The Star Group

“It's in the mountains behind Crystal Lake, on the way to Lake Arrowhead. We drove here from there with Shena. We didn't know if there was a closer hospital.”

  “Is this the cave where Shena was shot?” Lieutenant Madden asked.

  “Yes,” Gale said.

  “Did either of you two witness the shooting?”

  “No,” Gale and I said.

  Lieutenant Madden put his hand on Sal's shoulder.

  “Why did you shoot her, son?” he asked.

  Sal was having trouble breathing. “She killed Jimmy. She murdered my friend.”

  Lieutenant Madden frowned. “Who's Jimmy?”

  “A friend from school,” I explained. “I found his body earlier in the day. It's still up in the mountains. Someone split open his skull. At first we thought that Shena must have done it. Jimmy and Shena had had a big fight earlier in the day.” I paused. “But now we don't know who killed Jimmy.”

  Gale spoke quietly but with strength.

  “Sal might have killed them both,” she said.

  Her words did not have a desirable effect on Sal. For a moment he stared at Gale as if stricken. She had put an ice dagger through his chest. Then he leaped up and he was suddenly a fierce animal broken free of a wrangling leash.

  “I did not kill Jimmy!” he screamed.

  Both blue coats were on him in a second. They were trained men, they knew how to subdue a hostile suspect. But as they spun Sal and tried to pin his arms from behind, a most amazing thing happened. Sal threw them off – literally, the two cops went flying backward and skidded on the floor. Lieutenant Madden drew his gun and stepped forward, but Sal was already moving. He whirled and caught the detective with a hard fist on the chest. Lieutenant Madden was stunned – he stumbled backward.

  Sal turned and ran up the long hall.

  The older of the blue coats recovered to his knees and trained his revolver on Sal's back. “Stop or I'll shoot!” he shouted.

  Sal did not stop. Maybe he could not.

  The officer shot. But the bullet went into the ceiling. At the last instant Lieutenant Madden had yanked his fellow cop’s gun upward. Nice move. But the heroic gesture was wasted. The younger cop had drawn his gun as well and Lieutenant Madden had only two hands. This fresh-out-of-the-academy sharpshooter fired off a round in Sal's direction.

  A splat of red appeared mid-back on Sal's white shirt.

  Sal went down hard and sprawled on to the floor.

  I shoved the cops aside and ran to Sal. He was facedown in a red puddle. He tried to raise his head up, but the wires in his spine had been shorted. I took his hand and the look of confusion and agony on his face broke my heart. His voice came out weak and choked with fluid. Blood seeped over his lips. The cop's bullet had exploded his lung.

  “I didn't want to hurt anyone,” he gasped. “Love you guys.” He went down. “Love…”

  He closed his eyes and lay still. Dead.

  I looked up at the cops. “He was a wonderful person.” My hand sank in a river of red. “He was my friend.”

  The police were confused. Things had not gone by the book. They could see the headlines already. Bad PR all around. The young cop was crying. Lieutenant Madden was trying to marshal his forces and send for a doctor at the same time. Of course there wasn’t a doctor in the entire clinic qualified to resurrect the dead. Gale stood leaning against a wall and stared off into the distance. I stepped in front of her. Her gaze was zombielike but I knew she saw me. Superficial looks did not impress me anymore.

  “Lousy weekend, huh?” I said.

  She blinked. “What?”

  “You called me a spaceman. You asked if I loved you. You screwed my brains out. You were fun to go to Disneyland with. And yes, I did have a crush on you for four years.” I paused. “But I don't know you, Gale.”

  I walked away. Felt her hard eyes on my back.

  The cops had a lot on their hands. They let me go.

  Somehow I knew what I would find.

  In an intensive care unit that was strangely deserted – must have been the gunshots that scared everyone out of the hospital – I found Teri sitting in a chair beside Shena's sleeping form. Teri was not actually sitting – she had collapsed over Shena's chest. Pulling Teri upright, I had to shake her to get her eyes open. Her expression was worse than dazed, it was ashen. Her lips moved but I could not understand her words. I had to lean close.

  “Sal?” she whispered.

  She was not strong enough for the truth.

  God knew what was wrong with her.

  I forced a smile. “He's fine.”

  She raised a ringer and wiped away a tear from my face.

  And I had forgotten the blood on my hands.

  Her eyes cleared, “He's gone.”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  She winced in pain and nodded. “I have to go.”

  I caught her as she slumped to the side. “What's happened to you?”

  Her dreamy smile caught me off-guard. She touched my chin. Her touch was so soft, it could have been an angel's caress. Her fingers were on fire, but it was a soothing heat.

  “Oh, Daniel,” she said. “It wasn't your fault.”

  It was too much to bear. “Teri?”

  Her eyes closed. “You did not know.”

  Then she died. In my arms, she was no more.

  I picked her up and lay her on a nearby bed.

  I returned to Shena and held her hand. Her side was heavily bandaged. She had a tube stuck down her throat and one up into her bladder, and a dozen wires draped around her head. But I knew any second she would open her eyes and be OK. Teri was an angel, she had not left without giving us a gift.

  The scars on Shena's face were slightly better.

  Teri had given understanding as well.

  I had much to tell Shena.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  THE PRESENT MOMENT IS THE SAME endless nightmare. Only that is not precisely true. This, the longest of all nights, has finally finished. While I typed, the sun rose over the city. I am back in my bedroom, at my desk. My parents are away for the weekend. My computer is hooked up to the telephone line. My modem dumps this story across town into Shena's computer. I wonder if she is home yet. Or on her way over to my house. I had told her to turn on her computer the moment she got in. Not that it matters; her online service will store this file for future reference.

  Yet I hope Shena is coming over.

  There is a sound outside. It must be either Shena or Gale.

  I will go see. I take the gun…

  It is Gale. She now sits across the room from me, on my bed, where we made love one week ago. She tells me I am to keep typing and I do what she says. Not that I want to, but I feel I must obey her. A peculiar magnetism swarms over my head. Sal's gun rests beside my computer. Gale doesn't seem worried about it. Before leaving the hospital, I snuck it out of the garbage can. The police were in such disarray.

  Gale tells me to write down everything as it is happening. I doubt she knows about my modem wire attached to the back of my computer. I feel no compulsion to tell her, but if she asks I am sure I will confess. It is not visible from her position on the bed, and it seems there are some limits to what she can do.

  She smiles at me. She has cleaned herself up. Her pants are burgundy, new, her blouse is white and tight. She does not wear a bra and I can see the shape of her nipples through the material. Her smile is sly but also slightly sad. The latter makes me wonder but not much. A snake cares for its newborn, but if starving will consume them. Gale licks her lips in that sexy manner she has perfected.

  But I no longer want to kiss her.

  “Are you writing about me?” she asks.

  “A few observations,” I say.

  “You still want me. You still love me.”

  “No,” I say.

  Her eyes focus on me. “You'd better fix that. I don’t want that in the story.”

  “I still love you,” I say.

  She sits back and relaxes, ??
?That's better.”

  “May I ask questions?”

  “Yes, Daniel. You may.”

  “Who are you?”

  She enjoys the question. She knows I suspect the answer. It heightens her pleasure but not mine. Even though she has forced me to talk about love, I feel only revulsion in her presence. Certain illusions die hard, but this one has a stake through its heart.

  “I am the balance on the scale,” she says, “Five bright lights visit this world and I come to keep them in line. It only takes one of me, you know.”

  “You are the other?”

  Her eyes are cold. “Yes.”

  “Have you always been able to dominate the will of others?”

  “The ability was latent. Not fully manifest. I needed you and Mentor to activate it fully. I thank you for that. In a sense, I owe you.”

  “How long have you known what you are?”

  “For a year I have suspected.”

  “Where are your adopted parents?”

  “Dead.”

  “When did they die?”

  “Recently.”

  “How did they die?”

  “Very slowly.”

  “You spoke to Shena before we went on the Matterhorn?”

  She nods. “I touched her mind. Pushed her.”

  “But if she had jumped, it would have messed up the Star Group?”

  “You notice she did not jump.”

  “But you could have made it so?”

  “Maybe not then. But now... of course.”

  “You knew I would gather the Star Group?”

  “Yes. I knew you were the key.”

  “That was the only reason you slept with me?”

  “You were good. You have pleased me.”

  “I am confused. What chance did we ever have against you?”

  “You had every chance. But I slowly poisoned your apples before they could ripen.”

  “You planted dissension in our group. You seduced Jimmy?”

  She grins. “And Sal. And Shena, don't be shocked. I had them all trembling with their secret sins.”

  “But Sal loved Teri, Shena and Jimmy loved each other. You could not destroy that love.” I pause. “It was you who rigged the battery to explode in Shena's face.”

  “Yes. I killed Jimmy's battery, then used my car to jump it. My car battery is much larger. I switched the wires before I turned on my engine and gunned the accelerator. Shena had her face right over the battery.” Gale pauses. “I took good care of her on the way to the hospital. I made sure the acid was not wiped off.”

  “Why did you have to destroy her face?”

  “You said it yourself. All these acts weakened your group. Jimmy and Shena's love did not survive the scars; it does not matter what you say. Also, deep in your mind, on a subconscious level, I knew you would begin to associate Shena with the enemy if her face was scaled like a reptile's. When the moment of my attack started, you would be confused.”

  “Did the group on Ortee know your true intentions?”

  Gale hesitates. “No. They were fools.”

  “But you're not sure about that?”

  Her eyes flash with anger. She sits up sharply.

  “You will not write that!”

  “You are sure.”

  She relaxes. “Better.”

  “You pushed Sal all day yesterday?”

  “Yes.”

  “You pushed him at the end to run?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you push the cops?”

  “Cops are cops. It was not necessary.”

  “Did you kill the old man?”

  “Yes. He was old. I stopped his heart with a thought.”

  “Looking back, I see that once you had the activation session finished with, you did everything in your power to keep me from being with Mentor.”

  “That is correct. I kept you from seeing the truth.” She paused. “It was right there in front of you all the time. You missed the biggest clue of all.”

  “What was that?”

  “That a girl like me would chase a loser like you.”

  My face burns with blood. “What was it like to kill Jimmy?”

  The topic is a favorite. “He was vulnerable when I reached him by the stream. He was worried about Shena, and at the same time he was gloating over his newfound ability. He thought he would be the richest man in the world. I was able to dominate his will completely. I made him keep his eyes open but his mouth shut while I pounded his skull. I insisted he stand up straight. I wouldn't even let him fall over. He had to stand there and watch his blood soak his shirt. He saw pieces of his brains.” A casual sigh. “I took my time, I prefer to do so. He was not dead until he hit the water.”

  I hate her. “You're a monster.”

  She is not offended. “I am of negative polarity. It is not that I don’t choose love; I cannot feel it. My power is therefore undiluted.” She pauses. “The world will soon see more of my kind.”

  “You will be stopped.”

  She mocks. “Could you five stop me?”

  I pause. “Teri shocked you.”

  She shrugs. “She threw her life away to save Shena. What a waste. I will get to Shena when it suits me.”

  “But Teri was strong. She gave her life energy to Shena.”

  She is not impressed. “Your type serves others. We serve ourselves. Our course of evolution is straight and clear. You get lost on tangents.”

  “I suspect your course is straight and barren.”

  “As you wish.”

  “What are you going to do to me?” I ask.

  She gloats. “How did you start your story? Did you write something silly about having to kill yourself to make everyone safe on Earth?”

  “Yes.” I am staggered. “You put that idea in my mind.”

  She pities me. “Danny Boy. You are Mentor. If you kill yourself and go back to Ortee, you are not going to be able to influence matters here. You will not have a body.” She paused. “But you do not have to kill yourself I give you a way out.”

  “I'm not interested.”

  She points. “Type with one hand. Pick up the gun with the other.”

  I do not want to. Honestly, I fight not to. But my strength is diluted.

  I pick up the gun. She is serious now, she no longer smiles.

  “Where does it hurt, Daniel?” she asks softly. That familiar gentle tone, always whispering in our brains. The gun shakes in my right hand; I can hardly type with the left.

  “Please,” I say.

  Her eyes are like a snake's. They peer from the pit. There is not a trace of emotion in them. Why could I not see her soul in them before? She is right, I was a fool.

  “Aim the gun at your right thigh,” she says.

  I fight her. I appeal to her. I beg.

  “No, Gale.”

  She will not let me escape her dagger stare.

  “Aim the gun at your right thigh,” she repeats.

  “No!” I cry. But I do what she says.

  “Put your right index finger on the trigger.”

  I feel the trigger. The oil of my sweat. This cannot be happening.

  “No,” I whisper.

  “Pull the trigger, Daniel.”

  “No!”

  “Do it!”

  I pull the trigger. There is an explosion of noise and pain. Red splatters my computer and my face. She does not let me close my eyes. I am not allowed to invoke the power of Mentor. I am alone here on Earth, in this bedroom, in this hell, with this demon. My right leg is a mass of gross tissue. I see my veins, my shredded muscle, my blood drips over the floor. The agony is beyond imagining. I feel I will black out. I pray that I might. She regards me critically.

  “Are you sure you're not interested?” she asks.

  I choke on the horror. “What do you want?”

  “You spoke to Shena after Teri healed her. I am sure she is out there up to no good. If you will tell me what you two planned, and then swear to me on your eternal soul to
execute her at the earliest opportunity, I will let you live. Such a vow is important and binding. It will serve two purposes. I will be rid of her and I will have a fresh ally. Because if you join me, you will lose positive polarity. You will become like me and you will serve me for the next billion years.”

  My leg, my poor leg. She makes me keep looking at her.

  “I don't believe I can lose my soul to the likes of you,” I gasp.

  She leans forward. “That is because even at this late date you do not comprehend what I am.” She stops. “Put the gun in your mouth.”

  “Gale?”

  “Put the gun in your mouth.”

  The gun is in my mouth. It tastes of gunpowder.

  She's intent. “Do you wish to join me?”

  I stare into her eyes. Satan's mirrors.

  So much pain. God help me.

  I shake my head. Jesus.

  “Keep typing,” she says.

  I don't know how I do it.

  She has the voice of a beast. “You are running out of time. You are alone here. No one is going to come to your aid. I am going to ask you one more time. If you refuse my offer, I will force you to pull the trigger. Your brains will spray the wall behind you. The back of your skull will explode. Your mother and father will find you that way and it will destroy them. From now until the day they die their lives will be ruined. Neither of them will ever be able to get the image out of their minds of how you died. They will dream about it when they are awake. It will be like an open wound that cannot heal, and to make sure it never does, I will occasionally return to this house and remind them how their only son killed himself.” She pauses. “You have to make a choice. You understand this?”

  I nod. I type. The gun feels so hard.

  She stands and looks down at me.

  “Will you join me?”

  I smell smoke. Somewhere near, something burns.

  The odor distracts her. She momentarily turns away.

  “Interesting,” she mutters.

  I am able to take the gun out of my mouth.

  But I cannot turn it away from my face.

  She comes back to me. She is not from the stars. She is a worm crawled out from the lowest cesspool. Her breath smells of decay, of all the future pain and death she will work on this fair planet. Yet I am no longer daunted by her stare. She can control my limbs, but she can no longer control my mind. Mentor is near; I feel the peace of my loving soul. It is one thing she cannot take from me.