21: A MILLION TO ONE
Soon the group was split up as per the plan of Will’s commandos. Tristan, Penelope, and Shen Dao waited in a secure spot near the portal connecting to the rebel’s hideout. They were armed with two of the large guns, and their ability. As timing was everything, they were to wait for the diversion, before they would make their assault from the connecting spire. They had no idea of exactly when, or even if the others would make it, but Starchild was supposed to mind travel and try to connect with her mother’s mind to let them know when they had arrived. If the other team had been successful, they should see quite a diversion going on. If not, Tristan hadn’t told the other team of their contingency plan. It was simply to rush the hideout, and take their chances, though they all knew full well it wouldn’t be pretty.
----------
Leena and her team found their way from their temporary hideout, back to the Cracowck planet with Shen Dao’s directions. The spires functioned quite normally, though at each way point they could see the sky, or rather reality, was fractured there as well. It was early morning on the world of the Cracowcks, and they soon made their way across the massive ‘Holy Bridge’. They all began the climb up the stairs carved into the sheer cliffs towards the ‘Devil’s Bowl’. Michael shuddered at the thought that his children had to cross this dangerous impasse several times already. He was quite terrified as he too had to climb over the impossibly deep vertical drop, added by the fact that he had Starchild strapped to him, even though quite securely. The rigging the children had left just over a day before, made the initial crossing by Leena quite simple, though Michael couldn’t, or would not watch her do this.
Soon the whole team was past the terrible gouge in the carved stairway, and headed up towards the ridge line. They all hoped beyond hope that the ‘air-fish’ was still there, so Becky apologized to William for making fun of him when he’d secured it so well. He laughed and hugged her. They truly were a team.
The group of six children and one adult broke over the ridge top before mid-morning, and they were ultimately relieved as they saw the golden blimp was still moored where they had left it.
“Good grief Leena! You flew that?” Michael was frightened, and proud at the same time. He carried Starchild in his arms, but used his free hand to grasp his daughter’s hand. Leena smiled at him, and he smiled back proudly.
The crew went to work as they came aboard. Leena took command right away, and quite naturally. William and Joshua stood by to cast off, while Becky went to the gas fill valves by the rear of the bridge cabin. Sarah and Starchild waited with Michael and Leena by the control console, and soon Leena had the engines fired, and warming up.
“Cast off! And get your butts up here!” Leena yelled down the ramp.
The boys came running up in a moment.
Next she told Becky, “Start filling the balloon slowly.”
“Aye, Aye Captain.” Came the reply.
Michael began to laugh, Sarah and Starchild joined in.
In a minute or two the ship started to rise, and the rolling hills filling the windows were replaced by the sapphire blue sky, tinged with a few streaked clouds touching the edges of the rich hue. Leena revved up the engines, and pointed the craft east.
“Let’s go find a Kreel, shall we?” she offered.
Everyone had joined them in the bridge cabin, and Michael could tell from the way the other children has sucked in their breaths, that he was in for something.
“A Kreel huh?” He said with brows raised.
“You’re not going to believe this Mr. Welsh.” Joshua intoned.
By mid-afternoon everyone including the crew was getting hungry. Luckily Becky and Leena still had a good bunch of berries and fruit left from their provisions, and they readily shared with all. Starchild especially liked the sweet tasting fruits from the bird world, as she hadn’t had too many tree, or bush fruits in her short life. So to say she had a passion for the produce would have been quite an understatement.
After everyone else had eaten their fill, Starchild was still munching on some of the delicious harvest. When Becky had moved their knap sacks to the rear of the cabin to signal her that the meal was over, Starchild waited for a few minutes until everyone was occupied again, and she snuck into Becky’s pack for more of the berries. It was then that she found something else that looked too good to pass up.
Leena said to her father, “I bet you are having a hard time with hearing the ‘G’ word huh, dad?” as she easily kept the ship on course.
“The ‘G’ word?” He wondered at what she meant.
“Yeah, Grandpa!” Leena laughed hard.
He shook his head, and laughed too. “I’ll tell you, it’s more than worth it, for my sweet little darling Star.” He looked around for her. “Say where did she go?” Then as he and everyone else looked, they saw Starchild lying unconscious by Becky’s knap sack, with a half-eaten cookie in her tiny little hand.
“Oh my GOD!” Becky screamed. “She ate the sleepy cookie!”
Everyone was instantly gathered around the toddler.
Michael demanded, “What the hell was in that cookie?” as he tried to listen for breathing, and he felt for a pulse.
“We don’t know exactly” Becky said in panic. “The birds gave us something to help Sarah sleep, and we put it in the cookie to give to the guards, so we could escape.” She was talking a mile a minute.
“Is she breathing?” Leena said in horror.
“It’s very shallow, so is her pulse.” Michael looked shocked, and he started rubbing Starchild’s face and neck. “The birds gave you something? What birds?”
“Later dad. Starchild! Stay with us!” Leena implored.
“That’s good Leena! Talk to her, call to her. She said she knows you better than anyone from that program or whatever.” Michael told with imperative. “Tell her to stay with us!”
Starchild was confused. She was in the dark, and she couldn’t concentrate. There was nothing familiar here, where ever that was. Then she saw the familiar shifting colors of the other place, or dimension as her folks called it. She went towards it. As she grew near she saw there was some sort of barrier blocking it from her. Starchild wondered at this. It wasn’t like before. Somehow she knew that she could cross this barrier, but if she did; then she felt that she couldn’t come back to this dark place. That was OK, as she didn’t like the dark place. So she started to will herself to cross the barrier, but just then she heard a voice. It was calling her name.
That voice was familiar too. What did it want from her, she was busy trying to get across the barrier into the familiar place. Why is it calling her name? So she listened again, and then she remembered the voice. It was her auntie Leena’s program voice. What did it want now? Was it playing a game on her, or maybe they were playing a game together, she couldn’t remember. The voice called louder, and told her to come back. Why? She wanted to go to the familiar place, and not be in this dark any longer. Still it was demanding her to come back. So she went back away from the lights and colors she loved so much. Back into the dark. Then it got louder, and then louder. Suddenly there was light from around her, and she could see dim shapes.
“She’s coming to! Keep talking to her Leena!” Michael was performing gentle chest compressions on Starchild as Becky was breathing into her mouth on certain counts.
Starchild then remembered eating something wrong. It had made her go into that dark place. She felt the drug, or poison coursing through her veins, and she made the tiny little pieces of it go away, out of her.
All of them breathed an infinite sigh of relief as Starchild coughed, and gaged, but then started breathing on her own. Her eyes seemed to focus, and she caught a deep breath. Michael stopped the CPR and quickly checked her pulse. He sat back and felt his own chest, his heart was racing like never before.
“Auntie Leena!” Starchild cried out, and reached her little arms for her.
Leena grabbed her niece and hugged her like she’d been gone for years. “Oh God! I though we lost you Star.” She said sobbing.
“You called me to come back. I love you auntie Leena.” Star said weakly.
It was near nightfall when the ship crossed the coast line. All had taken a nap after the close call, except for Leena, and her father. They talked the whole time, each switching off with the other on the wheel. Soon though they too needed sleep, and William relived them for a spell.
They awoke in the morning, though they had just intended a short nap. Becky was piloting the ship, and Joshua was busy searching for Kreel sign. Starchild went to her grandpa right away, wanting to sit on his lap.
“Why didn’t you wake us up?” Leena asked no one in particular.
Becky shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing to see.”
Leena set about to get some food from the provisions.
Sarah told her, “I haven’t felt one yet. Maybe they won’t talk to us now. After all I told them they were hurting us.”
“What do you think we should do then Sarah?” Leena asked and then took a swig of water.
The little girl thought for a moment. “If I could get closer to them, maybe I could call them.”
“We can do that.” Leena took the wheel from Becky, and slowed the craft down. Then she opened the gas release valve some, until they barely started to drop.
“Becky, go aft and get ready to add some gas when I give the word.” She ordered.
Michael had truly come to appreciate that she was the Captain here. There was no doubt about that, just by her ability to command. William seemed happy to take the back seat here on the ship, as he too enjoyed watching her work. Michael was no dummy though; he saw the way William looked at his daughter.
‘Glad I’m here now.’ He twitched.
Sarah sat cross legged on the deck, as she had seen Starchild do. Star smiled as she watched. When she and Sarah had ‘feel-talked’, as the other girl called it, she learned she could enter Sarah’s mind as she had been able to do with her own parents. There she saw all the memories of their adventures, including the encounter with the Kreel. She even felt the memory of their communication, but she couldn’t for the life of her, understand how, or even just what the other girl did to ‘feel-talk’. It was a mystery.
Sarah closed her eyes, and relaxed, doing the breathing that Starchild had ‘shown’ her how to do. Even though Sarah couldn’t enter Starchild’s mind, she could learn much from the little girl’s feelings about things, when she let her.
“Becky, NOW!” Leena yelled, and the ship stopped its descent a little less than a hundred meters above the waves. “OK Sarah, do your thing.” Leena said as she cut the engines to a low idle.
Sarah sat there and appeared to do nothing.
“What’s she doing now?” Michael asked quietly.
“She’s going to call a Kreel.” Starchild spoke with a gleam in her eyes.
It took an hour before Sarah opened her eyes. “I found one.” She said.
Michael eagerly looked out the window, searching for the Kreel. No one else bothered.
“Why don’t you help me look for it William, Joshua?” He prodded.
All of them laughed at the question.
“What?”
“I don’t think you’ll miss it Mr. Welsh.” William chuckled with good nature.
“Oh yeah? Just how big are these Kreels?”
Again everyone chuckled, not at Michael, just at what they knew was coming.
Suddenly the sound of a thousand Niagara Falls resonated from below the ship, causing them all to cover their ears. Rising from the sea beneath them, the Breack Kreel displaced enough water to fill a very large lake. Leena couldn’t hear her father, but she watched him mouth; “Holy Smokes!” As soon as the noise died down from the water rushing off the creature, William came up to Michael, whose jaw was dragging the deck, and patted him on the back.
“That Mr. Welsh, is a Breack Kreel.” He said haughtily.
“Holy Smokes!” Was all Michael could utter.
When the tentacles came out of their cavity, and the blue glow with flashes of bright lights started, Michael actually became somewhat terrified.
“It won’t hurt us Grandpa, they like Sarah.” Starchild comforted him, and he took her up in his arms.
“Stay here with Grandpa Honey.” It still felt so weird for him to say the ‘G’ word.
Sarah stood up, and went to the window. “Turn off the engines Leena, They will take it from here.”
“They?” Leena asked as she complied.
“They only have one body, for many minds.” Sarah answered unobtrusively.
Leena remembered how big Chirp Swee had said that the brain cavity was, and it made her wonder. Then she thought of her friend, who was so close, yet so far away, and hoped that she was alright; and she remembered her promise to the bird.
Soon the tendrils wrapped around the motionless ‘air-fish’, and they began to retract into their cavity.
“This is supposed to happen, isn’t it?” Michael questioned.
They all had big eyes, even Sarah, as they were pulled into a huge cavern like space behind the creature’s head. It must have been the size of a dozen football fields, and the interior was lighted by the brilliant blue glow from the tentacles.
“What are those glowing things, like ‘spaghetti’?” Joshua wondered.
“I think they are like a tongue or something like that.” Sarah told.
“You mean we’re in its mouth?”
“No. They eat with something else. This is what they talk with.”
A huge flap of Kreel flesh closed over the opening to the cavity.
“OK Starchild, this is where they’re going to need your help.” Sarah said.
William turned on the cabin light, as both girls sat down facing each other in the middle of the deck, and closed their eyes.
“Now what are they doing?” Michael queried.
“Tristan had said that they would need Starchild to show the Kreel the way to the rebel hideout.” Leena told him quietly.
“Can Star talk to the Kreel too?”
Leena said, “She can through Sarah I guess, or at least I hope.”
Another huge sound of rushing water came from above them.
Michael and William both looked around in panic, trying to locate the source of the noise, but they couldn’t make out a thing in the dense tangle of glowing blue ‘spaghetti’.
“We are submerging.” Sarah informed them with her eyes still closed.
Within ten minutes the girls opened their eyes and got up.
“That was amazing!” Starchild breathed heavily.
“What was honey?” Grandpa asked.
“The way they shifted. It was so perfect!”
“You mean we’re there already?” Leena was confused.
“Uh huh.” Starchild nodded.
“Wow! I didn’t feel a thing.” Josh exclaimed.
“That’s what I mean.” The little toddler said.
“You should try to contact your mom now that we made it.” Leena was already thinking ahead.
Starchild shook her head. “Let’s wait until we’re outside, and can see where the spire is. I think they got pretty close to it, but I’m not sure.”
Again the thundering sound of water rushing came from above, and then the flap of flesh sealing them in opened, letting in a little orange sunlight. The tendrils began to unfurl, taking the ship out with them. The spire was only several kilometers away, almost as close as the creature could get. Starchild sat back down on the floor, and started meditating. It didn’t take her long to leave her body, and enter the other dimension in search for her mother’s mind.
----------
Millie was busy trying to modify the purge generator, as it had really seemed to louse things up. The sky was coming apart, and it had happened after she used the device on whom she was sure had been Shen Dao. The apes had really started to come unglued when the sky fractured. She had tried to assure them that it was just a glitch, and that she would soon correct it. Millie wasn’t all that sure herself though, as the technical aspects of the portal system wasn’t her forte, although manipulating it was. Fielder started making a most unusual choking noise from behind her.
“Stop that you idiot! I’m trying to concentrate.” She snapped at him.
He gagged and coughed hard. One of the other apes looked to where he was staring; out the cathedral to the sea.
“Whaaa?” the other ape mumbled.
“Alarm! Alarm!” Fielder could finally yell.
Millie jumped up to see. There was the most inexplicable sight she’d ever seen. A sea monster larger than life itself was coming for them. It had thousands of glowing tentacles wavering in the sky, and then out of this; a giant golden fish was flying through the air at them.
“Now this just can’t be real.” Millie said with a calm voice, though in fact she was in shock.
The apes, Millie and the two women watched the unbelievable spectacle for a couple minutes. It was truly hypnotizing, especially the way the tentacles wavered in the sky.
Then Millie snapped, “Well don’t just stand there gawking you fools! Get out there and kill that thing.”
“You’ve got to be kidding?” Fielder was aghast.
The look she gave them said she wasn’t at all.
“But my Queen! There is no way we can kill something that size. Not with these puny weapons.”
“You won’t know until you’ve tried, now will you.” She pointed to the entrance hole.
----------
Leena watched as several bright balls of energy were fired at the Breack Kreel from the base of the spire, and nearby on the little island. The Kreel didn’t even seem to notice until one of the shots nearly hit the blimp, and then the tendrils quickly reached toward the base of the spire.
“That was a close one!” Michael said. “I guess I should shoot back.” He moved to retrieve the gun they had in the rear cabin.
“Don’t worry Mr. Welsh. The Kreel will protect us.” Sarah told him.
No other fire balls were shot.
----------
Millie looked in disgust, and torment, as for no reason her apes had stopped shooting. She even saw a group of them running into the sea. Moving over to the entrance hole, she summoned the disk.
“Good grief! If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” She snapped at Jackie, whom smartly averted her eyes. Millie hurriedly punched a few buttons on her wrist bracelet. “If either of you move from there, dear ladies, my sentry drones will obliterate you. Just thought I’d let you know.” She smirked. With that Millie stepped down onto the floating disk, and started to descend.
----------
Penelope was sitting on a pedestal, using the energy from the spire to help her reach out for her daughter through the other dimension. Tristan and Shen Dao stayed at the ready just in case.
She opened her eyes. “They made it!”
“Let’s go.” Shen Dao said. “Remember to look before you leap, but do it quickly.”
Penny got up next to Tristan, and they both nodded. Shen Dao and Tristan were each armed with one of the fire-ball guns, but Penny had only her talent to fight with. However that had always been enough before, she reasoned, besides; a weapon would only slow her down.
They activated the portal, and took a quick peek. All they could see were Jennifer, Jackie, and the two small metal spheres. The three shifted. All moved, or rolled away from the pedestals instantly, and the world exploded around them in violence. Each found out right away that they had to keep moving, as energy bolts traced their every movement, mere centimeters behind them. Tristan fired while rolling, and missed. Shen Dao fired while diving, and missed. Penny twisted, and dodged; faking a move here, and the sentry was having a hard time tracking her.
Shen Dao realized he would keep missing if he kept moving; so he rolled up to a quick firing position, and let loose with a round. He was hit squarely in the chest just as his fire ball blew one of the sentry drones to smithereens, his personal defense shield absorbed most of the energy, but enough penetrated to put him down severely hurt. The same thought was going through Tristan’s mind a split second before he saw Shen Dao get hit in his peripheral vision. He knew he couldn’t stop to fire, so the gun was useless.
An energy bolt grazed his shoulder. Penelope had finally zig-zagged her way right up to the sentry droid, but it tried to escape her attack by spinning out of the way. Penny caught the movement before it gained any speed. She instantly reversed her attack to spin from the opposite direction. The sentry fired, but missed as its target was moving fast. The next split second it was hurtled by her kick up against the cathedral wall, and it clattered into a useless pile of junk.
“Shen Dao!” Tristan yelled, and ran to him.
The old man breathed hard. “That will probably leave a mark, don’t you think?” he joked, though Tristan could see he was hurt badly.
Penelope went to untie Jackie and Jennifer’s hands. “Are you OK, Ms. Welsh, Mom….Um, Ms. Robinson?” They both nodded though somewhat dazed by the entirely too quick events which just occurred. Then Penny ran to Shen Dao, and tried to help with him.
“Are you with the government, or something?” Jackie asked.
They only shook their heads.
----------
Three terrified apes went running past Millie as she exited the spire. They didn’t have their weapons with them, but they each had an abject look of terror written across their faces. Millie wasn’t about to stop and argue, when she had a gigantic sea beast to deal with.
“I will make you vanish beast!” She shouted as she held her wrist bracelet up towards it. Her other hand touched a button on it, and a black beam struck out at the Kreel. A large chunk of flesh evaporated from the Kreel’s head area, including several of its eyes.
Sarah bent over suddenly as if she were in pain, and she moaned terribly. Starchild saw this, and quickly saw the black beam tearing into the giant creature. She followed the beam to its source, and focused her mind sharply right there; in a manner she’d never done before. She was angry.
----------
At that same instant the beam from Millie’s deadly bracelet stopped working, and in a flash the metal of the bracelet itself became red hot, and then molten. Millie screamed in pain as the bracelet melted into her wrist. She fell to her knees in the sand, crying out in agony. When she saw the blue glowing tendrils reaching for her though, she gathered her strength from force of will alone, and ran. The terrified apes were cowering in the spire’s base, but they quickly followed her as she ran past them towards the disk.
----------
Up in the cathedral Jackie went over to the entrance hole and peered down. “They’re coming back!” She said.
“Let’s get out of here.” Penny said, and she didn’t have to coax anyone. They carried Shen Dao to a pedestal. Jackie and Jennifer joined them, and the five were gone in a flash.
-----------
Leena had steered the ship to cruise extremely close to the clear tip of the spire, and Michael was holding Starchild as they watched out the window. They could see the old Witch and her tattered band of apes trying to escape on the pedestals.
Starchild saw something familiar on Millie’s belt, and she quickly relaxed her mind, and focused on it. The small purge generator pulled away from Millie’s belt, and fell. It hit the edge of a pedestal right on its operating button, and bounced. Just as Millie and her gang activated the pedestal; the device emitted its
destructive pulse once again. A brighter and larger sphere of golden light erupted in the cathedral, and the spire shook violently. Then the rebel and her apes were gone.
Fractured Worlds (Book 1 of the Fractured Worlds Trilogy) Page 21