Elise excused herself when Pierre, Leon and Stephen began to discuss a rescue plan. She headed to the private dwelling she shared with Pierre in the eastern section of District Three. She bounded up the uneven steps to the top of a large circular area containing accommodation set out on three levels, and opened the only door on that level.
Inside she lay down on her thin mattress, stuffed with dried moss, and soft materials the humans had discarded on the surface. The coolness of the stone floor seeped through and chilled her skin. She didn’t mind the refreshing cold, but today it provided her with little comfort. The double room felt too small and too tight. The smooth omicron walls around her shuddered, as though it mirrored the stress she felt. It upset her to learn that Anton had not made it home, but news of the Indigene’s true beginning in life worried her more.
She turned onto her side and faced the wall, sinking into the soft mattress and tucking her arms beneath her. Everything had unravelled the moment she and Pierre had met with that woman, Isla Taggart. She had warned Pierre over her government’s behaviour. Isla hadn’t mentioned details of any experiments, but Stephen had discovered so much more with little effort.
Why had it been so easy for him and not her? She wasn’t sure which frightened her more: that the news was real, or that Pierre believed this potentially fake story. Should Isla ever have been trusted?
Regardless, the Indigenes had two choices: do nothing, or fight back. The latter risked revealing both their secret location and the depth of how far their enhanced abilities went.
She shifted onto her back when her mood grew more sombre. Her stomach rumbled low and long, reminding her of how little she’d eaten since Stephen had arrived home. Someone stopped outside her door. A shadow cast through the narrow gap at the base. It was Pierre; she recognised those ordered thoughts anywhere. She sensed his hesitation. Then the shadow vanished from underneath the door.
Grateful to escape another of his lectures, Elise curled onto her side.
The news of the planted origin story invaded her thoughts once more. Why had the humans captured Anton? What did they want from him?
She shook the bunch of lies from her mind, aimed at driving a wedge between the two races. But her heart thrummed at the feeling there was more to the story. Elise stroked her cool arm, wondering how different her skin would feel if she were human.
The thought shot her upright. She was Indigene, not human. Their race was unique.
Yet something nagged at her.
The Indigenes differed from the ordinary humans too much for the news to be true. New and better skills were emerging in their most recent generation: Stephen’s unmatched speed; Anton’s ability to see inside the humans’ inventions. But what if they really had descended from the human bloodline? How much did the humans already know about their younger generation?
Anton’s capture concerned her. What could his captors learn about his abilities, their history and location? No matter the truth, Anton must resist all attempts to break him. She only wished Pierre had included the other districts in this situation. Maybe they could help.
Elise sighed and leaned against the wall. Her stubborn husband would rather go it alone than to ask anyone for help. She and Pierre may be the most senior of all the elders presiding over other districts, but that did not give him or District Three the right to decide on matters for all.
A different, soothing vibration passed from the wall to her back. She closed her eyes, allowing the steady thrum to calm her erratic thoughts. With her next sigh, the stress melted away.
Sometimes the district—the rock—knew exactly what she needed.
☼
Elise awoke with a start. She licked her dry lips as she looked around her quarters. She didn’t even remember falling asleep. Her unsettled thoughts had woken her.
‘Calm down.’
She twisted her hands to control the erratic moods that had marked these past few weeks. It wasn’t just Anton’s capture that had unsettled her. No, she had another problem.
A change was happening inside her, pushing her abilities beyond that of an empath. Sensing an Indigene’s mood was what empaths did. That and her ability to calm a room when the situation called for it. Seeing and predicting an emotion? Well, that was new.
Without effort, she could now see the trigger that elicited an emotional response in other Indigenes, like a flash of light. She’d tried to speak to Pierre about her evolving skill. But instead of offering her support and compassion, he’d been rational, logical.
Cold.
‘Your overwhelming compassion for others, it clouds your judgement,’ he’d said. ‘You do this. You sacrifice your own well-being for their comfort.’
‘This is different,’ Elise had argued. ‘It feels as if I’m gaining a deeper understanding of how my gift works.’
But Pierre hadn’t been convinced. Nor did he really understand her connection with others’ emotions. He’d always preferred logic and science to feelings. The changes terrified her, because they had nothing to do with compassion. If she relaxed her mind enough, she could sense new neural pathways developing in her brain where they hadn’t existed before.
Somehow, her empathic abilities were changing.
‘Everything can be explained, Elise.’ That was Pierre’s answer to any problem he couldn’t understand.
Maybe he was right. But how could she prove it? Only hard evidence would convince Pierre that her abilities had altered. Her concern doubled as she thought of Anton. If her skills were evolving as a free Indigene, how were his abilities manifesting in captivity?
She touched the smooth, translucent skin on her arm and head that defined her race. After locating to the tunnels from the surface, the Indigenes had experienced their first transformation. Many had lost the physical features that had defined them, the changes occurring because of a genetic mutation in their cells. The Indigenes 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 had fully adapted to a light-starved environment. In one of Elise’s stranger dreams, she’d dreamt of having curly hair. But in reality her hair had never grown past stubble. She lost it all shortly after the relocation.
How the Indigenes differed from each other physically was 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 could regenerate and would keep 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. When they wished to move beyond the physical plain, the code would terminate the cells like an aggressive cancer.
But to the Indigenes, their bodies were just vessels. Through telepathy, they all shared a deeper connection. They believed their souls would be reborn in others of their species. It was what Elise had believed—until she’d heard Stephen’s report from Earth.
How could the Indigenes have begun life in a different way? Was the self-destruct code a human design implanted in their creation? Surely not. Yet, Elise had not witnessed an Indigene death; she only assumed she had. And when she gave it more thought, perhaps all she’d ever done was read about it in one of their history books.
The air in the room grew tight and forced her to her feet. She abandoned the solitude of her private quarters.
Elise grazed her fingers along surface of the tunnels that connected to all areas in the district. A strip of low lighting along the base of the tunnel walls guided each step she took. The floor had a slight uneven tilt, designed to unsettle unwelcome visitors. But the floor posed no difficulty to her. She often walked the tunnels for hours in search of company. The time she spent with others recharged her, unlike Pierre who preferred to be alone. She enjoyed participating in social activities, but lately Elise had been using them as an excuse to understand her changes better.
She tuned in to the conversations around her as she walked. Some Indigenes spoke quickly and quietly, while others spoke telepathically to each other. There was a different sound associated with silent conversations, a medium-pitched tone that calmed her. She focused on the tone and listened to some exchanges, switching off when she heard something private.
The tunnel ended and the Central Core began, a large space used for various purposes. Elise had set up educational workshops here to teach the young Evolvers about Indigene history and how the Central Council had come into existence. At one end were several alcoves. Symbols marked the back wall of each alcove to indicate the lesson: hunting practices; different rocks (insignia, gamma, omicron and omega); skills training—telepathy, speed, empathy, or learning how to heighten the senses yet to unfold. Underneath the symbols, the Evolvers had used a mixture of powdered rock and water to draw on the wall. Elise studied the handful of drawings—numbering too few in her opinion. Some adults, who’d survived the original blast on the surface thirty years ago, had chosen not to reproduce.
Elise passed by one alcove to see Arianna, a friend of Stephen and Anton’s, inside. She was teaching a group of young Evolvers about life above ground and safe hunting practices. Elise had pushed for this class after the capture and murder of one of their Evolvers a year ago. Arianna’s mother had died during a futile attempt by some independents to resurface. Other females had cared for Arianna after her mother’s death, but Elise had always felt a strong connection to her. Like her, Arianna was an empath.
When Arianna spotted her she left her class. Elise tensed up as she approached her.
‘Elder, did you want to join us?’ said Arianna. Some Indigenes preferred to use their voices over telepathy.
‘Not today. I have other things I must tend to.’ Elise turned to go but Arianna’s hand on her arm stopped her. Dizziness hit her. She reclaimed her arm and the dizzy spell passed.
‘I have something I wish to ask you.’
‘What is it, child?’
‘Where’s Anton?’
Her question set Elise’s heart to pound. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘I know something’s wrong. I saw Stephen racing through the tunnels earlier and he wouldn’t speak to me.’
‘I...’—Elise worked hard to regain her composure—‘There’s nothing you or anyone else needs to worry about.’
‘I’m a strong empath, elder. With great respect, I can sense you aren’t being truthful with me.’
She couldn’t talk about it. Not yet.
Elise walked away, glancing back. ‘I must be somewhere but there’s nothing to be concerned about, I promise.’
She twisted her hands together as she passed by another alcove. A lone female was teaching Evolvers about the scientific properties of the different rocks that made up their district. One day they would harness the power for themselves.
Elise stopped to listen to the class.
‘The Indigenes have learned how to work with the planet. The rocks on Exilon 5 possess a power that works with our physiology. You too will learn how to utilise that power. We created the tranquillity caves to tap into the gamma rock’s amplification properties and bolster the power of the Nexus. We not only use the Nexus to draw power from each other and to heal but to communicate in a way that is impossible in this physical terrain.’
Yes, the Indigenes were destined for greater things. Elise had seen new changes within Stephen. A quick peek into his mind had revealed his fragility—natural, given the stress he’d been under—but also a separate set of conflicting emotions. She appeared to be the only one sensitive to Stephen’s inner fight against them. She had managed to access the part of his mind troubling him right before he’d blocked her.
Stephen’s mind was in the early stages of transformation. His neural pathways had altered; he was a changed Indigene to the one who’d left here two weeks ago.
A dangerous idea struck her as she stood by the entrance to the alcove. Transformation or adaptation rarely happened without a threat to survival. Fear usually triggered a threat. No matter how scared Stephen felt, Anton must be going through a worse hell. Her fear doubled as she worried that Anton’s heightened fear could awaken a new skill he didn’t know existed.
The tutor’s words blurred into white noise, and Elise’s mind wandered again. An image of a female superimposed over the students’ solid forms snapped her back to reality. The woman, with pale freckled skin and shoulder-length auburn hair, stared at her. She wore a white blouse tucked into the waistband of a pair of black trousers.
Elise jolted from what must be a hallucination. Yet the apparition walking towards her looked so real. It forced her to step back.
‘Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Are you listening to me?’ said the woman.
Air rushed out of Elise’s parted mouth when the apparition touched her. Warmth spread to Elise’s skin and she 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?’ hissed Elise. The woman continued to speak but Elise could no longer hear her.
‘Elise? Elder, are you okay?’ Another voice came through strong and clear just as the image vanished.
Arianna stepped into her line of sight. Elise shook her head. ‘What happened?’
‘I’ve been calling you,’ said Arianna. ‘The young are asking for one of your stories. You seem upset. Are you okay?’
Elise forced a smile. ‘Yes, yes. I just zoned out for a minute. I’m fine.’
She followed Arianna back to her alcove and sat cross-legged on the floor, while the young Evolvers gathered around her. She started with one of her popular stories, about the early hunting practices of the Indigenes.
The image of the woman refused to go away.
No. I am not fine.