Free Stones: Theory (Stones #4) by Jacob Whaler Page A

wants to talk about Abomination. But he needs a little help.
    Matt thinks his reply back to Yarah.
    Got it. I’ll play along and see what I can do.
    He turns back to face Tom. “Tell me about it. You say you’re not the only one. I don’t see many people agreeing with you.”
    “Oh, there’s quite a few of us, actually.” Tom reaches over to the sack on Yarah’s lap and fishes out a piece of jerky. “Nothing official, just a loose organization that’s been around for a long time, warning about all of this. And what’s to come.”
    “Tell me about it,” Matt says.
    A big smile swims across Tom’s face. “You ever heard of the
freedom camps
?”
    “Sure.” Matt pulls some jerky from the bag and rips it in half, sticking one piece in his mouth. “I heard a bunch of them got shut down in California. Something about mass-producing bootleg dopamine rings.”
    Tom shakes his head. “Not true. The authorities made that up. Used it as an excuse to attack the camps and close them down. Killed several hundred of the Children. It’s what we call each other. We’re all children of the Two.”
    “The Two?”
    “It just means our parents. The parents of the whole human race. The Mother and Father of all.” Tom turns to Matt and reaches out a hand to his shoulder. “That makes us all brothers and sisters. At least most religions have that part right.”
    The darkness and constant vibration of the cab have already caused Yarah’s head to nod from side to side. As the pull of sleep wins its battle, her head collapses to the left and rests on Tom’s arm. Jessica starts to get drowsy, and Matt puts her head onto his shoulder.
    “You got a nice little family here.” Another gentle smile spreads across Tom’s face, revealing a gap-tooth smile. “I can’t wait until the Two come back to visit their Family. It’ll be a glorious day.” His jaw moves up and down as he works the jerky in his mouth.
    The transport slows down as it nears the summit.
    “When is that supposed to happen?” Matt says.
    “No idea.” Tom swallows a big chaw of jerky. “Could be a few months or a thousand years from now. Nobody knows for sure. But the Abomination will come first.”
    “Now that’s a word you don’t hear every day.” Matt stretches his arms up to the ceiling and tries to arch his back to work out a few kinks. A week on the Great Appalachian Trail hasn’t prepared him for a long ride in a truck transport. “
Abomination.
Sounds like the end of the world. We’ve already had a nuclear holocaust. What more could happen? The sun goes supernova? Asteroids destroy the Earth?”
    “I guess it’s a common theme in many religions. Nobody really knows what exactly the
Abomination
is. But we have a couple of hints.” Tom lifts his hand and stretches out an index finger. “First, it will cover the earth.” Another finger goes up. “Second, it will be a new technology, very tempting, very enticing. Everybody will want it.”
    “That’s why the freedom camps stay away from hi-tech stuff, right?”
    “You got it.” Tom leans forward, resting his elbows on the steering wheel. “A whole generation of people out there have grown up without jaxes and slates and bluescreens. When the Abomination comes, they’ll be ready to resist it. The only ones that can.”
    The windshield of the transport flashes a transparent red. The words
Construction Ahead
and
Reduce Speed
light up across its glass surface. Tom reaches forward and touches the truck-com, and the transport starts to slow down. As they crest the summit, two yellow earthmovers work against the hill on the right. They have already carved away a fifty meter swath, exposing rich black soil and a mass of tangled roots. To the side of the construction, a large Shinto torii gate stands with its fresh coat of vermillion paint.
    Matt gestures out the window. “So what does all that have to do with Shinto?”
    “That’s the mystery.” Tom shakes his head. “Here’s what we