Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Chapter 44

As she approached, the figure-also dressed in a white robe-was seated, facing death's door.

"Ricky?" she said.

"Suzanne?" He spun around, and then jumped to his feet. "Suzanne!" he exclaimed and ran over to her. Taking her hands in his, he said, "Are you alright? Like, you haven't been killed too, have you?"

"No, no," she said. "God brought me here to get you."

"Get me? Why? Aren't I dead?"

"No! We got hit by an electromagnetic pulse from CDA; and it totally wiped your memory. Hopefully Philip's got it reprogrammed by now."

"Oh." He looked back at the door. "That explains why it wouldn't open."

"Yeah. Besides, you promised to marry me. You're not getting out of it that easy."

"I'm not trying to. How come the pulse didn't affect you guys?"

"It did. You were outside the shed and took the full hit; but its steel walls shielded us from the worst of it, and it only reset our processors."

"Nice." He glanced thoughtfully at the ground for a moment, and said, "You know, I figured something out while I was sitting here. These bodies we've got in this place?" He placed a hand on his chest. "They're our sparks."

"You think?"

"Yeah. This is me-the real me. That's you-the real you-you know, what's left over when your body dies. Which means it lasts forever, according to what the Sacred Writings say. And you know what else? Our connection puts us spark to spark, something the carnate humans can't do. But we lost a lot too; so I guess it makes things more or less even."

"I know what you mean. I can't enjoy the smell of flowers anymore."

"But they're still beautiful. And thinking of beauty, we need to get back so we can get married."

She wouldn't let go of his hands. "Wait. I just noticed something. I can feel you."

"Uh, yeah."

"No, not like that. It's like the connection."

Ricky experienced her thoughts and feelings for a moment, and said, "It isn't like the connection. It is the connection! Like I said, we're spark to spark. I know you ..."

"... and I know you." She pulled him close, rested her head on his shoulder, and said, "I've never had anybody I wanted to hug before; but now I've got you." After a couple of minutes of their basking in the warmth, however, she suddenly straightened up. "Philip! He's waiting for us. We'd better get back, or he'll start to worry."

"Right. Let's go."

As they jogged hand in hand across the plain towards the small doors, she asked, "What's with these robes? We never had any the first time we came; but you got a brown one after you met that big guy, and now we both have white. Like, what gives?"

"Yeah, I noticed it too. I'm guessing it shows how close we are to God, as in 'total stranger' for nothing, up to white for 'committed Follower of the Anointed One'."

#

Philip knelt in the murky darkness of the lake between the inert forms of those he now considered his parents, his softly-glowing hands resting, one on each of them.

Where are you? he thought. Don't leave me alone like this.

Man, this is unreal. Back when I was general, all I wanted was to do what I thought was best, and didn't care how right or wrong it was or what anybody else thought. Now I don't know what I'd do if I lost Ricky and Suzanne.