Chapter 1: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-1/ 

Chapter 2: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-2/

Chapter 3: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-3/

Chapter 4: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-4/

The Algae Voices of Azule

Chapter 5

And at that, the twins each grasped one of their brother’s hands, their Gifts gathered about them, burning bright within each. In an instant, they were completely submerged in Francis’ subconscious. The barrage of voices hammered away at them, all asking questions, talking, screaming, and asking why. Billy formed an image of a spherical shell around himself with his Gift. Solidifying the shell, he formed an impenetrable barrier that blocked out most of the voices, reducing the sonic chaos to just a bearable din. Once that was under control, he quickly looked around for his sister. Billy could almost see the voices within Francis’s mind, like streaks of blue light, hammering away at the edges of his mind. In the distance, he could see rays of a blue light focused on a spot on the ground. Moving as fast as he could, Billy ran to that point. The lights were all converging to one point, a body curled up into a fetal position on the ground. It was Ali. Moving quickly, Billy extended his shell, so that it surrounded his twin sister. The voices slammed into his expanding shell, bouncing off in a shower of cobalt sparks then turning to slam into it again. Every time the blue streaks of light hit the shell, Billy could hear the voice within shouting out questions of uncertainty and confusion. They sounded so scared…it was terrible.

Using every bit of his strength, Billy hardened the shell around them both, then knelt down and spoke to his sister. Gently, he shook her.

“Ali, it’s me Billy, are you alright?”

“What?”

“It’s me Billy, wake up!” He was getting scared.

Shaking her head, Ali opened her eyes, looked up at her brother and smiled.

“Are you OK?” he asked alarmed, reaching down to help her stand up.

“I think so,” she said as her head cleared. “I didn’t get the shell in place fast enough. The Voices…they hit me so hard, I couldn’t do anything but try to curl up and hide.”

“Well, you’re safe now. Help me support the shell.”

Ali closed her eyes and extended her Gift to the shell. It strengthened and became more solid, reducing the sound of the Voices even more. Once they felt safe, they looked around. Everything had a grayish hue to it, the ground, the sky, the walls…there were no distinction, no features, just a landscape that was ashen and gloomy. It was almost as if they were inside a gray cloud of fog that seemed to stretch out in all directions.

“Where are we?” Ali wondered.

“Somewhere in Francis’ mind,” Billy answered, trying to sound as if he knew what he was doing.

“Where do we go?”

“Toward the greatest concentration of Voices,” he instructed.

Billy looked around, seeing everywhere gray upon gray, with the occasional streak of blue plummeting toward them then bouncing off their shell. As he turned, he could see a slightly bluish hue off to his left.

“That way…toward the blue glow. You see it?”

“Yeah,” his sister answered.

“Come on, and stay close. It’ll be easier to hold the shell around us if we can keep it small.”

The twins headed off toward the blue glow, shoulders touching, while their feet were in sync with each other. Everything was still featureless and gray with the exception of the blue streaking Voices. As they got closer to the blue glow, they could see figures in the distance, people being encircled by the blue streaks of light. As they got closer, they were able to recognize the shapes.

“Look, it’s Mom,…and dad,” Ali said. “Are they trapped in here, as well?”

“These are just memories,” Billy explained. “Images of how Francis sees them in his mind, in his dreams.”

Their mother was dressed in her favorite apron, one that her three children had decorated for her birthday a few years back. It had pictures drawn on it: a fuzzy ridge cat, a long-feathered bird, an algae whale, and pictures drawn by a child’s unsteady hand. The words, I LOVE YOU, were written in large letters, each in a different color, each drawn by a different hand. She was working in her bakery, cooking something wonderful, based on the smell. Wafts of steam rose from the ovens as she baked, the steam formed images in the air, shapes that gave off feelings of love and acceptance, images of her children, her son going on his first algae harvest, the birth of the twins.

It was a wonderful scene to behold.

This was in contrast to the stark images of their father. He looked grim and determined, working the nets on a harvester. He was pulling in nets full of green algae, but not the normal sheets of algae you see on the oceans of their planet, Azule. No, this algae was formed into shapes. As the shapes fell to the harvester’s deck, their father sculpted it into something else. First, the shape of Billy appeared, with his form small and round. Their father kneaded the algae, like the twins had done with the dough that seemed a million years back, adding in a sprinkle of muscle, a dash of strength, …reforming the shape into something else, something tall and strong, muscled and rigid; something a father could be proud of.

Next, came Ali.

Her small shape rolled onto the deck of the harvester and was instantly shaped into a tall, slender young woman whom any man would be proud to have. She had no muscles, no strength or courage; she just seemed submissive and agreeable. This image made Ali angry; Billy could feel her emotion with his Gift.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” Billy explained. “It’s just how Francis imagines how dad feels about us. It’s nothing.”

“Maybe,” she answered. “But they talk a lot, out on the docks. Maybe he knows more than he tells us.”

“Maybe, maybe not, but that’s not why we’re here. Come on, we have to keep going.”

The twins kept walking toward the blue glow ahead. It grew brighter as they neared even though the insubstantial gray walls seemed to stay the same distance away. As they walked they saw other images, friends and neighbors, some who still lived nearby and some who had gone, moved away or taken by the Inquisitors. The Voices seemed to swirl around these images, but in general, left them alone.

Soon they came upon the blue glow. Billy had thought it would be focused on Francis, as they had been on Ali, but instead, the blue glow was coming out of a huge gaping pit carved into the ground. The hole was huge, probably half-mile across, the other side appeared fuzzy and barely discernable in the distance. It plunged straight down, with walls that were sheer and smooth as if carved by some titanic drill. Moving to the edge, the twins looked down into its depths. At the bottom of the pit was the brilliant blue glow, a bright ball of whirling light that seemed to thrash and writhe wildly, streaks of light plunging in and out like sharks diving through a school of fish.

“That must be Francis,” Ali confirmed, gesturing to the cobalt ball of the chaos below.

“But how do we get down there?” Billy asked.

“I have an idea,” Ali said, a bright twinkle in her eyes.

Ali closed her eyes and concentrated, then extended her Gift into the walls of the pit. Slowly, a line of steps formed on the inside wall spiraling downward into the pit. Once it was complete, she opened her eyes and looked at her twin, a satisfied smile on her face.

“What do you think of that?”

“How did you do it?” Billy asked, surprised and his eyes widened in amazement.

“This is like a dream world, not the real one. It responds to commands, just as our own dreams do, sometimes.”

“That was fantastic!” Billy said excitedly. “What else can you do?”

“I don’t think now is the time to show off. Let’s get down there and see if we can help Francis.”

The two started down the steps, Billy in the lead, Ali close behind, their shell of psychic energy still floating around them. They moved cautiously down the curving stairs, keeping their backs pressed against the smooth wall of the pit. Being near the edge made them both a little dizzy, so keeping their backs against something solid seemed to help. Taking slow and careful steps, they moved cautiously down the steps, both of them unsure what would happen if they fell. It’s likely they’d lose their psychic shell and be overcome by the Voices; certainly, nothing good would come from that.

“It’s getting darker,” Billy said with a quivering and unsteady voice.

“Yeah,” was all Ali said, her fear making her voice crack.

Billy looked out over the edge of the steps into the abyss below. The Voices were now visible as the bottom of the pit grew nearer. It looked like a maelstrom of blue lightning; a pulsing ball of madness that terrified the twins. Each Voice could be seen diving into the ball like a cobalt streaking meteor, plunging into the locus of chaos then coming out the other side again. The Voices would then pause for an instant, then dive back in again, their wrath likely centered on Francis.

“You think that’s where he is…down there?” his sister asked.

“Yeah.”

“Will our shield be strong enough to handle all of that?” she said, pointing to the churning ball of terror.

“I guess we’ll find out. Now get ready, we’re almost at the bottom.”

They descended the last few steps and reached the bottom of the pit, their backs still pressed to the smooth wall, trying to stay as far away as possible from the Voices. Some of the blue streaks had noticed them and shot toward the twins, the individual Voices bouncing off their shield harmlessly, but each collision made their shield shake a little. Billy could feel each impact within his mind and could hear the Voice trapped within the streaks of light. They were people just like him: voices of a scared mother, an old man on his death bed, a young girl, a soldier…people from every aspect of society, every level of government and society and race, but there was also something different, something completely alien and strange, another Voice that seemed to float above all the rest. This alien Voice was calm and curious, trying to reach out to the mass of chaotic voices and pull them into calm coexistence, but the other Voices were afraid, panicked, and insane. So the only thing the Voices could do to get away from the calm alien Voice was to run to another place, any other place and hide, and that place was within Francis.

Billy reached out his hand toward his sister. She took it, her palm sweaty; fear was showing in her eyes.

“You ready?” he asked.

She nodded.

Slowly they walked toward the whirling ball. As they entered the maelstrom, the Voices turned on them, hammering away at their shield, the blue streaks of light bouncing off like hail off an umbrella. With each collision came a shower of sparks, the Voice trapped within shrieking with confusion and fear. And with each collision, their shield shrunk a little. They both felt the effect. The slow collapse of their psychic shell brought them brief stabs of pain, but not to their bodies…to their minds. Pushing with all their strength, the twins tried to maintain their shield against this assault, but it was starting to take its toll. Against all these odds, they kept on pushing forward, trying to ignore the strain, the pain within their minds, and focus instead on their brother, Francis.

“Come on, faster!” Billy yelled over the din of the Voices.

They started to jog slowly, pushing through the blue cloud as if pushing against an ocean current. More Voices struck, and then more, their shell started to collapse more and more. It was now just barely over their heads, starting to wrap close to their arms and shoulders.

“Faster!” Billy yelled.

And they ran. They ran for their lives…for their sanity…for Francis. As they streaked for the center of the blue storm Billy continued to pour psychic energy into their shield, drawing more power he never realized he even had. He could feel Ali doing the same, but could also sense that she was reaching the limits of her Gift.

Turning his head, he looked at his sister and was shocked at what he saw. She was completely covered in sweat. Her face looked ghastly pale and exhausted, a look of terror…and regret in her eyes. Ali didn’t think she could make it—she was giving up.

“We can do this,” Billy screamed, his voice piercing through the chaotic storm of Voices. “Don’t give up.”

She nodded as she reached for more psychic power and pushed back the shield a little…she was still fighting. But then, because Ali was a little taller than her brother, the shield started to brush her hair. Billy could see it, the transparent bubble touching the edge of his sister’s matted strawberry blond locks. And so could the Voices. They attacked this point, hammering away at it, trying to reach her.

And then one did.

Ali screamed as the blue streak entered her mind…then another thousand followed the first. It was like a flow of blue lighting. She screamed again, her face contorted in pain, and then she started to fall, her body going limp. Billy quickly scooped her up in his arms and held her tight as he ran on. He could see Francis in the distance. His body lay in a fetal position on the ground, blue streaks of light moving in and out of him as if he were not even there. He twitched a little with each passing, the sheer multitudes causing him to shake violently as if in a seizure.

“We can make it, Ali, we can make it,” he encouraged his sister.

His sister moaned, her eyes open wide, darting to the left and right uncontrollably.

“We can make it,” this time to himself.

His shield was collapsing even faster without his sister’s help. Drawing on all the psychic power he had, Billy pushed his shield outward against the Voices’ assault. They continued to flow through Ali but were also hungry for him. They dove relentlessly at him, their blue streaks diving at his eyes and head. He could feel the shield shrink under their onslaught.

“Almost there,” he said in a strained voice.

Four more steps.

“I have to make it; I have to save Francis and Ali.”

Billy thought of his mother, her warm brown eyes, and the color of her bread when it came fresh out of the oven. He had to make it.

Three more steps.

He thought about his father’s strength and courage. I wish I had his strength right now. The shell collapsed a little more. I can do it.

Then something his father had told him once surfaced within Billy’s memory, ‘Remember Billy, when you try something hard, don’t let fear of failure taint your efforts. Simply put, you just have to do whatever it takes to succeed, and you don’t quit, until you do succeed. Others may be counting on you, and you can’t let them down. If you keep trying until you’re successful and never give up, you’ll always be successful. Never accept the possibility of failure.’ At the time, his words felt like an accusation, highlighting his weaknesses and failures. Those words had made Billy feel smaller and unworthy of his respect. It felt like such an impossible standard to try for, but now he understood.

He had to succeed.

He couldn’t fail. Francis and Ali were counting on him. They were his responsibility now, and he couldn’t let them down. And with the realization that failure was not an option, an overwhelming surge of strength began to take over. It was strength from his family, the strength of their love for each other filling him with power. Taking two mighty strides, he dove for his brother, his sister still in his arms. His shield expanded to envelope them all, as he landed in a heap on his older brother’s chest.

Then everything went black.

Billy knew he wasn’t unconscious because the darkness was something different. It was darker than midnight with his eyes closed, deeper than when he hid his head under a pillow during those summer lightning storms; it was a darkness that drank in everything, all light, all thought, all sound, until it was utterly silent, except for one voice: the alien’s voice behind all the other Voices.

“Welcome” rumbled the deep alien voice, a strange echo following every syllable. It did not sound like one voice, but many voices, millions of voices all speaking in unison.

Billy looked around and found Francis and Ali lying on the ground next to him, both unconscious and relaxed, their eyes restfully closed. The blue streaks of light had vanished, as had their gray surroundings. In fact, there seemed to be no surroundings, no features, just blackness surrounding them like a thick blanket.

“Um…what?”

“Welcome” it boomed again

“What is this place? Who are you?” Billy asked, no, demanded from the Voice.

“We are us,” the Voice replied. “We are the many, we are the one.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. What have you done to my brother and sister?”

“We have done nothing to your brother and sister, other than offer them the opportunity to come be with us, be part of us. Some of your kind have accepted us over the centuries, but few, very few. You fear us…fear what you do not understand.”

“Well, I don’t understand any of this, but I’m not afraid.” Billy said confidently. “Where is this place? What are you?”

“Where we are is everywhere. We touch a million places, see through a billion eyes, we are everywhere, we are everyone. The bulk of us resides on this planet, on the surface of the large bodies of water your kind call oceans. Your people call us the Blue.”

“The Blue?” Billy wondered, still confused, but he could feel a tickle of something at the back of his mind, some understanding not yet fully grasped. “You live on the surface of the oceans?”

“We cover many of the oceans as well as exist all throughout this planet you call Azule.”

“I don’t understand. The only thing that covers the oceans is algae.”

“Yes, we are algae, we are the Blue.”

“Blue algae?” Billy said, trying to process this information, to make any sense out of it. “You mean that you are somehow related to the blue algae.”

“We ARE the blue algae. We are an interconnected matrix of cells, with electrical and psychic impulses traveling throughout ourselves. Our numbers exceed a billion billion. We live in a world of thought and ideas, not in the physical world that you occupy. Our spores have traveled to a million distant stars, carried by the winds high up into the stratosphere, brought by the solar winds into the cold emptiness of space, and on your rocket ships that travel between the planets. We have traveled everywhere, and we communicate with those spores, those colonies. We see the entire universe.”

And suddenly the dark surroundings were filled with images; other worlds, newly formed stars, strange, tall red insect-like creatures, long, menacing-looking, crystalline starships, worlds of fire and smoke, frozen worlds of crystal…They were images from all across the galaxy, places their spores could see and communicate back to the host.

“You are within us now, in our world of thought. The entire universe is at your fingertips. Everything and anything is possible. Come, be with us, be part of us. Leave your physical body behind and see the wonders that we have seen.”

“What? Leave my body?…No…I came here to save my brother from the Voices. I don’t know who you are, or what you are, but my sister and I came for our brother, and we’re leaving with him. Are you gonna try and stop us?”

“Stop you?” the alien voices sounded confused. “Why would we stop you? Your brother was always free to go, but instead he stayed here fighting with those that cannot accept us. You are all free to go, if you wish.”

“Will you help us?”

“We help everyone.”

“Will you stop the Voices…um …” Billy paused and considered his words carefully, then continued, “those who cannot accept you, can you stop them from attacking our minds so that we can leave this place and get back to reality?”

“This is reality. All is reality.”

“Will you help us!”

“Of course, we will stop those who cannot accept us. You will be safe,” the alien voices said.

“Thank you,” Billy said gratefully.

“You are always welcome, with us.”

Billy looked at his brother and sister. They were both lying there next to him, peacefully asleep. Had they saved Francis? Would the Blue hold true to their word and let them leave? Uncertainty nibbled at the edges of his mind, but also a little regret. Those images of the universe that the Blue had shown him were incredible. He could feel the heat from the newly formed sun, could hear the clicking from the tall, red insect-creatures, he could feel it all. And it was tempting to stay and experience it all, but no. He had to protect his family and leave this world of thought. Kneeling between this brother and sister, he grabbed a hand of each then focused on his Gift. Drawing on all his strength, he reached out for the boundaries of Francis’ mind, feeling for the fuzzy edges of his subconscious and the barrier that separated it from his conscious mind. There, he felt it, an insubstantial border that slowly morphed from the unconscious to the conscious. Extending his Gift, he drew his sister and brother with him, along the stream of his Gift, to that barrier, and then punched through.