her.

The Indigenes’ capabilities set them so far apart from the humans there was no way the news could be true. New, better skills were beginning to emerge in their most recent generation: Stephen’s unmatched speed; Anton’s ability to see inside the humans’ inventions. Was it true that they descended from the human bloodline? How much did the humans already know about their younger generation?

Her thoughts drifted to a more immediate concern: the knowledge the humans could gain from Anton; his abilities, their history and location. She hated to admit that Pierre and Leon were right. No matter what the truth was, Anton must not be tricked into revealing too much about what he could do. She wished that Pierre had sought help from the other districts, instead of going it alone. Her stubborn husband. Just because she and Pierre presided as the most senior elders over all the districts did not give them the right to keep others in the dark.

Elise sat up in her bed—it wasn’t giving her the usual comfort—and leaned her back against the wall. A different, soothing vibration passed from the wall to her back. She closed her eyes, her stress instantly halved by the sensation. Sometimes the district knew exactly what she needed.

 

 

An hour later, Elise awoke with a start, realising she’d fallen asleep in her upright position. She was feeling anxious again and instinctively began to wring her hands, a sign of her increasing inner turmoil. Controlling her anxiety levels was becoming an issue for her. She blamed the changes occurring within her, the increase in her perceptive capabilities that went beyond that of an empath. She had tried to speak to her husband about it, but his cool reaction only made the hand wringing worse. Instead of offering her support and compassion, he was rational, logical, and so she kept her concerns to herself where they remained bottled up. Pierre was a practical soul, too quick to blame the changes she was experiencing on her natural affinity with the rest of the Indigenes.

Your overwhelming compassion for others is clouding your judgement,’ he had said. ‘You’re sacrificing your own well-being for their comfort.’

This is different,’ Elise had argued. ‘I feel as though I’m gaining a deeper understanding of how my gift works.’

But Pierre dismissed what she said and paid no further attention. What Elise had omitted was that she seemed to have acquired a new skill: the ability to predict emotions. Whenever she relaxed her mind, she could sense brand new neural pathways developing in her brain where they hadn’t existed before. That had nothing to do with compassion, she told herself.

Sensing an Indigene’s mood was what empaths did; seeing and predicting an emotion was new to her, something she hadn’t thought possible. If she concentrated hard enough, she could see the trigger that elicited the emotional response in another Indigene, like a flash of light. This was definitely a new aspect of her basic empathic abilities and it was transforming her into someone she didn’t recognise. But how could she prove it? Only hard evidence would convince Pierre that her abilities had changed, that she was now able to predict emotions. Would he laugh and tell her it was easy to plant suggestive thoughts in others’ minds? Her concern returned as Anton’s face popped into her mind. If her skills were evolving, how were his abilities manifesting in captivity?

Her mind wandered to thoughts about her appearance, her smooth, translucent skin, her lack of hair. Physically, the Indigenes differed from each other in height and body type. Elise was shorter than Pierre but lean and strong, in contrast to his more muscular appearance. According to their historical records, which dated back ten thousand years, the Indigenes could live to one hundred and ninety years of age. Their cell structure had the ability to regenerate and kept them strong for as long as they lived. Their DNA contained a self-destruct code that would switch off the cell’s ability to regenerate. Organ failure would come first and without warning. When they were ready to move beyond the physical plain, the code would terminate the cells like an aggressive cancer. The body was just a vessel. They were all connected. Their souls would live on in others of their species. That was what they believed; it was part of their culture. It was what Elise believed—until she heard Stephen’s report from Earth.

Was it possible that the Indigenes had begun in a different way to what they’d been led to believe? Had humans designed a self-destruct code and embedded it in their DNA when they were created? She had not witnessed an Indigene death; she only assumed she had. When she thought about it more she realised she’d only read about it in their history books. Elise cradled her head in her hands. Desperate for a change of scenery, she left her private dwelling.

As she walked the long, rounded tunnels that connected the larger areas to each other, she ran her hand along the smooth rock face, feeling the slight inconsistencies with her fingertips. The strip of low lighting that clung to the base of the tunnel walls guided each step she took. The floor was uneven—tilted at an angle and rough underfoot—so that unwelcome visitors would have trouble maintaining their equilibrium. But for her and the other Indigenes, the floor posed no difficulty as her feet glided lightly over the surface. She often walked the tunnels until her feet ached and her back hurt. Afterwards, she would sit quietly in her private dwelling and disperse the pain to other parts of her body. Pierre approved of her walks; she was approachable and easy to talk to, and presented a friendly Council face to the others. He encouraged her active participation, but she kept her true motives hidden for maintaining contact with others. Connecting with a mix of ordinary and undeveloped Indigene minds provided her with a better understanding of the psychological changes that were occurring within her.

Elise was not alone in the tunnel and she tuned into the conversations occurring around her. Some Indigenes mumbled, while others spoke telepathically to each other. There was a different sound associated with silent conversations, a medium-pitched tone that had a calming effect on her. She focused on the tone and tuned into some of the words, quickly switching off as soon as she heard something private.

Exploring how deep her own ability ran consumed much of her time. Personal experiments aside, she enjoyed one-to-one interactions; that was when she felt most comfortable. She had set up educational workshops to teach the young Evolvers about Indigene history and how the Central Council came into existence. Many families welcomed her but not all were enamoured by her presence. Creating a telepathic link with their Evolvers wasn’t always permitted and some had already taken steps to block her. But the intrusion was necessary if she was to unravel the mysteries of how far her own and the next generation’s abilities ran.

Elise arrived at the northern district, in an area similar to the private dwellings except that instead of doors to rooms, large alcoves were carved out of the wall, each representing different teaching areas. Symbols marked the back wall of each alcove to indicate what was being taught: hunting practices; different types of rocks (insignia, gamma, omicron and omega); skills training—telepathy, empathy or simply learning how to heighten the senses. Underneath the symbols, the Evolvers had used pigmentation, a mixture of powdered rock and water, to draw on the wall. There were very few drawings because so few of the Evolvers had survived the initial blast and been able to adapt to living so far underground. A push to replace lost young had consumed the adults since the explosions happened.

Elise passed by one of the alcoves, stopping when she recognised the female, Arianna, who was teaching a group of young Evolvers about life above ground and safe hunting practices. Elise had pushed for this class after one of their young Evolvers had been captured and murdered. Elise had known Arianna’s mother, who had died during a futile attempt by some independents to resurface. Even though other females cared for Arianna after her mother’s death, Elise had watched her from afar, feeling a connection to her that she couldn’t explain. She could tell Arianna was an empath like her, and she wondered if she too had been able to develop stronger empathic skills. When Arianna noticed Elise standing outside, she left her class and went to her.

Hello, Elise. Lovely to see you here. Care to join us?’ said Arianna.

Not today,’ Elise said, eager to move on. ‘I have other things I must tend to.’

Arianna’s expression turned bleak. She whispered: ‘Well, in that case I have something I wish to discuss with you before you go.’

What is it?’ Elise’s eyes widened and she placed a gentle hand on Arianna’s arm. A strange sensation—extreme light-headedness—washed over her.

Where’s Anton?’ Arianna asked her.

The directness of her question caught Elise off guard. ‘What?’

I can feel something is wrong. I saw Stephen racing through the tunnels earlier and he wouldn’t speak to me.’

I … I … ’—Elise had to work hard to regain her composure—‘I assure you, there’s nothing you or anyone else needs to worry about.’

I know you’re aware I’m an empath. With great respect, elder, I can sense you aren’t being truthful with me.’

Elise appreciated the young female’s honesty. She made a mental note to test Arianna later to see how deep her gift went. ‘I must go,’ Elise said. ‘Please, there’s nothing you need to be concerned about.’ And before Arianna could ask another question, she was gone.

Visibly rattled, Elise walked past several more alcoves, clasping her hands behind her back to stop them from shaking. A little further on she stopped at a class where a lone female was teaching Evolvers about the science of the rocks in which they lived; one day they would learn to harness the power for themselves. Elise stopped to listen.

As a democratic society, the Indigenes have learned how to work with the planet. We possess an understanding of the various rocks’ inner power. Over time, you too will learn how to get the most out of the rocks. Inside the tranquillity caves, we use the Nexus to draw power from each other and to heal. We utilise the gamma rock’s amplification properties to restore well-being and gain better insights into how we can communicate more effectively.’

Yes, it was only natural that their species would develop further, Elise thought. If Stephen’s news was accurate, there was still so much to learn. She began to think more about Stephen. The changes occurring in him frightened her. A quick peek into his mind had revealed his fragility, but there had been something else too: conflicting emotions that spiked and dipped like a jagged line. Only she was aware of how much he fought against them. She had tried to access the part of his mind that was troubling him, but what she found there caused her to retreat. Stephen’s mind was in the early stages of transformation.

Soon after they had located to the tunnels, the Indigenes had started to experience their first transformation. They began to lose many of the physical features that defined them, the changes occurring because their cells had genetically mutated. They no longer needed hair to protect them from the sun, or melanin in their skin to act as a barrier against the elements. Their bodies adapted to a light-starved environment. Elise remembered quite clearly the stubble that used to cover her head. She recalled how her palm once tingled with delight as she ran it over the prickly surface. Recently she had dreamed about having hair, curly hair, but in reality, she lost her stubble and with it the ability to grow hair.

Now it was their minds that gave them their individuality. Stephen’s neural pathways were changing, and so was he. She could see it in his mind and sense it in his mood. He was different since he returned from Earth. She still didn’t know if it was for better or worse.

Something else occurred to Elise. Transformation or adaptation happens when there is a threat to survival, and the main trigger is fear. Was Stephen afraid of something? Elise placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart as she suddenly realised the implications of this for the captive Anton: his heightened fear might awaken a new skill he didn’t know was there.

Elise tried to focus on the female tutor’s words, words that quickly blurred into white noise, and her mind wandered again. She snapped back to reality just as something caught her eye. She stared at the image of an unfamiliar female superimposed over the students’ solid forms. The female, who had pale freckled skin and shoulder-length auburn hair, was staring at her. A white blouse hung off her thin frame, tucked into the waistband of a pair of black trousers.

Elise didn’t recognise her. Her anxiety rose exponentially. Who was she? The translucent female walked towards her. Elise reflexively stepped back.

Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Are you listening to me?’ said the female with notable concern.

Elise held eye contact. Who was she talking to? The apparition reached out a hand and touched her. Elise jerked her arm away.

Elizabeth, dear—it’s me. Where are you going at this hour? It’s so late,’ said the female.

What do you want?’ Elise hissed. Her skin felt warm where she had been touched. The woman stared back at her, lips slightly parted, trying to say something else, but Elise could no longer hear her.

Elise? Elise! Are you okay?’ Another voice came through strong and clear just as the image vanished.

Elise shook her head in an effort to clear her mind. The female tutor stepped into her line of sight. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

I’ve been calling you,’ said the female tutor. ‘The young are asking for one of your stories. You seem upset. Are you okay?’

Yes, yes, I’m absolutely fine.’ Elise softened the intense expression on her face.

She followed the tutor inside and sat cross-legged in the middle of the alcove while the young Evolvers mimicked her body position and gathered eagerly around her. She started with one of her popular stories, about the early hunting practices of the Indigenes. No, she thought to herself, I am not fine—not fine at all.