circle, curving inward toward the ninth. The central tower was gigantic needle pointing toward the sun at all times during daylight hours, following its progress across the sky from horizon to horizon. On a guess, he’d put the central spire at five miles high, and that was probably being conservative.
Drawing closer, Gabriel observed that the central spire never dropped below a
thirty-degree angle to the ground in following the sun. Still, the fact that such a huge structure moved a hundred and twenty degrees twice a day without a hitch after centuries of abandonment was a testament to how advanced the technology was. The machinery had to be ridiculously powerful, and the bedrock would need to be solid metal to be able to hold up so much constantly shifting weight.
Gleaming darkly in the sunlight, the Spires appeared be made of the same highly polished, reflective, black substance as the blade of Gabriel’s knife.
Traveling for days between New Hope and the Spires, Gabriel could think of, or look at, little else. It was easy to see why they were called the Spires of Infinity, as they seemed to stretch away into forever. When one took in the spectacular sky silhouetting them, they were the most impressive, awe-inspiring things that Gabriel had ever seen or dreamt of in his entire life.
In the days since New Hope Gabriel’s broken rib had mostly healed up. It still ached a bit, but it wasn’t the sharp pain it had been. His ankle was mostly healed up as well. Sam had removed the stitches from the cut in her cheek and was also walking without a limp now. Her black eye had almost completely faded away, and the healing scar on her cheek didn’t mar her beauty so much as enhance it by making her look more her age.
Considering the tall wall of dull gray metal surrounding the Spires, he found it hard to judge its height, as anything looked small compared to the looming towers. It was hard to tell how close they were. Distance really did seem to stretch and fold in on itself. As they passed through the folds, the Spires would randomly jump up to meet them, then jump back into the distance. Also very disconcerting was the fact that every time the towers moved, so did all of the celestial objects in the sky. Distance was not the only thing that appeared to be distorted, but time as well.
Many different thoughts warred against each other in Gabriel’s mind. The sci-fi nerd in him was practically creaming his pants over everything, the Spires, the distortion in time and space, the alien world in general. Part of him was wired with anticipation over finally reaching his mission objective. And another part of him was excited over the prospect of being able to go home at last.
The rest of him was wondering what he was going to do with Sam. He wanted to
stay with her, to be with her, maybe even to marry her, but he did not belong in her world, and with that tail and those ears, she did not belong in his. On Earth she’d stand out terribly, and it was only a matter of time before she attracted the wrong sort of attention from whatever government conspiracy happened to catch her first. There seemed to be no way that they could end up together and that was tearing him apart inside.
Whoever the Apostle was, he was on Gabriel’s mind too. Was he the reason
Gabriel had been sent here? It seemed much too big a coincidence. However, the fact that he had a madman with an army of the worst mutations on the planet nipping at his figurative heels filled him with urgency. They could really put a dent in whatever he was supposed to do when he finally reached his destination.
“I’m starting to think we’re never gonna get there,” Sam sighed, shielding her eyes as she looked toward the Spires of Infinity. “They’ve been right there for days, and we never seem to get any closer.”
“We’ll get there eventually,” Gabriel replied.
“Can’t we just find somewhere safe until this Apostle person is gone,” Sam
pleaded, flashing him a hopeful look.
“I don’t think I can, but if you want to head toward safety until things blow over, that’s fine. I’ll meet up with you later.”
“You promised,” Sam hissed at him. “You’re not sending me away! You promised!”
“Fine,” Gabriel made a placating gesture. “Sorry.”
“There’s something bothering you. I can tell. What is it?”
“There’s a hundred different things.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“You men,” Sam sounded as weary as Gabriel felt. “You never share your
feelings because it’s just so unmanly. Keeping things inside is dumb. They eat away at you and then you go crazy, and next thing you know you’re laughing maniacally, covered in the blood of your victims.”
“That’s not funny,” Gabriel glared at her, seeing the bodies of the Children of the Chosen flying apart under the hail of his bullets.
He’d been sent here to earn redemption, and all he’d managed to do so far was
makes plans to fornicate, and murder a truckload of people. Both were sins of great magnitude if the preachers knew what they were talking about.
“You’ve been acting weird ever since we got away from the Children. What’s
wrong? Wait, I think I know. You’ve never killed anyone before, have you? Right?
You feel guilty, or something stupid like that. I guess I felt the same the first time I killed someone to protect myself.”
Shocked, Gabriel looked at her. He knew she’d killed the Chosen One, and
Devileye’s lackey too, but others as well?
“I knew it.” Sam winked. “That’s it exactly, isn’t it? I was twelve the first time I killed someone. He tried to rape me. Before he could stick it in me, I grabbed a stool. It was the only thing I could reach, and I hit him as hard as I could in the head over and over again until he stopped moving. I’d always been taught how horrible killing is, especially in a world that does its best to kill us all already. I was so horrified I wanted to die, but when the sun came up in the morning, I realized something very important.”
“What’s that?”
“I deserve to live too,” Sam said simply, shrugging easily. “Because someone’s bigger and stronger than me doesn’t mean he has the right to hurt me, rape me, kill me. I have to the right to defend and live my life. I deserve to be happy and safe, and no one else has the right to take that from me. If God, or the Father Sun and Celestial Mother, or whoever else is waiting for me at the end, has a problem with that, they can go to hell.
Sometimes you meet bad people, and they won’t stop trying to hurt you until they’re dead. In my opinion, if that happens, the sin is on them, not me. Defending yourself and those you care about is not a bad thing, even if you have to kill to do it.”
“I guess you’re right,” Gabriel nodded. Though her words made sense he
couldn’t help but feel the blood of the Children of the Chosen on his hands.
“I don’t belong here,” Gabriel muttered under his breath, but Sam’s hearing was sharper than he realized.
“Look around, Gabriel. Nobody belongs here. This world is dying, and it’ll take everyone with it when the big day comes. Every year the sun gets darker, and everything gets colder.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m here. Maybe I’m here to make it right again.”
“Things are almost hopeless enough for me to wish that was true. You may be my hero, Gabriel, but you’re kinda pathetic to be the savior of the world.”
“Trust me, I don’t want to be anyone’s savior.”
“I hope you remember your promise when this is over,” Sam whispered. Gabriel
did not think he was supposed to hear. “I don’t wanna be alone anymore.”