Caleb saw it in a flash of a sudden unbidden vision: a grimy metal dog cage and a bowl of water, another bowl for waste, a single candle down there… He shuddered, and then the girl took in a breath and McKinney’s face — relieved, surprised, and resolute with anger toward the two parents — filled the screen.
Caleb let out his own breath, then turned off the visual and faced the students again — faced them as they all rose, clapping as if he had just completed a tour-de-force performance.
He held up his hands. “No, no, listen. This…this is what you can do. This…if you follow your talents and what teachings we can help you with here, this is what we are here for. Even if you’re not allowed to tell anyone about it. There’s no credit. There’s no glory, and if you try to go public with this you’ll be treated as crazy…at best.”
He tried to smile. “Now, I believe it’s lunch time.”
He scanned the room, noting all the faces, the eager eyes, the doubt on many expressions, mixed with hope. Hope he needed to nurture. “After lunch, you will be given sealed objectives, and we will get right into it, seeing if you have what it takes to not only join us here, but to do something that will truly change the world.”
He lowered his head, then started to clean up the table. It was the best he could do, trying to sound convincing, like he still believed in hope and optimism, like he still believed that they weren’t all, despite the secrecy and protection of the US Government, in the most desperate of situations, playing in extra innings on borrowed time.
Because he knew the truth, and he had seen the Others.
People like Caleb, his sister and Orlando, like Nina and Montross, like his son Alexander and his friend Aria… they were all in danger. Lightning rods for those who would either use them, or worse…see them dead.
And these Others…they were like nothing he could contend with. Ancient, deadly, inscrutable. Custodians, some called them; Operators by another name, although he still couldn’t be sure what they were, or if they stood for good or evil. One had helped Phoebe in Afghanistan while she had been lost in ancient tunnels; he had given her hope and a message about the future, but only after delivering a warning about his brethren.
Which was why, with the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, Caleb some days barely found the strength to open his eyes and start another day, frightened beyond words of what might happen should those Custodians come calling, should they not like where Caleb and his friends went looking. Should his team pry in wrong locations, or peek too far into the future or the past…
In that regard, he remembered he had to check on Diana Montgomery, the liaison for NASA, who had been here assisting them on a joint project since last week. It was just such a project that had him at the edge of terror, jumping at shadows and expecting the worst. He had an entire team of psychics probing the near future, asking them pointed questions about the security and safety of the Morpheus…make that the Stargate…team. Old names died hard though, and to Caleb, his core members were always from Morpheus. And Stargate? Well he never could never really buy in to serving at the place that was responsible for his father’s death.
He closed his eyes and felt the rumblings of a vision, felt it stirring in his heart, rising up his spinal column and stimulating his neural cortex…but then, a sheet of blue slammed across his vision, shimmering and unfolding like a curtain over something the audience wasn’t meant to see.
“Big brother?”
Caleb snapped back to the present. Opened his eyes and saw Phoebe there. Hair cut shorter, but curlier now than he remembered, but still she was his sister and he couldn’t imagine a more wonderful sight, short of finding a young abducted girl still alive.
“Hey, thanks for that.”
“What, saving you from a daydream? You’ve got to get some sleep!” She was chewing gum, popping it as she scanned the table. She absently shuffled through the drawings. “I should know, the twins have been a double-dose of croup-induced insomnia lately, and the diaper changes are relentless.”
She looked exhausted but still radiant. Maybe it was the post-pregnancy hormones, Caleb thought, but it was like Phoebe flew on a potent mix of caffeine and joy 24-7 lately, and it was almost too much.
“And how’s baby daddy?” he asked.
Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Still has time to play whatever latest online multiplayer crap is out there, and — I must admit — he does a great job with the babies and lets me get a few Zs in there at least while he’s up anyway.” She nodded to the screen. “So, they got the girl?”
“We got her,” Caleb said.
“And saved the day out in California!” Phoebe gave a little hand clap. “Every day I wonder, you know.”
“Wonder what?” Caleb knew Phoebe had been through a lot, had seen things he hadn’t, things down in a subterranean world under the desert, where what might have been a vision or a vivid dream spelled out her value in the future years and spoke of the revival of an ancient war she would partake in, with free will a vital aspect in determining the outcome for all of humanity.
“If this…whatever miracle we just pulled off to save some city from ruin or rescue someone who would have been dead or worse without us — I wonder if that’s what the Custodian meant. If this latest objective might be the one I was meant for, what I was supposed to do that’s so crucial in my life.”
With a softening look, Caleb reached out to her. “I don’t know. Nothing’s ever what it seems around that group, or the Keepers, or anyone we’ve dealt with, really. All I can say is, do what you feel is right, live each day and what’s meant to be can go…I don’t know…”
“F’ itself?”
Caleb smiled. “Yeah, you said it. All right, I’ve got a satellite to check on. You coming?”
“No, give me an update later. That’s your thing, and Diana’s. I’ve got enough to focus on, like making sure my kids are eating and their pants aren’t full.”
“Yikes, let’s not switch then.”
“Oh, and big brother?”
He paused, noting something about her voice and not sure he wanted to hear the question.
“Heard from…?”
“No.” He knew who she meant, but Caleb didn’t want to say Nina’s name.
“But, what about Jacob? I know you must be wondering.”
Lowering his head, Caleb sighed. “Who says I haven’t checked in on him?”
Phoebe smiled. “I knew you would. You’re a good dad. You’ll see him soon, I’m sure.”
“If she lets me.”
“Wherever she is,” Phoebe said, her tone lightening, as if to add, you know, you just want to give them space.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, get to that satellite thing and find the next great mystery for us to unravel. I’m sure it’ll be a doozy.”
2
Of all areas and the chambers in the Stargate facility, this one was undoubtedly Caleb’s favorite, holding a special, almost magical place in his soul. It spoke to him of childhood visits to the planetarium with his father, of the wonder of a perfect starlit sky, of the symmetry of the universe, of the belief that reality might actually be something other than random. That there was a purpose to existence, a structure. A plan.
Shaped like a dome, the Star Foyer couldn’t help but evoke in Caleb memories of the vault below the Pharos Lighthouse, the prize at the end of his first major quest, a vault that provided all the treasure he could have wanted and more. Knowledge, not just of the ancients and what they knew, but of his own father’s legacy and trust…and love.