The Serene Invasion

Chapter FOUR





IN MIAMI, JAMES Morwell purchased a Porsche 600 horsepower speedboat, moored it at the exclusive Simmons’ Marina, and stocked it with provisions sufficient to last a week. He wondered, while ferrying the cartons aboard the boat, what might have happened had he attempted to set off without food and water: would the boat refuse to start, or would he find himself going in circles and arriving back at the marina, his bid to end his life thwarted once again?

He recalled considering this form of suicide many years ago. He even wondered if, in the year lost to drug and alcohol addiction, he might have made a similar bid, and failed.

He wondered how the Serene would quash his attempt to end his life this time.

He set off at midday and headed south, then set the boat on auto-pilot and retired to the galley. There he cooked himself what he hoped would be his last meal, chicken kiev with roast potatoes, washed down with a bottle of champagne. He carried the tray to the foredeck and, as he sailed steadily away from the Florida coast, sat in the sunlight and ate.

By the end of the meal, and the bottle, he was a little drunk.

As the sun went down he returned to the galley and carried his provisions, box by box, to the foredeck. There he stacked them on top of each other until he had every scrap of food, and all the canisters of water, waiting to be despatched.

The question was, would the Serene allow him to jettison the provisions?

He stood beside the rail and considered the darkening ocean, then reached out and pushed the topmost carton. It tumbled over the side and splashed into the sea. Smiling, he pushed the second box and, encouraged, lifted the third and fourth and pitched them over the rail. Then the last box went over, and the final canister of water, and he laughed aloud in triumph and staggered below-deck to his berth.

The following day he sat in the light of the sun and stared at the horizon as the boat carried him south.

He wanted to die, but he had no desire to suffer the painful effects of starvation. To this end he had brought a supply of heroin, and when the first hunger pangs griped him, he injected himself and slipped into oblivion.

He had no recollection of how many days elapsed; one day phased into another, a long stretch of stupefied euphoria. His world consisted of the dazzling sun and the scintillating sea, the up and down motion of the boat as it rode the swell. At some point he must have switched off the engine, or the boat must have run out of diesel, as it sat becalmed on the ocean, laved alternatively by sunlight and moonlight while he sprawled on a mattress on the foredeck and laughed insanely to himself.

Kat came to him in his dreams, and in his waking hallucinations, offering a solicitous hand – and Lal showed himself too, always sneering.

He passed in and out of consciousness, in and out of periods of clarity, and during the latter he wondered if, truly, this time he might have beaten the Serene.

He was a thousand miles from civilisation and any hope of succour; he had no food and water... He must surely now be close to death?

Had a week elapsed, two? He was weak; he could hardly move from his prone position on the mattress. It was all he could do to raise his head and stare out across the calm waters of the ocean.

He saw flying fish glint in the air, and porpoises arcing from the sea in graceful parabolas.

The same day he made out another silver-blue glint across the foredeck. At first he thought that a flying fish had flopped aboard, but as he raised himself onto his elbows and stared, the glint expanded.

He wondered if this were yet another hallucination. A featureless blue figure sat cross-legged before him on the foredeck, serene in its motionlessness. He smiled at his choice of words. Serene? Very far from... But what did it want?

He sat up, his head spinning, his vision blurring. The figure stared at him; at least, its smooth, featureless headpiece looked in his direction. At last a voice sounded in his head, calm, neutral, soothing. “We want, James Morwell, exactly what you want.”

He blinked. He certainly was hallucinating – but, unlike the other visions that had haunted him, this one was welcome.

“And what is that?”

“An end to the regime of the Serene in this solar system, and... your annihilation.”

He stared at the pulsing blue figure, its depthless innards swirling with a dozen shades of lapis lazuli. “My annihilation?”

“Is that not what you have been attempting for ten years? Is that not why you are here, aboard this boat, in a futile attempt to end you life?”

He bridled. “Futile?”

The Obterek sat like Buddha, calm, unflappable. “Futile, because the Serene would not allow you to kill yourself.”

He laughed. “But how could they stop me this time?”

“You would be found, rescued, brought back from the brink of death. In fact, as we speak, a liner has been diverted and will arrive to effect your rescue in a little under three hours.”

He felt pain and despair well within him. “No!” he cried pathetically. “No, not this time!” He shook his head. “I want to die! You can have no concept of what it’s like to be denied...”

He hung his head and sobbed. He tried to stagger to his feet and pitch himself overboard, but he was far too weak to even climb to his knees.

The Obterek sat silently, watching him.

He said, almost pleading, “What do you want? Why are you...?” He stretched out his hand to the being.

“We want to help you, James Morwell. We want to assist you in your desire to kill yourself.”

He stared at the blue creature, not daring to laugh for fear of insulting the Obterek and sending it away.

He whispered, “You can do that? You can help me kill myself?”

The being inclined its head. “We can do that.”

He leaned forward, eager. “Then do it! Now! Kill me... I’ve had enough. I want nothing more than to be allowed to die.”

The Obterek sat impassively, staring at him with its featureless face.

“What?” Morwell whispered, fearful now that the creature would not carry out its promise.

“We will help you die, James Morwell, but in return we require your assistance.”

“My assistance? What could you possibly want from me?”

“We want you to help us assassinate someone – and in so doing bring about the beginning of the end of the Serene in the solar system.”

He stared, open-mouthed, and it was some time before he marshalled his thoughts and asked, “How would this be possible? Kill one person, and bring about the end...?” He shook his head. “And what of the Serene charea?”

“It is possible if we use you, James Morwell, if we – if I – inhabit you, take you over. If I became one with you, a tiny part of you, I would go undetected by the Serene. Then we would be able to approach the subject, and inhabit her. We would for brief second be in control of the subject, and be able to guide it into what the Serene call the takrea...”

Morwell repeated the word, excited by what the Obterek had told him.

The blue being said, “The takrea is the obelisk on Titan. It is the... quantum engine... if you like, that powers the charea in the solar system. I carry within me the means to destroy the takrea, and so cease the rule of the charea, and so free the human race at last and set it on its true course.”

“And in so doing,” Morwell said breathlessly, “grant me oblivion?”

“Precisely so.”

He recalled the last time he had had dealings with the Obterek, and how that had failed spectacularly. “And you would be more successful than the last time...?”

“We had... limited resources then, limited access to the requisite power. We have had ten years to plan our next move, to wait until the time was right... The power drain will be great, but it will be required for seconds only. We know we will succeed.”

Morwell thought about humanity released from the slavery of the charea, humanity allowed to fulfil its true, evolutionary destiny, to expand and conquer... He would not be around to see this happen, of course – but he would be the catalyst for the change, the martyr who sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity.

He flung back his head and laughed at the idea.

He reached out his arms as if seeking to embrace the Obterek. “Inhabit me.”

“In time. First, I must tell you about the subject.”

Morwell assented, and wondered who they might use in order to gain access to the takrea. One of the human representatives, no doubt.

“Who?” he asked.

The figure said, “You knew her as Kat Kemp.”

He stared, rocked. He mouthed the name, “Kat? But... but why Kat?”

“Because, James Morwell, she has constant access to the takrea–”

“But why should I kill...?”

“Because she used you.”

Morwell shook his head, confused. “Used? We... for a year we were lovers. She helped me, not used.”

The creature stared at him in silence. He received, then, the distinct impression that the being pitied him. It said, “Just after our abortive attempt to plant certain representatives with the transmission devices, the Serene deemed that certain people should be... monitored in order to assess the level of their threat in future.”

He shook his head. “Kat? The Serene used Kat...?”

“James Morwell,” said the blue being, “Kat Kemp was... is... a Serene self-aware entity.”

He felt as if he had been hit an invisible blow in the solar plexus, an impact both physical and mental.

“She was charged with monitoring you, of assessing your threat, of being with you during the period that the Serene thought we might contact you again. After a year, she was discharged of this duty, and she brought about the end of your affair.”

He felt a sudden surge of anger at the idea of her betrayal... No, not her betrayal: its betrayal...

“She used me...” he said.

“As the Serene are using the human race to infect you with their own unnatural edicts, their own perverted ideals.”

He leaned forward. “And when you inhabit me, and then inhabit Kat Kemp... and we walk into the takrea?”

“Then I, we, will detonate, and Kat Kemp will die, and the takrea disintegrate, and the charea in the solar system break down... Then the Obterek will be able to supplant the Serene.”

He would be dead, then – he would have achieved that which, for ten years, he had sought relentlessly. It was only a small regret that he would not then be around to witness the liberation of humankind, the return to the old laws of the universe, the true way...

He was taken then with the urge to lash out, to commit violence, to kill.

An idea grew in his head, and he smiled as he said, “I agree to help you, but first... There is someone I wish to kill. You can allow me that one last wish? I will not be around to see my people returned to the old ways, so let my last voluntary action on Earth be to kill.”

The very idea excited him more than he had ever imagined.

The blue figure bowed its head. “First, I must consult with my peers. The execution might serve as a... test-run, as you would say... before the real thing.”

It felt silent, and very still, as it communed with its kind.

Seconds later it looked up, and said, “It is granted. For the briefest period, for a matter of seconds only, you will have the opportunity to contravene the Serene charea and kill.” The Obterek paused, then said, “And who will be your victim?”

Morwell smiled to himself. “Lal Devi,” he said.





“PLEASE,” SAID THE blue figure, “stand up.”

With difficulty, James Morwell pushed himself to his feet and stood facing the Obterek, swaying.

The blue being rose and faced Morwell, exuding power. It stepped forward, moving faster than he had expected, and slammed into him. He gasped; it was as if an electric charge had passed through his body, galvanising him, filling him with energy.

He closed his eyes and felt the essence of the being inhabit his body, his senses. He had never felt as alive as he did now.

He heard a voice in his head. Open your eyes, James Morwell.

He did so, and found that he was no longer aboard his boat on the ocean. He was standing in a hotel bedroom. He stared across the room, saw a neatly dressed young man staring at him – and only then realised that it was a reflection of himself in a mirror.

He raised a hand and stared at the flawless skin.

You, said the voice in his head, but a younger, more vital version...

He smiled to himself. He felt powerful; for the first time in twenty years, he had power and the ability to use it.

He stared through the window at the city of Kolkata sprawling far below.

Somewhere out there was the man who had betrayed him, Lal Devi, and he was about to die.

Smiling to himself, James Morwell left the hotel and crossed the teeming city.