The Quest for Eden (Part 2 of 2)

Science-Fiction / 4500 words

PREFACE: Here it is! The second and final installment of this 9000 word short story. If you missed the beginning, you can read it here.

It hadn’t taken long for the soldiers to pull away—the senator had been true to his word. Jack did wonder though if they weren’t still around, but now hidden instead of out in the open. He wasn’t sure that was any better.

At six, his doorbell rang. He had not expected it. It couldn’t possibly be Campbell... he hoped it wouldn’t be. If Grayson was still watching, he’d reach some twisted conclusion faster than it took to say hi.

But the man standing before him was someone he had never seen before. Red-haired, a small scar near his lip, holding a briefcase.

“Mr. Swann? My name is Raymond Harris. I am a business associate of a common friend, Prof. Campbell.”

“Oh.”

Jack glanced anxiously outside, left and right, but did not see any soldiers. He pulled the man in.

“Get in, quick.”

Harris stumbled as the door closed behind him. He straightened and looked at his host with perplexity.

“This is most unusual, sir!”

“Sorry, it’s just that... Never mind.” He looked through the window. “You didn’t see anyone out there, did you?”

“Should I have?”

“No, hmm, I suppose not. Nobody followed you?”

Harris coughed. “Sir. If this is a bad time, we can reschedule our meeting...”

Jack looked at him. “We had a meeting?”

“Yes. At six. I hope you hadn’t forgotten.”

“I thought Campbell—”

“Oh no, sir! He couldn’t possibly.”

“Ah yes, of course. I guess I should have expected this. So what is this about?”

The man looked around the room and gestured toward the couch. “May I?”

“Oh, yes, of course. Please.”

His visitor took a seat, then set down his briefcase on the table before him. He opened it and took out some papers which he placed next to it.

“I’ve brought the contract,” he started.

“The contract?” asked Jack.

“Yes. For our transaction.”

The dreamcatcher sat down across from his guest and stared at him. “What transaction? What is going on?”

“Campbell hasn’t told you? Oh dear. This is awkward.”

“Could you please just explain?”

“Well. The three of us would be sharing all the profits and—”

“Say what? Profits? From what?”

“It’s all in the contract, sir! It’s all very proper, too, I assure you.”

Jack leaned over and grabbed the bundle of paper. He went through the pages with increasing unease. It took him a few minutes to get the general picture. When he was done, he stood and threw the document at the man’s face.

“Get out! Now! Before I call the cops on you. Or the soldiers.”

“But it’s all very proper!” whimpered Harris. But seeing Jack’s fierce expression, he put the contract away and hurried back to the door. “I’ll tell Campbell you need to think,” he said as he scurried away.

“Yeah, you do that. Incredible!”

The gall of those guys. They had no interest in helping the aliens. All they wanted was to steal their technology and make money off of it! Had Campbell misunderstood Jack’s intent? It wasn’t like he’d mentioned any of this. Did the scientist really expect him to go with it? Maybe he was projecting on the dreamcatcher what he knew he’d do in a similar situation.

And he dared to call himself a scientist!

***

The sky was green, the sea was red. Flames rose high into the clouds. The dream architect stepped around a rock and saw her sitting by a stream of molten metal. She smiled when she saw him.

“Hello, Jack.”

He sat next to her and they watched quietly as the scenery shifted. The colors twirled and blended until the sea became the sky and the sky became the sea. They were floating in between, though the rock beneath them still felt solid enough.

“What is all this?” he asked.

“Our homeworld,” she answered softly.

“Oh. I thought you were from this planet?”

“No. We came here five thousand years ago to flee the death of our star. Had we only known it would be our doom...”

“The virus?”

“Native to this world, yes. You should be wary, it may affect your people as well.”

They fell quiet again as the landscape morphed into a mountain of blue stone, its peak covered in black snow.

“Five thousand years is a long time,” commented Jack. “How can you still remember your homeworld?”

A sad smile formed on Xynha’s lips. “It is not so old for us. I still remember it well.”

Jack blinked. “Are you saying you’ve lived that long?”

“Of course. Have you not?”

The dreamcatcher was stunned. He stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. “Not even close. That is... I don’t even know what to say.”

His voice echoed in the valley below them—as the rock they were sitting on had grown into a tower. He gazed down and saw yellow clouds drifting as they kept rising higher and higher.

“I have news,” he finally said. “Though I don’t know what to make of it. An official of my people has asked me to deliver some questions to you. I’m guessing it must be some kind of test.”

“What are the questions?”

If this had been someone else’s dream, he would have written them in the air before them, with flaming letters. Since he could not do that, he recited them.

The alien woman listened attentively. When he was done, she remained quiet for a long time. Then laughed.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“There has been prior contact between our species. The questions refer to some of our past conversations. You were correct, it is a test. They want to verify that we are who we say we are.”

“Oh.”

The clouds that surrounded them now shifted and solidified into a lush valley of purple grass under an orange sky. He leaned down to touch the ground. It felt warm and humid.

“I will place the answers directly into your mind,” she said, “so you do not forget them.”

He straightened so she could rest her hands on his temples. They were cold and soft. She closed her eyes and he felt a tingling sensation in his forehead. It lasted a few seconds, then she pulled away.

“You may wake up, now,” she said with a smile.

***

Under the list of questions, Lasker had included an email address where to send the answers. Jack sent a message, then went out for a walk.

Days passed and still he was no closer to a solution.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. There was something he could do. But it was too difficult and too risky. He wasn’t about to try anything that crazy. There had to be some other way.

As he turned a corner, his phone rang.

“Jack Swann speaking.”

“This is senator Lasker’s secretary,” said a woman’s voice. “He asked me to set up an appointment for you with Prof. Gremner. When would be the best time for you?”

“As soon as possible, please. In fact, today would be ideal.”

There were a few seconds of silence. “How about this afternoon at three?”

“Perfect. Where shall we meet?”

The voice gave him an address and hung up.

Maybe they’d be able to save the Xyndh after all.

When he got home, he did some research on the name he’d been given and found that Gremner was, indeed, a neuroscientist. There was no evidence of him living on Bernice—he must have freshly arrived. The man’s records were good, though. He had worked on some high-profile cases and signed some popular articles in his field of expertise. It looked promising.

He decided to have lunch at a restaurant near the university where he was to meet the professor.

Ten minutes before his appointment, he saw news vehicles drive down the street in droves, all headed toward the campus.

When he got there himself, he saw a stage had been set up in the park with at least two dozen chairs. These were occupied by reporters, who were chatting between themselves as cameramen were prepping up.

On the stage, Jack spotted Trenton Lasker. He was busy discussing with an older man whom he recognized from the pictures he’d found of him in his research: Prof. Phillip Gremner.

A tall blonde with a charming smile waved at him. “Mr. Swann? I’m Suzy. The senator’s secretary. We talked on the phone. Could you please follow me? We’re about to start.”

“What is going on here?” he asked, a bit startled.

“You asked for a meeting, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes, but I thought I’d get to speak with the professor in private... I wasn’t expecting this.” He gestured at the audience.

“Ah. Sorry, last-minute changes. The senator said you wouldn’t mind.”

“He did, did he?”

They had walked to the stage while they spoke. Lasker saw him and smiled. “Ah, Jack! Please, join us. This is Prof. Gremner. Professor, this is Jack Swann.”

The two men shook hands as the senator whispered a few words into Suzy’s ear. He then motioned for them to sit—three chairs waited on the stage—while he walked to the microphone.

“Hello everyone. We are ready to start. You must all be wondering what this is about. Well, we have a very special announcement to make. Some of you may have recognized the young man who just joined us from his appearance on All Fired Up last week. For those who missed it, he announced that an alien species known as the Xyndh had reached out to him asking for our help.

“Today I would like to officially confirm that the Xyndh are real. We have known about them for some years.” The crowd became agitated at this point, with many hands rising in the air. But the senator made a wide gesture. “Now, now! I know you must all wonder why this was kept a secret. Some of us—myself included—wished to make the news public but we were met with much resistance. The majority requested secrecy for security reasons. We had to comply. But with this new evidence that Jack has provided, we can no longer stay quiet. Time is running out. We must act now!”

“What do you mean, time is running out?” asked one of the reporters.

“The Xyndh are dying and they do not have much time left.”

“How much time?”

The senator turned and gestured for Jack to join him. “I will let Mr. Swann take over now. He should be able to answer your questions better than I can.”

Jack grimaced. He didn’t like this. Not one bit. But he didn’t have a choice in front of such a large crowd. Stepping up, he took Lasker’s place and glared at him as the senator went to the third chair and sat.

Looking back to the reporters, he cleared his throat and said into the microphone: “To answer that last question, the aliens themselves do not know. There are not many of them left. All they could determine was that they’d all be gone within a year. Possibly sooner.”

“What is killing them?” asked a woman’s voice.

“A local bacteria that their bodies are not equipped to fight.”

“How are you going to help them?” came another question.

“That’s what I’m hoping we can work out with Prof. Gremner. In fact, we should probably go do that now. Thank you all for your time.”

Reporters jumped to their feet and yelled out more questions, but Jack walked away, ignoring them. He leaned next to the scientist: “Can we go somewhere private to talk?”

“Of course,” said Gremner. “Follow me.”

***

What had come over Lasker? Jack was furious. When he’d later confronted the senator, the man had looked surprised.

“I thought that was what you wanted? Reaching out to the widest audience possible... Wasn’t that the whole point of your little television stunt? Now, instead of just one show, you’ll be on all of them. And with the government’s support as a bonus. I’d say that’s a win, don’t you think?”

Jack had groaned. “A head’s up would have been nice!”

The senator’s logic was sound, of course, but he felt like he had been manipulated. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced. Until that little stunt, all anyone ever mentioned about Lasker was his extramarital affair with the prime minister’s daughter. Now, the topic had shifted to a dying species.

When he got back home, he found military vehicles parked in front of his home.

Not again!

General Grayson waited for him inside.

“How did you get in?”

There was no sign of the door being forced.

“We have our ways,” said the officer. “Have a seat.”

“First, and in case you hadn’t noticed, this is my house. You don’t get to tell me if I can have a seat.” He sat anyway. “Second, you guys are seriously messed up. Not only do you spy on folks, but you also break into their homes. Talk about invasion of privacy.”

“Shut up.”

“Excuse me?”

The general stood and walked up to him. He leaned down, his face within inches of Jack’s—so close he could smell Grayson’s breath.

“I know your type, smartass. I know what you’re up to, you conspiring little rat. I should have guessed the aliens were real. You’re just working with them, setting up humanity with your lame little plot. Trying to make men feel sorry for them, to mollify us into submission. But it won’t work! We humans are not weak little cowards. They will not break us! I see right through you—”

“You are insane!” protested Jack as he leaned backward to add more space between him and the general.

“Do not talk back to me!” barked Grayson, sputtering into Jack’s face. “You are nothing! You talk of privacy, but you forfeited your rights when you became a terrorist!”

“You are taking this too far! Lasker will—”

The officer laughed as he straightened and took a few steps away. “Lasker! Don’t make me laugh. That man is a lapdog to the higher-ups. Can’t you see he’s just using you, just like they use him? No, scum, you are mine now.”

Without another word, he hurried to the door and walked out of the house.

Jack’s heart was beating fast as he stared at the space where the crazed general had stood.

But Grayson’s hands must still be tied to some extent. If not, he wouldn’t have walked away without taking him in. Unless it all was just some crazy bluff, though he couldn’t see what the point would be.

For a moment, he considered sending the senator another message, but finally decided against it.

***

The conversation with Gremner had been disappointing. Though a neuroscientist, he had never experimented with dreams and seemed to have little interest in the topic. The only reason he had agreed to meet with Jack was because of the senator and the media attention it would draw to his own research. The aliens did intrigue him, but only as far as they represented a mystery—their impending demise did not phase him.

“Even assuming there was a way to save them,” he had said, “—and I’m not saying there is—there would not be enough of them left to make a difference. Their civilization would still die with the current generation. It’s a doomed cause.”

Despite his questioning mind, the professor’s thoughts remained grounded in the material—thinking of physical survival, when what the Xyndh yearned for was of a more intangible nature. But how was I to convince a man that dreams could be used as a haven, if that man was not even willing to consider dreams as anything other than fanciful flimsiness?

His obtuseness was just one more hindrance in a series. It seemed like every opportunity that came to Jack was just a wall for him to bang his head against. The first scientist was only interested in making a fortune from alien technology; the senator was using it as a diversion; the general was a conspiracy theorist convinced that Bernice was being invaded—by its own original population! And now this.

Is it worth the trouble? he wondered. Why do I even bother? All I got out of this is grief. Xynha wanted me to spread her message, and that’s exactly what I did. Am I to blame if people don’t believe, or can’t be bothered to do anything? Why should I do more than what I was asked to do? The Xyndh are not my responsibility. I barely know them.

But Jack was a decent man, who knew there was a way to save the aliens. He was trying hard not to think about it, but the knowledge was gnawing at his soul.

The problem was, to set this particular plan into motion, he would have to open his mind to everyone. Anyone could come poke inside his dreams—and even if they would not be able to modify them, all his secrets and fears would be exposed.

Why would he make himself so vulnerable for total strangers? It would be safer, and much easier, to just stay quiet and sit things out.

Jack groaned as he poured himself something to drink, knowing full well that that was the one thing he could not do. Not just because he was a decent man, but because—in the greater scheme of things—what was his privacy and self-esteem worth compared to the loss of an entire civilization? What was their knowledge worth, not to mention their lives, memories, experiences? Under such circumstances, doing nothing would not only be selfish but also cruel and criminal.

He downed his drink and stared at his computer.

“Fine! I’ll do it, damn it.”

With a deep breath, he sat at the desk and started typing.

“I’ll probably regret this tomorrow...” he muttered.

***

It had to be a nightmare, of course. Not that he’d been aware of it right away. It always took a moment before he realized he was no longer awake.

He had run up to a cliff, trying to escape a fire that was spreading fast through the forest behind him. Standing at the edge, he stared down and tried to remember... he had been here before. Yes. This was a recurring dream. He could not modify its course, but if he could recall how things had unfolded previously...

It struck him that he had never tried to jump. Likely because he was afraid of heights. Most of the time, he had preferred to run back into the flames and had burned to death. One time, he had tried to make his way around, but he’d tripped in his panic and sprained his ankle in the process.

He couldn’t die. If he did, he’d have to start all over and he wasn’t sure he’d have the courage. He had to survive long enough for his dream to spread.

So first things first: don’t panic! He had to keep his cool.

Looking over his shoulder, he noted that the flames were still far... but he also knew that time didn’t run the same here. Appearances could be deceiving. He’d have to keep that in mind.

He walked as far back as he dared, and turned to face the cliff. He took a deep breath, focused, then ran as fast as he could. When he was nearly at the edge, he jumped...

You have to embrace your fears, he told himself.

If his experience as a dreamcatcher had taught him anything, it was that doing the unexpected—especially if it meant confronting something rooted deep inside of you—could lead to surprising results.

As he propelled himself into the void, he found that he did not fall. He hung in the air for a few seconds, then felt a breeze against his face and realized he was flying.

Soaring above the world was an exhilarating experience. He allowed himself to bask in it for a moment.

The wind shifted and he felt himself glide toward a lake. His heart beat faster when he noticed a crowd gathered there.

“Who are these people?” asked the familiar voice.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Xynha was flying behind him. How long had she been there?

“Can you help me keep the scene stable? You seem to have some control over my dreams.”

“I’ll try.”

They glided down to the shore. Many of those standing there had turned to face them. He recognized some of the faces—his friend Ronnie, the senator’s secretary...

“What is this?” boomed the general’s angry voice.

The sky turned magenta as Grayson pushed his way through the crowd.

“What kind of trick are you trying to pull this time, Swann?”

“Shut up,” said Jack. It was therapeutic tossing the mad officer’s words back at him. And with the alien’s help, it even worked. Grayson’s face flushed while his lips moved, but no sound came out.

“You don’t have any control here,” he said calmly. “This is my domain. In more ways than one.”

The ground under his feet began to undulate. Xynha leaned down and as she placed her hand on the earth, it stopped.

“My dream is spreading through all of you,” continued Jack. “And with it, a part of the Xyndh will survive.”

As he said this, he noticed the general’s shape becoming blurry, then disappearing.

“Crap. He must have woken up.”

“Is that bad?” asked the alien woman.

“He knows what I’m doing, so yes. He could wake me up, which would interrupt the sequence. For this to work, there can be no interruptions.”

The crowd just watched and listened. There was no reaction from them, as if they were mesmerized by the events. And perhaps they were.

“What can I do?”

“Keep things stable as long as you can. More people will come. I don’t know that we can do anything but hope for the best, since we can’t interact directly with the waken world.”

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and he gave her a smile.

More men and women appeared. It seemed to him that the crowd had doubled in size since their arrival.

“How can I be dreaming when it is not even night yet?” asked someone.

“What hath night to do with sleep?” said Jack with a smile.

All of a sudden, there was a loud and shrill sound that made some faces cringe. At the same time, the air started to pulse, as if it were alive. Colors rained down on them from orange clouds. Everywhere it hit the earth, a small black hole formed—though it did not harm those assembled.

Jack turned to Xynha but the words never came out of his mouth. She was doubled over, and from her expression he could tell she was in pain.

“Now who has control?” came the general’s booming voice.

But the man was nowhere to be found. Jack knew he couldn’t have been here anyway, since he’d have to be awake by now. And yet, there was no way to communicate between the two realms. Unless... he must have brought in another dreamcatcher!

That must be the reason Grayson hadn’t arrested him earlier. He still needed him, if only to lure the aliens. If the general believed the Xyndh planned an invasion, he’d want them captured and locked down. A dreamcatcher would be the only way to achieve that.

“We can’t let it happen!” yelled Xynha.

He wondered if she had read his mind or if she had just figured things out on her own.

“If we stop the process, we will not get another chance to try this. The military will be all over me!”

“Make it stop!” she insisted. “We would rather die than be enslaved.”

Jack looked at the crowd, then the woman. They had come so close...

“I’m sorry I failed you and your people, Xynha.”

“Do not lament for us. You have done what you could. Go. Now!”

Though he could not control his own dreams, he was capable of waking up on demand. He launched the process.

“I might not see you again...”

“Then I will leave you with a gift.”

She reached out and pressed a hand against his forehead.

Jack woke up in a sweat, along with three hundred and fifty-seven others—all at the same time.

***

Two months after that fateful day, Jack was aboard a cruiser headed for Luz Azul. Bitter and disenchanted, he had decided to leave Bernice. Perhaps he would find better mindsets elsewhere... though he doubted it.

When he’d woken up, he’d found himself in a cylindrical container at the back of a military vehicle parked in his driveway. His container was connected to another one, inside which he recognized Adan Goral. The two had never met, but he’d seen pictures of the man. He was supposed to be a rising star in their profession, some even compared him to the great Coren Nash... which was ridiculous, since Nash—just like himself—had never needed machines. Except in the beginning, of course.

Having broken the connection, Goral had no way to find the Xyndh. Grayson ordered Jack to go back, yelled at him, threatened him, but there was nothing he could do to convince him.

Lasker—of all people—had come to Jack’s rescue. He had been in the dream, too, and had sensed the urgency at the end. The general was relieved of his duties, pending a study of the case.

As days went by, Jack became haunted by the memory of Xynha. He kept seeing her in his dreams—though he knew that the image he saw now was only a reflection, like every other person that appeared.

And yet... she would look at him with a sad smile and whisper:

”I fought the Sleep in hopes that one, such as you, would come. But now I feel myself slip and, soon, I too shall be gone.”

It made his heart sink and his soul ache. He felt responsible for the death of an entire species. Which was preposterous, of course, and deep inside he knew none of this was his fault. But every time his thoughts went there, a little light would glow inside him and he would feel a familiar warmth.

“Do not mourn,” he would hear the alien woman’s voice say. “We have survived. We are with you and shall be forever more.”

He realized that that had been her gift. A memory. Though not of the usual kind. This one was more vivid, and with much more depth. If he focused on it, he could remember things he should not. Things about the Xyndh, their history, their knowledge...

And so, while the Xyndh had died, Jack knew their memories would live on.

Perhaps that would be their Eden.

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Enjoy my writing and want more Science-Fiction from me? Check out these stories:

• How to Kill an Immortal (a man dies in a society of immortals)

• The Human Dilemma (what it means to be human, set in a dystopian world)

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Text (c) 2024 by Alex S. Garcia.

Header: royalty-free stock images, edited by me.

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