The governor’s chambers within the healing temple were a complex unto themselves, with their own private gardens, relaxation facilities, and over twenty private rooms. Thus everyone on AMIE’s crew, plus Telmo Dacre, was given their own quarters within the temple.
As Lucian and Taren were looking at each other mournfully, Rhun advised, ‘Some healing is best done alone, but you are not compelled to stay in isolation at all times.’
Taren couldn’t wipe the smile off her face; that was a polite way of saying, sex is not out of the question.
‘That is good news.’ Lucian raised both brows and grinned, catching Rhun’s meaning also.
‘Speaking of not staying in your own room,’ Zeven ventured, ‘are there any women around here?’
Rhun laughed out loud. ‘Sorry, I can’t help it, you’ll never change. Always, your only thought before or after battle was where to find the ladies.’
‘Yep, that’s him,’ Taren agreed with a laugh.
‘But the truth is,’ Rhun advised Zeven, ‘the only woman who’d really interest you departed this world with you, not too long ago.’
Zeven looked disappointed. ‘So the answer is no.’
Rhun nodded. ‘Even if that were not the case, given what I know about you, I would hardly let you loose on the unsuspecting females of my planet.’
All found the humour in the comment, but Zeven wasn’t sure if he was too amused.
Rhun didn’t want to offend his guest and so said, ‘But there are many pictures of your female half around here, if you’re curious to —’
‘I’m not!’ Zeven declined and everyone appeared surprised. ‘That would take all the fun out of looking, don’t you think?’
Ringbalin was far more interested in the garden beyond the windows in the corridor where their rooms were located. ‘May we go outside?’
‘You may,’ Rhun was happy to advise. ‘Security gates will prevent you wandering anywhere you might be seen … although most would just mistake you for En Noah! It’s these three I am more concerned about.’ The governor motioned to Taren, Lucian and Zeven, whereupon Ringbalin immediately made a beeline for the closest door leading outside.
‘Feel free to look around,’ Rhun invited Taren, Lucian, Zeven and Telmo, as he backed up towards the staircase that led upstairs. ‘I’m just going to check on my brother.’ The governor turned and departed to do so.
‘Just my luck that in this universe, I’m a frickin’ spirit.’ Zeven looked to Taren and Lucian. ‘At least you get stuck here together! Damn, I wish Rory was more adventurous.’
‘Are you still an item?’ Taren assumed they were as he kept talking about her being his girlfriend in the present tense.
‘Nope,’ Zeven confessed, exasperated.
‘I’m sorry.’ Taren regretted prying, as the topic made him agitated.
‘It’s not your fault.’ He smiled at her briefly. ‘I’m mad at myself. I knew if I took this trip I’d miss her, and sure enough, I do. She’d really dig all this.’ Through the window he saw Ringbalin wander into the foreign garden, full of the excited fascination that accompanies new discovery. ‘When I return and tell her about this place, Aurora is going to wish she’d come.’
It was clear to Taren that Zeven’s falling out with Aurora had been over him following Lucian and herself into the void. ‘I’m sorry that you were forced to choose.’
‘There was no choice,’ Zeven insisted. ‘At AMIE we are all about discovery, that’s what we signed up for … but Rory?’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know that she has the same lust for it as we do.’
‘She has no “Power” to make her brave,’ Taren pointed out.
‘But I was like this before we crashed on Oceane.’ The memory of Taren and himself alone together on the steamy, virgin planet still made him smile.
‘Yes …’ Taren knew he was thinking about their brief and only encounter as his bad mood suddenly lifted, ‘… but you’re insane.’
‘You are too,’ he bantered back, and Taren saw the admiration in his eyes. ‘If only all women were as adventurous as you.’
‘This is nuts!’ Telmo Dacre, who’d been silent ever since he’d been brought to join their party, suddenly spoke up and everyone looked his way. ‘I know I’ve never met any of you before, but I have all these memories of us — it’s like I’ve known you forever!’
‘And you started having these visions after Maladaan shifted?’ Taren established for the benefit of the others.
‘Yes,’ he confirmed. ‘But I don’t understand it really … I mean, what kind of “Power” is memory?’
Taren grinned. ‘That memory belonged to a spiritual master and Time Lord,’ she advised, ‘surely such wisdom will not go astray?’
‘So what’s your story, Mr Dacre?’ Lucian invited. ‘How did you get yourself appointed chief science advisor for the MSS?’
Telmo seemed overwhelmed by their attention, but did not hesitate to explain himself. ‘I designed the mechanism to contain the energy sample that, I have since learnt, was stolen from your project, Professor Gervaise.’
‘You seem very young to be placed in such a position of authority?’ Lucian wondered how he’d got so far, so fast in life.
‘Ah,’ Telmo blushed at being pulled up on that point, ‘but not too young to have a lover on the design team to feed ideas through. I lost all the credit for my design, but I gained three-quarters of her fee.’ He grinned, hoping not to be judged too harshly.
‘And got laid in the bargain,’ Zeven said. ‘I like this guy.’
Upstairs, Avery was awake, on his feet, and freaking out. ‘Get Rhun!’ he was yelling at Cadfan. ‘I need to see him —’
‘I’m here,’ the governor announced on his way through the door. ‘Why are you yelling at Walter?’
‘Who healed me?’ Avery demanded to know.
‘Why, do you wish to thank him?’ Judging from his brother’s disturbed state, he thought not.
‘Thank him? I’m still mortal!’ Avery was horrified; he’d never been mortal!
‘I told him,’ Cadfan began calmly, ‘it’s going to take time, compassion and love in order for his DNA to re-braid but —’
‘Compassion! Ronan is dead!’ Avery was fuming. ‘They killed him before my eyes and because I am mortal, I couldn’t prevent it.’ His voice broke over the true cause of his grief, and he sank to a seat on the bed and went into a stunned state of shock.
‘Whether you like it or not, Avery, you are traumatised,’ Rhun told him after a long silence. ‘Your powers will return once you have come to terms with your ordeal.’ This was what Walter had been trying to tell Avery, but now it seemed to be sinking in — his emotional and mental state had to stabilise before they would mend.
‘They really don’t like psychics on Maladaan,’ Avery commented as an aside and then looked to his brother. ‘They’re ordering the disempowerment of the only folk who could save them from the Orions once it all turns horribly ugly. The entire population of that planet will be Orion chowder before long.’
‘Not if we can help it.’
‘Is there a plan?’ Avery probed. ‘I want in.’
‘The team is Maladaan residents only.’ Rhun was glad not to have to hold his brother’s mortality against him. ‘So, rest up and I’ll let your wife know what’s happened and that she can find you here.’
Avery nodded to accept his lot. ‘If anyone will make me feel better, Fallon will.’
Rhun grinned and made for the door.
‘Thanks,’ Avery waylaid him, ‘for not leaving me to die in that hell hole.’
‘Thanks for not dying in that hole and leaving the Otherworld to run amuck.’ Rhun’s retort made Avery smile.
‘I’m sure the little woman has it all in hand,’ his younger brother replied.
Rhun nodded. ‘Get better,’ he ordered as he turned to leave.
‘Avery!’ Fallon manifested in a whirl of air elementals that sent the scent of a spring field in blossom through the room as they departed, leaving their mistress to rush into her husband’s embrace.
Her arrival stopped the governor from leaving — he was obviously as keen to hear news from the Otherworld as Avery was himself.
‘I would have come sooner,’ Fallon told them, ‘but I had to dissuade the air elementals you ordered to Maladaan not to retaliate or abandon their charge in protest of their mistreatment of you.’
Avery felt urged to kiss his wife for her efforts on his behalf and then looked to his brother. ‘I told you she would have things well in hand.’
Looking at him now, Fallon had clearly expected to find Avery in worse shape. ‘You have recovered quickly.’
‘On the outside, perhaps.’ Avery’s cheer waned and Fallon’s concern returned.
‘I’ll leave you, then.’ Rhun resumed his departure, and Cadfan decided to bow out at this point too, closing the door behind them.
‘I saw horrid images of you battered and bleeding, like a mortal,’ Fallon divulged, once they were alone.
‘I am mortal,’ Avery confessed. ‘Cadfan and Rhun both agree that my DNA will re-braid given time, but no one can say for sure.’
Fallon was speechless for a moment; the event was unprecedented. ‘How?’
‘A new weapon.’
Fallon gasped, not liking the sound of that. ‘A new enemy then, too,’ she assumed.
Avery nodded. ‘And my infirmity is going to mean a hell of a lot more work for you, my love.’
‘Don’t let that concern you.’ Fallon smiled in the hope of raising his spirits. ‘There is an upside to you being mortal, you know?’
The Lord did not even have to ask what the silver lining was. ‘With all that is going on in the world, you want to conceive a child now?’
Fallon nodded, wearing her best impish grin. ‘Right now, before you have a chance to get better.’ She began stripping off the little he wore.
She was truly his joy, and with her kisses he felt his trauma ebb a little. ‘You’re good medicine,’ he told her, pulling her onto the bed on top of him. ‘Be careful, or you’ll defeat your own purpose.’
‘Love is always the best remedy, my Lord.’
Although Taren swore to the governor that she had broken her MSS conditioning, she was scheduled an appointment with Cadfan in any case. She felt she had little need to see a healer, as physically speaking, she felt perfectly well.
‘Your aura is rather something to behold,’ Cadfan told her as he entered the small, round, white consultation room that was flooded with natural light from the skylight in the ceiling high above.
‘How so?’ she replied curiously, not recalling anyone ever speaking of her aura before.
‘Well, usually a person’s aura is primarily one or two colours, reflecting the vibrational frequency or sonic with which they personally resonate. For example, I am a healer, my aura is pink and green as the talent stems from a need to express compassion, which stems from my heart centre, the primary colours of which are pink and green,’ he explained. ‘But your aura is rainbow-coloured, indicating that you resonate, or can alternate, between many different frequencies, chakras and psychic talents.’
The healer’s words had Taren thinking about the great deva she had contained in her science lab on AMIE for a short time; it had communicated telepathically with her before leaving and had referred to her as, ‘a twelve-toned organism.’ She uttered the phrase out loud.
‘There could be twelve tones in there.’ Cadfan was squinting to discern between the many colours.
‘So what does that mean?’ Taren was hungry for the esoteric information of which she had been so deprived to date.
‘It’s like having the power of a mighty creation deva all packed into one little human being,’ Cadfan simplified things for her. ‘I have never seen this kind of spiritual potential in any being still abiding in the physical world, and for whatever reason you have come into being at this time, I feel you must have a very great purpose.’
Taren trembled as she listened to his words, not from fear, but from an inner knowing that he spoke the truth; the proof was in her life to date and there were more trials to come, that was certain. ‘Am I still beholden to the MSS?’ She wondered if she had indeed broken all her prior conditioning.
‘You are not.’ Cadfan smiled to assure her. ‘I see a being very much in control of itself.’
‘Now if I can just get my past back, I shall be complete,’ she concluded. Why it was so important remained a mystery, but she had never felt so compelled to do anything in her life.
‘You are a formidable leader,’ Cadfan told her.
‘You all see me as Tory Alexander, but I am not her any more … yet?’ Taren wasn’t sure how reincarnation worked. ‘I wish I had some of her warrior skills … I’d bring the MSS and the entire US council to justice for what they have done to psychics out of fear over the years.’
‘I feel sure that is well within your sphere of capability.’ Cadfan looked in a large circle around Taren. ‘Your aura is rather extensive; in fact I cannot see the end of its influence from here.’
Taren looked up and around herself but couldn’t see a thing. ‘How do you mean?’
‘Well your aura is so large it escapes the confines of the room,’ he explained.
‘Is that normal?’ Taren wondered.
‘For a great cosmic master, yes,’ Cadfan concurred. ‘Would you like to accompany me outside and I can get a better idea of just how far your influence extends?’
‘All right,’ Taren grinned and frowned at once, as she followed the healer out under a beautiful glassed-over conclave and into the gardens beyond.
‘It is as I thought.’ Cadfan was amazed. ‘I cannot see the end of it.’ He laughed, excited for her.
‘But if I am so masterful, why can’t I see this huge aura I have?’ Taren challenged.
‘Maybe you can,’ Cadfan suggested, ‘but you just don’t remember you can.’
Taren had a short, vivid flashback to her early childhood: her father had told her something similar to what Cadfan had been saying. ‘I can see just by looking at you, that you’re different to other people, special.’ She gasped at the brief memory and tried to cling to it and see more, as she had not been able to recall any of her childhood for over ten years!
‘You’ve been encouraged to repress your gifts all your life,’ Cadfan pointed out, ‘and taught that your power is something to fear. But, on the contrary, it must be embraced to be fully mastered.’
Taren’s eyes were brimming with tears and at first she thought that was why she saw coloured spheres of energy around the plants and trees in the garden — there was even a faint bubble of energy around Cadfan! When she squeezed the tears from her eyes, the shimmering hues remained around everything. Taren’s heart leaped into her throat with excitement when she noted how Cadfan’s bubble was pink around his heart and faded to green around the outer edges. ‘I can see it,’ she gasped again, as she turned her sights onto her own form and was in awe of the huge transferrals of cosmic energy taking place within her being. ‘I see all of it!’ she exclaimed, rushed by a feeling of amazing expansion, of being suddenly connected to everything in existence, in this universe and the next.
When Taren awoke, Lucian was seated alongside her, smiling. ‘Did I black out?’
Lucian nodded. ‘You certainly did … that must have been some session you had with Cadfan.’
‘Oh my stars.’ Taren held her head, blown away by the memory of what she’d seen, and what Cadfan had said. ‘He is amazing!’ She was a little disappointed to note that she was not seeing auras now, but as she looked at Lucian and allowed her physical sight to slip out of focus, she began to see his auric hue that was indigo and violet. ‘I can see your aura.’ She grinned.
‘Can you now?’ Lucian brushed some hair from her face.
‘It’s all —’
The sound of a woman yelling in the corridor outside the room drew their attention to the open doorway.
‘I must speak to the governor,’ she said. ‘This was not Fari’s doing!’
‘The governor knows that —’ There was a man trying to reason with her, unsuccessfully.
‘Then why is Fari locked up?’ the woman challenged. ‘I’m going to kill Zelimir Ronan!’ she claimed with a passion. ‘I touched him in the governor’s office, so I can assume his form and I know everything he knows,’ she asserted, but she was lying. She had actually stolen the chief’s DNA blueprint many years before. ‘I can fool all of Maladaan to get to him, if I must!’
Taren and Lucian looked to each other, most intrigued to hear this, and, with Lucian’s help, Taren accompanied him out into the corridor to discover the source of the amazing claims.
It was a Phemorian woman and a young man that Taren had seen in one of En Noah’s chronicles of the Dark Ages on Earth. Their loud debate had stopped as the Phemorian woman spied the Lord of the Otherworld walking down the stairs.
‘You cannot kill Zelimir Ronan, as he is already dead,’ Avery told her solemnly.
Taren was shocked to hear this and a little saddened. She wasn’t sure if her deflated feeling was because, deep down, she had respected her nemesis, or because she had been denied the satisfaction of confronting him herself.
‘My Lord.’ The Phemorian woman humbled herself a little, and considering Avery was a man, that was rather unusual. ‘I am so sorry if my temper offended you, I did not realise you were here.’
‘I am a patient, just like you,’ he informed her as he descended the stairs to stand before her. ‘I was with Ronan when he died and can assure you that his death was every bit as painful and inhumane as anything you could dream up to satisfy your lust for revenge.’
The young, blond fellow who’d been arguing with the Phemorian appeared a little put off by the woman’s obvious adoration of the Lord of the Otherworld, but he stood out of the way as Avery addressed her. Taren stared hard at the young man; it was as if they’d met before but she just couldn’t place him.
Then the Phemorian did something unprecedented for her race: she began to sob. ‘How else am I to feel when I see injustice?’ she appealed to the Lord.
‘Compassion,’ he told her softly, whereupon the Phemorian shrieked in anguished frustration. ‘But where does that get me? Compassion will not stop the MSS from persecuting the innocent.’
‘No,’ Avery agreed, ‘but it will stop you from persecuting the innocent.’
The statement made the Phemorian gasp and she ceased to weep.
‘And when Ronan died,’ Avery stated, ‘he had repented, and he was innocent, Jazmay. There is no one man you can kill who will accomplish your goal, it is the institution, the mindset, that must be annihilated.’
‘So, how does one annihilate an entire network compassionately?’ the Phemorian was eager to know.
‘You do what you feel is in the best interests of all … love with your mind, think with your heart,’ he told her. ‘And if your goal is truly righteous, then you shall be supplied the means to achieve it, always.’
The Phemorian was bemused by this. ‘But I don’t know where to begin.’
‘I think I do,’ Taren spoke up to alert everyone to their presence.
When the three turned to find Taren and Lucian, only Avery knew them.
‘Who are you?’ the Phemorian asked, more curious than defensive.
‘I am an ex-MSS agent who seeks to break into the mainframe of my one-time employers and reclaim a large chunk of memory they stole from me,’ Taren began. ‘I believe my memory may hold some of the answers we seek in regard to getting our planet back to its proper place in the scheme of things. We are assembling a team of psychics from Maladaan to get me in and out of MSS headquarters, undetected hopefully. Ronan’s memory could prove very useful, if you’re interested?’
The Phemorian was stunned a moment.
‘Ask the right question, you’ll get an answer,’ Avery concluded, heading back up the stairs to his room.
‘I’m very interested,’ the Phemorian proffered, calmly.
After his consultation with Cadfan, Zeven had been given the all-clear from MSS conditioning, which was a relief, but he felt he’d learnt more than he wanted to about himself.
Without ever meeting Zeven, Cadfan knew all about his risk-taking, womanising and heroic tendencies, for his soul-mind had always been this way before he found his Chosen other. The healer had also predicted Zeven had a huge destiny to fulfil, and at that point in the conversation, Zeven specifically asked Cadfan not to mention anything about his love life.
‘But your entire life is love.’ Cadfan was amused. ‘Spirit is love, and the nature of spirit is to explore and push the boundaries of reality. You are so attuned to spirit that you will do anything to advance the common understanding of existence … and by so doing you serve the creator.’
‘So to try and prevent me from pushing those boundaries is wrong?’ Zeven had reasoned — having wondered many times if it was ego and pride that drove him to such extremes, or some higher calling?
‘There is no right or wrong,’ Cadfan replied, ‘only choices that prove to be constructive or destructive.’
‘But the woman I am meant to be with, my “Chosen other”,’ Zeven used Cadfan’s terminology, ‘she would never prevent me from fulfilling my destiny?’
‘I wouldn’t think so,’ Cadfan replied, ‘she will encourage you to be all that you can be.’
Now, in the shade of a tree in the temple garden, Zeven was contemplating this information and feeling a little lost. So Aurora is not my perfect match after all, he concluded. ‘But I was so sure,’ he muttered, bemused, as the sound of flapping wings captured Zeven’s attention and he glanced up into the sun to glimpse a large bird coming to land in the temple garden.
‘What the …?’ He had never seen a bird with a wingspan so large. But, as the sun was in his eyes obscuring his view, perhaps it was the Lord Avery? Zeven raised himself to go investigate.
It wasn’t the Lord Avery, but one of his ilk, maybe?
All Zeven could see from behind was the long white hair quills, a large set of white wings, a white miniskirt, suntanned legs, and white boots. ‘Are you looking for someone?’
The bird turned and Zeven was nearly winded to see Aurora — although clearly this magnificent creature was another incarnation of her. She was frowning when she turned, but upon setting eyes on Zeven she smiled winningly, held up a finger and began rummaging through her bag.
Fancy seeing you here? he thought to himself, his heart giving a little jolt at the unexpected event.
From her bag she produced a translation headset and placed it on her head. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked, adjusting the mouthpiece. ‘You look a little shocked … have you never seen one of my kind before?’
‘It’s not that,’ Zeven clarified, ‘you just look so much like —’
‘My grand aunt Candace, I know.’ She waved off the fact. ‘I get told that all the time. Actually …’ She tilted her head curiously, and appearing a little startled, she decided to keep her observation to herself.
‘What is it?’ Zeven wondered as she eyed him up and down.
‘Nothing.’ She waved off her realisation as insignificant.
‘If you say so.’ He was curious and the grin on his face obviously said it all.
‘I just …’ She appeared a little flushed suddenly. ‘And I know this will sound odd, but, I feel like I recognise you.’
That’s a little freaky. Her comment sent shockwaves through Zeven. ‘From another life, perhaps?’ He could not stop himself from flirting, despite the little voice in his head asking him if he was a sucker for punishment.
‘I am Ibis-Swan, Princess of Tarazean,’ she announced, holding out a hand to him, ‘and you are?’
Princess? The title resounded in his mind, warning him to walk away immediately, but the seductive look on the exotic woman’s face had him enchanted. Ibis seemed more confident and game than Rory, and to Zeven’s mind that made her the perfect woman — the exotic features of her race only made her more attractive to him. ‘Zeven Gudren, bastard Prince of Phemoria,’ he replied, not to be outdone, as he took hold of her hand and held it, along with her fond gaze, until she reluctantly withdrew from his touch.
‘Phemoria,’ she queried, ‘the planet that Jazmay is from?’
‘Who is Jazmay?’
‘Another patient here,’ Ibis advised. ‘I thought you might have met?’
‘I’m pretty sure I’d remember seeing a Phemorian about the place, and I haven’t, I’m sorry.’ Zeven decided he should take his leave at this point, feeling that to stay and pursue the conversation would be a mistake — a mistake he’d made before.
‘I was actually here to see Jahan. Do you know where I might find him?’
‘I don’t really know anyone.’ Zeven shrugged apologetically, as he backed up. ‘I’m just visiting.’ He smiled in closing and turned to depart.
‘For how long?’
The princess’s query made his heart flutter, but he suppressed his excitement and turned back to reply. ‘A few days, a few weeks.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s hard to say.’
‘Are you ill?’ She was concerned for him.
‘No, no,’ he assured, ‘but I have friends recuperating here, so I was offered accommodation to be close at hand if they need me.’ He forced a grin.
‘That must be frightfully boring for you,’ she ventured.
‘It is, rather,’ he admitted, his gut churning with excitement that he really didn’t want to feel. ‘I’ve been secretly trying to escape and explore since I got here, but apparently I look too much like one of your past leaders to be let loose in public.’
Ibis found this amusing. ‘You do rather look like our late governor,’ she admitted. ‘But there are wonderful places on Kila that you could visit without risk of being seen,’ she suggested, ever so subtly.
Even though Zeven was now confident of where this conversation was heading, he made no attempt to divert its course, and he really should have. ‘But how would I find such places … a map?’
‘Most of the best spots aren’t on any map, only we Chosen know about them. But I’d be happy to show you,’ Ibis proposed.
‘What, now?’ Zeven was delighted as he was already bored with temple life. And what was the use of visiting another universe, if he didn’t get to see any of it?
‘If you like.’ Ibis beamed. ‘I can catch up with my friends later.’
‘But why would you trouble yourself, Princess?’ he wondered.
‘It’s no trouble,’ she advised, ‘I show visiting dignitaries around all the time.’
‘But you don’t know me,’ Zeven reasoned with her, ‘and as a princess, surely there are protocols about you accompanying strangers into the wilderness?’
Ibis had a good chuckle at this. ‘I can take care of myself,’ she said, but with a second thought, some of her confidence fled. ‘Or, maybe you’re right.’ She hung her head for a moment, and then forced a smile as she backed up.
Let her go, Zeven told himself. Not only is she the wrong woman for you, she is royalty! Going anywhere alone with her is just asking for trouble. But the look of disappointment on her face was plucking at his heart strings and he reached out to delay her. ‘I didn’t mean to frighten you … and don’t get me wrong, I would love to get out of this temple for a few hours, especially with someone so lovely as yourself.’ The comment brought the smile and excitement back to her face. ‘But perhaps it would be wise to tell someone that we are going and when to expect us back?’
‘Good call,’ she agreed. ‘But who?’
‘Hmmm, let me think,’ Zeven considered — who could be trusted not to tell, but did not have enough authority to prevent him from going? He clicked his fingers and headed off through the gardens. ‘Follow me.’
By the pool, Telmo was typing reports into his communicator to send back to Maladdan, when Zeven found him.
‘Hey, Telmo,’ Zeven called to him on approach. ‘That’s your name, isn’t it?’
The scientist nodded, more intrigued by the lady in Zeven’s company.
‘This is Ibis-Swan, Princess of Tarazean,’ Zeven introduced the pair. ‘Princess, this is Telmo Dacre, science advisor to Maladaan.’
‘Hello.’ She smiled winningly. ‘Nice to meet you.’
As Telmo gazed into the bird-woman’s face, a string of memories from the past ran through his mind that told him, not only had they met many times before, but that Zeven and Ibis had met before and had been lovers in many lifetimes. ‘Princess,’ Telmo found his voice and nodded to her respectfully. ‘What can I do for you both?’
‘Ibis has offered to get me out of this jail for a few hours —’ Zeven began.
‘I don’t think that would be wise.’ Telmo stood to voice his opposition nervously — as Zeven was by far the stronger and more forceful of the two of them.
‘I’m not asking for your opinion,’ Zeven clarified. ‘I just needed to tell someone I was going, in case anyone is looking for either of us.’
‘But the governor —’
‘— will be tied up for the rest of the day,’ Zeven cut in. ‘Don’t sweat, I’ll be back in a few hours; no one will even notice I’m gone.’
Clearly there was no point in arguing. ‘If you say so,’ Telmo caved, wondering if he should warn Zeven about what he knew of his history with this woman.
‘So, shall I fly us out of here?’ Ibis suggested.
‘No need.’ Zeven thought he’d show off. ‘Just picture where we are going in your mind,’ he instructed, taking hold of her hand.
‘Okay.’ She played along, and in the next moment they vanished.
‘Whoa,’ Telmo gasped, suspecting Zeven had teleported himself and the princess elsewhere. He’d never known any man from his universe to have such a ‘Power’ — teleportation was fabled to be exclusive to the ancient female line of the Phemorians.
Telmo was mind-boggled. If Zeven Gudrun did possess such a ‘Power’ then he was not to be messed with, and Telmo resolved to do his best to stay on his good side.
Ibis and Zeven arrived back at the healing temple a little later than expected, but Zeven couldn’t have cared less if he got in trouble. ‘I had a really great time today,’ he said, and as he was holding most of his clothes in his hand he placed them aside. His trousers were rolled up and still wet from swimming in the ocean, and fine, white sand still clung to his feet and shins.
‘We must do it again, soon,’ Ibis agreed in a whisper, kissing him passionately, as she had done many times this day.
‘I think that I would get in serious political trouble if we did.’ He grinned, having controlled his urge to fully take advantage of Ibis’s overly amorous nature.
‘I love trouble,’ she emphasised, kissing him again.
‘Well, I’m that, to be sure.’ He forced his hands away from her lovely curves and backed up. ‘I really, really have to go.’
‘I know.’ Ibis swayed her body in a cute fashion, as she suggested, ‘But you can find me with a thought, right? So … think of me sometime.’ She smiled in invitation, and spreading her wings she took off into the night sky, blowing him a kiss as she did so.
‘Dear universe,’ Zeven appealed to the heavens as she departed, ‘how is any man supposed to resist that?’
‘He puts the greater good first and says no.’
Taren’s lecturing tone made the hairs on the back of Zeven’s neck stand on end; he hadn’t felt this busted since he was in his teens.
‘We called a mission meeting this afternoon …’ Taren advised.
Oh no … Zeven turned to face her wrath … of all the rotten luck.
‘… to discover you had decided to go sightseeing, against the express orders of the governor, with a princess from another planet! Need I say this is so bloody typical of you? There is so much more at stake here than just your love life!’
‘Easy to say, when you have one,’ Zeven bantered, trying to skirt around the issue.
‘Zeven, please try and see the bigger picture,’ she begged. ‘Don’t you think we have enough political ill will about, without you adding to it? Please tell me you didn’t take advantage of her …’
‘You always assume the worst of me, don’t you?’ A fact that really pissed him off.
‘Well, look at you!’ Taren motioned to his lack of attire. ‘If her father, the King of Tarazean and the governor’s own brother …’
Zeven was stunned by that news.
‘… had seen what I just saw, with you appearing thus, what would he think?’
‘We went swimming!’ Zeven stressed his innocence, perturbed that he had to. ‘And flying.’ His angry expression softened with the memory.
‘Sounds like fun.’ Taren was sorry to have to be the voice of reason.
‘It was,’ he said a little bitterly, before saying what he knew Taren wanted to hear. ‘I won’t see her again.’
‘You have one just like her at home, Starman,’ she said softly, as he grabbed up his clothes.
He shook his head to the negative. ‘Not like this one.’ His voice broke over the statement, whereupon he looked away to contain the pain swelling in his throat.
‘I’m sorry.’ Taren was sympathetic. ‘The mission meeting has been rescheduled for the morning.’
Zeven nodded, and with a deep inhale found his voice. ‘I’ll be there.’
‘Goodnight,’ Taren bade him.
‘Is it?’ He plonked himself down on a chair to fully wallow in the moment, and when he looked up again, Taren had gone.
Taren Lennox, Lucian Gervaise, Zeven Gudrun, Ringbalin Malachi, Telmo Dacre and Jazmay Cardea sat around a large garden setting in the poolside courtyard of the governor’s healing temple — Rhun was chairing the meeting. All on the final team for the Maladaan mission had been given the all-clear by Cadfan and were discussing their point of entry to the Maladaan Secret Service headquarters in Esponisa.
‘I say we just materialise in one of the MSS memory banks and access the mainframe from there.’ Zeven felt it was easy.
‘We’d have to know what one of these memory banks looks like,’ Taren said.
‘Well, you’ve been in one — don’t you know?’ Zeven was annoyed she was shooting holes in his plan.
‘Nope, they took that memory too,’ Taren informed and then gasped as Jazmay transformed into Chief Ronan across the table from her.
‘I know what the memory banks look like,’ Jazmay said from inside of the chief’s persona. ‘And provided the codes have not been changed in the wake of Ronan’s death, I know how to access the information you are looking for.’
‘Why would they bother changing the codes if Ronan is dead?’ Telmo asked. ‘Isn’t that why they kill people … so they don’t have to bother changing codes, locks etc? There’s no security risk in a dead person.’
‘We might be in luck,’ Taren agreed. ‘But the memory banks are sure to be monitored, which won’t give us much time to extract the information we want.’
‘Take out the guards in the security station and then there is no one to raise the alarm,’ Rhun suggested; from past experience he knew this was a good move.
‘Exactly right,’ Zeven seconded Rhun’s suggestion. ‘Do you know how many guards that might be?’ He looked to the Phemorian still wearing the chief of the MSS.
‘About ten men,’ she replied.
Zeven scowled. ‘Bad odds … for them.’ His grave expression dissolved into a cocky grin. ‘No problem, I’ll see to it.’ Starman was showing off for Jazmay’s benefit, but she was ignoring him.
‘So, we need two teams,’ Lucian summarised. ‘Taren and Jazmay will head straight for the memory bank and the rest of us will see to the security station.’
‘After someone telepathically confers an image of the said station from his memory.’ Zeven pointed to the chief.
‘I can help you out with that.’ Rhun waved a hand to acknowledge.
Jazmay assumed her true form. ‘So, when do we leave?’
‘Tomorrow, before dawn, will be the dead of night in the Maladaan capital of Esponisa,’ Telmo informed, having worked out the time differences between the two planets shortly after he’d arrived on Kila.
‘Then that’s when we should go,’ Lucian suggested and looked to the governor for final approval.
Rhun gave the deciding nod.
By the time they discussed weapons and protocol, the meeting didn’t come to a close until early evening.
Jazmay was feeling lighter now. The governor had told her that Fari had been seen by Cadfan. The healer had broken through the lad’s MSS programming, but in the process had churned up terrible memories in the boy. Fari had been placed in the care of the healing temple where he was currently dealing with the adverse emotions of his dark past. Jazmay, having met with Cadfan and Hatty earlier today, had the utmost confidence that Fari was in the best of care. She was also excited that she was to be a contributing member of society again. Being a warrior was what Jazmay was best at and now she could use those skills to further the cause of her adopted planet. She had purpose and life could not be finer.
Through the common rooms in the healing complex Jazmay searched for Jahan, and feared he might have got tired of waiting for the meeting to end and left. She was delighted when she found him by the fountain in the garden courtyard to the other side of the governor’s healing complex. Jahan was sitting with his back to the water feature, deep in thought.
‘You waited.’ She came to stand over him and Jahan looked up at her — his serious expression in grave contrast to her joy.
‘Of course I waited.’ He took hold of Jazmay’s hands. ‘I need to know what you’ve gotten yourself into.’
‘I cannot discuss that.’ She took a seat beside him.
‘When do you leave, then?’
Jazmay looked at him apologetically. ‘I can tell you that I am at leisure this evening.’ She nudged his shoulder playfully and Jahan bowed his head, now knowing the answer to his query was tomorrow morning. ‘Please don’t be like this.’ The Phemorian was brimming with excitement, which she really wanted to expend on her new lover in the bedroom. ‘I am thrilled about this mission! More thrilled than I have been about anything in half a decade!’
When Jahan looked to her, a little hurt, she grabbed hold of both his hands to clarify.
‘I meant professionally excited. I’m a warrior, Jahan, a soldier!’ She stood, compelled by her conviction. ‘I have to follow my own path, isn’t that the general philosophy of this fair city?’
It was painful for Jahan to nod in agreement — at least, it appeared it was. ‘But couldn’t you choose a path that doesn’t involve placing yourself in mortal danger?’
‘Look, I know I said I wanted to work for KEPA and be with you … but I love extreme danger! I thrive on it!’
‘So I’ll be more risqué.’ Jahan attempted humour, but Jazmay was not amused.
‘If the governor called upon you to risk your life for the good of Kila, you wouldn’t do it?’ she challenged.
‘There would be no risk to my life,’ he insisted and stood, ‘that’s my point!’
‘Well, there is a risk now,’ Jazmay disclosed more than she felt she should have, but he had to understand all her motives.
‘What are you saying?’ Jahan frowned, even more concerned than before.
‘My people have developed a weapon that can render the Chosen mortal,’ she told him in a harsh whisper.
‘No.’ He backed away, stunned by the implications.
Jazmay neared him to maintain her hushed tone. ‘Why do you think the Lord of the Otherworld is in a healing chamber?’
Jahan was floored by the news.
‘So the threat to us both is now equally great,’ she stated in her own defence. ‘You see now, my motives are not entirely selfish.’
Jahan embraced her and squeezed her tight. ‘I wish I was going with you.’ When he pulled back, he saw her tears.
‘I’m so glad you’re not,’ she told him in all sincerity, and ended their dispute with a kiss.
In the wake of the poolside meeting, Taren, Lucian, Jazmay and Rhun had quickly dispersed, having other places to be. This left Telmo, Ringbalin and Zeven still picking at the feast that had been laid out and devoured during their mission brief.
The sun had almost entirely set now. The exterior solar lights that had accumulated energy throughout the long sunny day shed a dim golden glow to highlight the pathways around the courtyard and the exterior of the healing complex.
‘Well.’ Zeven licked his fingers, having stuffed himself. ‘Seeing as there are no women around here to offend …’ he stripped off his shirt to expose his muscle-bound torso, ‘… I’m going for a swim.’ He removed his boots and stood.
‘Do you think that is wise, after what you just ate?’ Ringbalin posed, as Zeven took a running jump up onto the diving block, and did a somersault and perfect dive into the water. ‘Show-off,’ he commented, while Zeven was still submerged.
‘Always was,’ said Telmo.
Ringbalin’s attention shifted to their newest team member, curious about these memories he was having about them. ‘So you know of our past in this universe?’
Telmo nodded. ‘And I think I have glimpsed some of our future in the next.’
‘What?’ Zeven caught the comment and Balin was stunned as well.
‘That implies that we get back,’ Ringbalin probed further.
Telmo could not say for sure. ‘Perhaps.’
‘Maladaan too?’ Zeven was so interested that he crawled out of the pool and took a seat.
‘Could be.’ He nodded.
‘But how do we do it?’ Ringbalin quizzed.
‘I don’t know,’ Telmo said surely.
‘Then how do you know that we do do it?’ Zeven was getting a little exasperated and a little cold.
‘Because I saw a vision of myself meeting with Dr Lennox back on Maladaan, and it is not a memory from my past,’ he explained a little guardedly. ‘But what was really strange was that in the vision I had never met her before — I stated I knew her by reputation only.’
‘But you’ve met Taren,’ Zeven was bemused.
‘Yes, exactly,’ Telmo agreed. ‘So am I brainwashed into forgetting her? Or is it another reality altogether that I see? It felt to me like it was the latter and that I was back on Maladaan working just as I had been before the displacement.’
‘Wow.’ Ringbalin raised both brows. ‘Your mind is a really amazing place, Mr Dacre.’
‘It’s freaking me out,’ the scientist agreed.
‘I don’t get it,’ Zeven complained at having got out of the pool for nothing, and got up to return to the water. ‘What did Taren want with you, exactly?’
Telmo appeared a little discomforted by the query. ‘She wanted to wake me up.’ He eyed his two new comrades, wondering if he should confide in them; he felt like he knew them and that they would never betray him, but did they feel that way? ‘Truly. That’s the only way I can explain it, without seeming disrespectful to Dr Lennox and the captain.’
Zeven’s eyes narrowed as he sensed controversy. ‘How about I beat you grievously until you tell me exactly what you saw?’
Telmo held up his hands to calm the short hulk of a bloke. ‘I’ll tell you, on the condition that it does not get back to Dr Lennox,’ the lad plea-bargained.
‘Deal.’ Zeven took a seat again.
‘Agreed,’ Ringbalin concurred and stared intently at Telmo, eager to know what the contention was.
Telmo was not very eager to be out with it. ‘I saw Dr Lennox in my room and I recognised her from pictures I’d seen. She apologised for being in a rush and then she —’
‘Yes?’ Both the men listening leant in closer.
‘She kissed me,’ Telmo confessed at last, whereby Zeven gave a laugh.
‘You’ve had a wet dream.’ Zeven blew him off.
‘It wasn’t a sexual kind of kiss,’ Telmo tried to explain and Zeven laughed again.
‘That proves my theory!’ he exclaimed. ‘Because there is no way a kiss from Taren Lennox cannot be considered sexual!’
Telmo looked to Ringbalin who was more open to hearing him out. ‘It was more like a huge transference of energy —’
‘You got that right,’ Zeven concurred and fell back into the water.
‘And I felt it stir whatever it was that awoke in me when Maladaan shifted universes,’ he concluded his case to Ringbalin, who sat frozen with a contemplative look on his face. ‘What do you think it means?’
‘I’m a botanist, not a quantum metaphysician … Dr Lennox is the one you need to speak to.’
‘I wouldn’t tell her about your little fantasy, if I were you.’ Zeven had surfaced and was treading water. ‘Lucian is the jealous type.’
‘It wasn’t like that.’ The younger man became frustrated and stood to defend himself.
‘Don’t listen to him.’ Ringbalin placed a hand on the arm of the lad and he immediately calmed and felt good again. ‘To Zeven the whole of creation was made so that people could have sex.’
‘Absolutely right,’ Zeven cheered his theory, and then curled into a ball, moaning as his stomach began to cramp.
‘Is he all right?’ Telmo was concerned as he saw Zeven disappearing under the surface of the water.
‘He’ll be fine.’ Ringbalin didn’t bat an eyelid.
Telmo watched the water for a few moments and when Zeven didn’t surface, he approached the edge and prepared to dive in, but Zeven was no longer in the water.
Zeven materialised right behind the young scientist. ‘Dacre?’
Telmo was startled right into the water, and surfaced to find Zeven smiling down at him, most amused. ‘Welcome to the crew,’ he said, his expression hardening. ‘I cannot warn her as I made a vow not to repeat what you told me, but stay away from Taren Lennox.’ Zeven glared at the lad in warning and then took his leave.
Telmo was left shocked by Zeven’s reaction. ‘He knows he was her brother, doesn’t he?’
‘It’s … it’s complicated.’ Ringbalin declined to explain.
‘I know.’ Telmo floated up onto his back, looking up at the night sky. ‘Nothing really changes,’ he concluded with a smile, feeling like he’d finally found his family. Despite the sibling rivalry, he felt more at home at this moment, in a parallel universe, on a foreign planet, with a bunch of people he’d never met before, than he had in his entire life! ‘How wonderful.’
It had been a truly romantic evening — the first time in ages that Taren had had Lucian to herself for any amount of time. So, to celebrate, they locked themselves in Taren’s room all night and made love until their muscles failed. Even with all that physical exertion, Taren still couldn’t get to sleep.
Once she felt Lucian had drifted off, she slid out of bed and moved to a large window at the other end of her chamber — attracted by the moonlight streaming through it. Kila had several moons and tonight the largest of these was full and glistening on the water of the canal, beyond the garden courtyard entrance.
Taren might have been gazing at the most idyllic view, but her mind and her heart were in turmoil. What would she learn about herself on the morrow? Would she find the Maladaan solution she was looking for? Would she still feel and think about things the way she did now, with many extra years of experience in her knowledge bank?
‘Anxious about tomorrow?’
Taren looked back over her shoulder, and although she could not see Lucian in the darkness beyond the moonlight she was standing in, she nodded to confirm. ‘Sorry if I woke you.’
‘You didn’t.’ He came into the light and hugged her from behind.
‘Will I still be as I am now, or someone else altogether?’ She voiced her concern.
‘I don’t care, as long as you still love me.’ Lucian kissed her head.
‘That’s a given.’ She turned, kissed his lips and then held his face between her hands to assure him. ‘We share the same soul-mind, I doubt we have much chance of escaping each other.’
‘So why worry?’ Lucian urged her to relax with a squeeze.
‘Why worry?’ Taren wriggled out of his embrace. ‘Only the MSS knows what I did in those missing years, or what I’m capable of, or what prejudice or passion I might hold?’
‘But worrying about it isn’t going to change the truth,’ Lucian pointed out gently, as Taren was clearly beginning to freak out. ‘We can only hope that the truth and the future hold promise.’
Fortunately Taren recognised her own logic in his words and took a deep breath. ‘I just can’t stop thinking about it.’
‘Well, we’ll just have to find something more important for you to focus on.’ Lucian came over and took hold of her again.
‘Like what?’ Taren couldn’t imagine.
‘Like what we hope to achieve for enduring this current debacle?’ he suggested and Taren was stunned to consider that was indeed far more important.
‘We want Maladaan back where it should be.’ Taren stated.
‘We want AMIE back where she should be?’ Lucian suggested something more personal.
‘Yes,’ Taren agreed, wrapping both arms about his neck. ‘And a huge grant so that we can get our crew back.’
‘Now you’re on the right wavelength.’ Lucian kissed her neck repeatedly. ‘Perhaps we could even finally get married?’
‘Yes, yes, yes,’ Taren revelled, as his kisses made her neck tingle. ‘That would make me the happiest being in any universe.’
‘Then that is what we shall do,’ he vowed quite seriously. ‘We just have a few minor hurdles to negotiate before we get there, which will be better handled after sleep.’
Taren nodded, feeling a little better.
‘Just focus on our target,’ he urged her, ‘I’ve got a lot of faith in us … we will get there.’
Taren’s nod was more decisive this time.
When she curled up with Lucian once again, Taren’s mind was focused on positive outcomes and fantasies of the future life they would have together — no matter what happened on the morrow. It took no time at all to fall into a deep sleep.