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“Your ship is wrecked.”
Talis chucked and kicked the front hood. “This thing? I can patch it up in two days, tops.”
Adeline looked at the two others with reluctance. One by one, they nodded and tossed their guns over their shoulders. They stepped back and let their woman continue speaking. “No. It’s too dangerous. Stay here with us. I have a feeling there’s more to your story than you think.”
“I was a woman who left when the going got tough. That’s all,” I said.
They waved us forward. The five of us walked deeper into the forest, following a thin trail into a deeply sheltered area with massive boulders, trees with beautiful, green leaves, and a river that meandered in front of the entrance.
She stopped, as did we, near a small home they had been building. Nearby, there were other buildings too, but they looked like larger structures. Everything was much nicer than I expected.
“You grew up here? I mean, on Earth?” Adeline asked me.
I nodded. “All of my life. Well, most of it, at least.
The muscular man that seemed to be most in charge slanted forward. I was introduced to all of them. Their names were Magnus, Donovan, and Cadmar. They sat us down, and the real questioning began.
“What do you know about the Onyx Corporation?” Adeline asked. My heart nearly stopped, but I didn’t give away any anxiety in my face.
Project Onyx. The start of my downfall. The project to end all projects.
Did I know of them? Sure, I fucking did. And now, that I was staring at these four people in the face, I couldn’t help but feel the chills rush up my spine, sweat spilling form my pores.
“How do you know about Project Onyx?” I asked.
She knelt down in front of me and pulled out a pendant. Pushing it toward me, she placed it in my hand and closed it. It was the pendant they give all of the people who joined.
I dropped the ornament on the ground and felt my throat tighten. There were tears falling from Adeline’s eyes, and though it unsettled me, I knew I had found a new friend.
“My father was one of the early hires of the Onyx Project. Guess you could say that I followed in his footsteps. My team found a portal. I entered and saw things I should have never seen. But I met these three in the process. Donovan and Cadmar were scientists, left behind by their own government.”
Magnus leaned forward. “I was hired by a private security firm. I fell in, but none of that matters. We escaped. Looks like you did too.”
Adeline put her hand on his shoulder, and he drew back. “Our meeting is no coincidence,” she said. “We are in this fight together. Welcome to the project.”
I lowered my head and nodded. “I’m ready,” I said.
“There are people out there,” Adeline warned. “Some good. Some bad. There are dimensions that have been opened and closed so many times that it seems impossible to put back together. Behind the charade, there are other people like us who were tricked into participating in their cruel games. They are lost, too.”
“We are the only ones who can stop the world from ending,” Donovan said.
We didn’t leave a trail of breadcrumbs. All we did was react, guess, and fight for our lives. Yet, we made it. We found a sanctuary worth staying in.
“Did the Onyx Corp know we were going to meet?” I asked.
She let go of my hands and walked into a separate room. Unlocking and reaching into a safe, she pulled out a set of documents. She threw them on a table and pointed.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
I took the large and unorganized packet of papers and loose documents, threading through them as if any of them made sense. There were flight logs that had been recorded and written down. There were crude drawings of aliens, beasts, and monsters of all kinds. There were handwritten notes from scientists.
I realized what she was asking us to do. She was trying to deconstruct something more powerful than anything in the entire world. I had a feeling this went past the government and their programs. This went above and beyond.
Juliana was sitting in the grass below, smiling and wriggling against the beautiful moonlight. Talis took my hand in solidarity.
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll stay and help you. We’ll fight.”
We made it. Earth 2.0.
