Ascension Seekers

by Amy Proebstel

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  AMANDA WAVED GOODBYE to her aunt as she programmed the telepod to make one more stop in Tuala before she returned home. She smiled at Barla until everything went black during the transfer. In only three seconds the light returned and Amanda set the telepod down in the grassy field outside of Kirma.

  She walked through the town until she arrived at the house of Bryon and Alena. She knocked on the door and waited for Alena to answer.

  “Amanda! What a pleasant surprise. Come inside,” Alena said when she opened the door.

  Amanda entered the house and asked, “Is Bryon at work still?”

  “Yes. Do you need him to come home?”

  “Not particularly. This might be easier if he’s not here.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’ve come to take Bryon’s samara back to Earth for safe-keeping. I have a bad feeling about it being left here.” Amanda hoped Alena would agree with her and not make this hard.

  Alena sighed as she replied, “I can’t tell you how happy it would make me if you did take it. It makes me so nervous having it in Bryon’s desk drawer. I swear I can feel energy pulsating from his office whenever I go near it!”

  “Really? That’s interesting. I really can’t stay long. Do you think we could go get it right now?”

  “Absolutely. Follow me.”

  Amanda did not want to be rude and tell her she already knew where it was. She followed meekly behind Alena.

  Alena unlocked the desk drawer and stepped away from it. “Please feel free!”

  Amanda nodded and bent down to retrieve the samara wrapped in the towel. It was too bulky to put into her handbag so she unwrapped it and used her own smaller cloth she had brought for that purpose. She handed the bath towel over to Alena and said, “Thank you for letting me do this.”

  “Thank you for doing this!” Alena chuckled. “Do you want to stay for some tea?”

  “No thank you. I want to get this back to Earth as soon as possible.”

  “I understand. I’ll tell Bryon you came by and why.”

  “I’d appreciate it. Let him know he’ll have it back when the time comes for him to use it.”

  “That sounds ominous. I’m not sure I want him to have it back.”

  “It’ll be needed.”

  Alena led the way back to the front door and opened it for Amanda. “Have a safe flight.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you soon,” Amanda answered as she walked down the sidewalk to return to her telepod. She hurried since the ominous feeling seemed to be getting stronger. By the time she reached her telepod she had found herself running.

  Her fear did not dissipate until after she placed the two samaras into the secret chamber behind the library wall. She looked at all of the samaras together and said, “Five down, eight to go.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Willian stumbled over the brush yet again. He fell to his knees and he angrily pounded the ground with his fists. This was not what he had planned. How was he supposed to convince Jena to come back home with him if he were lost in a never-ending jungle?

  As darkness fell, Willian realized he was not up to taking on this journey without the help of his father. He turned around to retrace his steps when he noticed he could no longer see. The light had gone completely. He was going to have to spend the night alone in the jungle.

  He dropped back down onto the ground disconsolately. Only then did he begin to hear all of the strange sounds around him. Before he had been too preoccupied with his desire to see Jena to notice anything other than his own thoughts. Now he was starting to get scared. He had never been so alone before. The enormity of his reckless decision to leave fell fully upon his shoulders.

  When morning finally came, Willian was more than ready to go back to the cave and return to Tuala. He had just experienced his worst night ever. Never again would he venture over to Earth without a definite plan and transportation.

  He had not gone as far from the cave as he had imagined. When it appeared in front of him he almost cried out for joy. Willian carefully inspected the opening to locate the swirling pattern which indicated it was an Ascension Gate. The last thing he wanted was to go into the wrong cave. The carving was directly over the top of the entrance.

  He walked confidently into the darkness and automatically created a sphere of light. The moment he did, he realized how stupid he had been the night before. In his fear, he had forgotten all about his ability to make light. The night could have been so much more comfortable had he lit up the area where he had hunkered down.

  At the back of the cavern, Willian stepped into the circular depression, thought fiercely about home, and whispered, “Inside Ascension.” The light from his sphere of elemy disappeared as he traveled between the two realms. Too much time was going by and he began to concentrate even harder at his desired location before fear could overtake his mind.

  With a suddenness which left him dizzy, he arrived at the gate in his father’s Residence. Elder Debbon rushed forward and held him upright. He had no idea how his father knew he was coming, but he was thankful for the assistance.

  “Are you okay, Son?” Debbon moved them both away from the gate.

  “I am now. How did you know I’d be coming back through?”

  “I didn’t. I’ve been sitting vigil here ever since you left two weeks ago.”

  “Two weeks? I was only gone overnight.” Willian looked up at his father’s haggard looking face.

  “That’s what happens when you do not know how to use a gate, Willian. Promise me you’ll never do something so foolhardy again. You could have been lost forever you know.” With his son’s statement of only being gone overnight, he rapidly realized why his wife had been unable to reach Willian through his birth crystal since he had moved forward in time by two weeks and literally had not existed in their time anymore.

  “I promise. Please tell me you’ll help me go to see Jena. She has to see me. I’ve made too many mistakes and I have to apologize to her.”

  “I’ll help you if only to keep you safe. It’ll take me a few days to make the arrangements. Until then, you have another apology to make to your mother.”

  Willian dropped his head and nodded. He never wanted to hurt his mother. He had made a huge mistake. “I will. Can we go home now?”

  “It would be my pleasure,” Debbon said. He kept his arm around Willian’s shoulder and ported them both unerringly to their estate.

  They arrived directly in Chelesa’s office. The moment the surge of power built up, Chelesa knew her husband was coming. She let out a squeal of delight when she also saw her son alongside Debbon. Her chair fell over in her haste to get out of it and run to hug her only child.

  Tears coursed down her cheeks as she held her son’s face as she inspected him for any injuries. She could not imagine why she had been unable to reach her son through his birth crystal. She had been beside herself with worry ever since she had felt the connection sever.

  “Are you okay, Willian? Do you have any injuries? Where have you been? Do you know how worried we were?” She broke down in sobs and hugged her son tightly to her chest.

  “I’m sorry, Mom. I never meant for this to happen. I thought I’d just go see Jena and be right back. I thought I was only gone overnight. It was the worst night ever, Mom. I’m so sorry,” he sobbed as he realized how much he had hurt his mother. He hugged her tight and gloried in the feeling of being loved unconditionally.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Amanda spent the next couple of days trying to determine a definitive plan of action regarding Neal’s rescue. Riccan had already made his point clear. He did not like the idea of her showing up in Elder Vargen’s district before the Elder had left for the convocation. Amanda had tried to convince him she would need to get the lay of the land before the rescue could be completed.

  As she could see it, she needed to be able to navigate in the district with a certain amount of assuredness. Without knowing where she was goi
ng, she could not see how she could entertain a plan to get Neal out without incident. She had even thought of using the same type of disguise as Barla had her wear on her first trip to the marketplace in her dream. She was certain now about the dream telling her how to accomplish this task.

  She thought more about her dreams to try to figure out anything else she may learn from her ‘past.’ If she already had all of the answers then all she had to do was pay attention to the details and turn them into a reality. It was during this train of thought where Amanda realized she did have an answer which would make everybody happy. Well, almost everybody.

  Amanda hurried to the office and opened the secret compartment where the patil was stored. She turned it on and pressed the icon for sending a message. She searched through Riccan’s contacts until she found Bryon’s address. She typed up a message and was about to hit the send button when she realized this was not going to work. She was going to have to get him to go in the next day or two or it would not work at all.

  She clicked on the button for a video call, entered Bryon’s call sign, and waited. It seemed a long-shot for Bryon to be near his patil at home during the weekend. She held her breath while it continued to ring. Amanda was about to end the call when Bryon’s face appeared on the screen.

  “Amanda!” Bryon said with a pleased smile.

  “Hi, Bryon. I hope you’re not upset with me for bringing your samara to my house.”

  “Oh, not at all. In fact, it’s a relief to not have to worry about it all the time.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say so. I just had a bad feeling about leaving it there so I decided to come pick it up on the spur of the moment.”

  “Like I said, it’s no problem. Did you want to speak with Alena?”

  “No. I called to ask a favor of you.”

  “Ask for anything. I will do whatever I can within my power to help you.”

  Amanda was slightly taken aback by his quick acquiescence. She had no idea of Jehoban telling everyone to assist her when asked. She simply felt very lucky to have people willing to help her at every turn. “Are you familiar with Elder Vargen’s district?”

  “Pretty familiar. I’ve been there on several occasions.”

  “Do you think you could go to an address I send you and deliver a message to the woman of the house?”

  “I don’t see why not. When do you need me to go?”

  “Sometime tomorrow, preferably during work hours. I’d like Vinia to be alone when you give her the message.”

  “Sure. Anything else?”

  “Yes, actually. Are you available all day on the first?”

  “I can clear my calendar. What are you planning?”

  “I’m going to get Neal out of Tuala and back to Earth. The wise-woman Copa gave me some drugs to give him to make him senseless. It’s just occurred to me that I won’t be able to get him back to the telepod without assistance.”

  “That’s where I come in?” Bryon grinned.

  Amanda smiled back at him and nodded. “When you go there tomorrow, can you try to plan the best escape route back to the telepod from their house?”

  “Sure. This sounds like fun!”

  “I’m glad you think so. Riccan is beside himself with worry over something going wrong. I’m sure he’ll be much happier knowing you’ll be with me.”

  “Why doesn’t Riccan come along as well?”

  “That’s a good idea. I never thought to ask him. I see him so much on Earth I think I sometimes forget he’s from Tuala as well. It would be even easier with two men. I’ll ask him when I get off the line with you.”

  Bryon frowned slightly at Amanda’s odd reference to their connection through the patil. He was not quite sure what ‘the line’ was, but he understood the gist of her meaning.

  “What time do you think you’ll plan to go over to the district tomorrow to meet with Vinia?” Amanda asked.

  “I was thinking right after lunch would be most convenient.”

  “Great. I’ll come to your work to give you the message and the powder from Copa.”

  “Why don’t you come early and we can go to lunch together,” Bryon suggested hopefully. He really wanted to get to know this fascinating woman a little better.

  “As tempting as your offer sounds, I have to decline. Until I get Neal home, I want to limit the amount of time I spend in Tuala.”

  “I understand. Once you get him home, then maybe we can plan something with Riccan and Alena.”

  “I think that sounds perfect. Okay, well I’ll see you around one tomorrow at your office. Can you let Frasnia know I’m expected?”

  Bryon was still amazed at Amanda’s ability to know everybody’s names. He nodded and said, “Consider it done! See you tomorrow.”

  “Thanks. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  The connection ended and the screen reverted to the home page where all of the icons showed vividly on the dark background. Amanda was pleased with the progress of her plan. She turned off the patil and stowed it away. She left the office to go find Riccan.

  She ended up locating him in the garage with the telepods. As she told him Bryon’s revisions to her new plan, Riccan seemed to agree with the idea. Then she wondered what he had been up to in her telepod.

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “I just finished installing a software upgrade to your control panel.”

  “What does it do?”

  “After our conversation with Rasa, it gave me an idea. I’m actually surprised I didn’t think of it on my own.”

  “Don’t keep me in suspense! What does it do?”

  “It connects you with the messaging in the patil. Rasa is going to send us a message when Elder Vargen arrives at the convocation. We’ll need to be well on our way before the message comes in so, voilà, you’ve got mail!”

  “Show me how to access it,” Amanda said as she led the way into her telepod.

  After a quick tutorial, Amanda was glad Riccan had thought to add it. She had wished, on several occasions, to be able to have access to a patil for seeing if anyone had responded to her inquiries while she was traveling. Now she would not have to worry about it anymore.

  “Are you installing this change in your telepod as well?”

  “Absolutely. It might even be a new option for all of the telepods I design. We could market to more business professionals so they will always be able to stay in touch, even when they’re out of the office on business.”

  “Good thinking.” Amanda got up from her seat and moved into the main cabin of the telepod. “Do you think this will be a good seating configuration for bringing Neal home? He’s going to be completely out of it with the drug.”

  “Hmm, good point. Let me think on that, okay?”

  “Don’t take too long. We’ve only got the rest of today and tomorrow to make any changes.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Amanda paced restlessly around the house the next day until she was able to leave to meet with Bryon. She had Copa’s letter to Vinia as well as the bag of resh. So much of this plan depended on the cooperation of other people. Additionally, she had no way of knowing if Vinia’s emotional tie to Neal would keep her from helping them.

  Once she had landed outside of Kirma, Amanda walked swiftly and confidently to Kirma Shipping and Receiving. She opened the door to office and was surprised to see Frasnia walking toward her.

  “Amanda, Bryon was just telling me to bring you right into his office when you arrived.” She touched Amanda’s arm and gestured for them to continue through the main office toward Bryon’s private room. Frasnia opened the door, but she remained outside as Amanda walked past her.

  Amanda watched as Frasnia shut the door and left her alone with Bryon. She turned and raised her eyebrows in question.

  “Frasnia’s excited to find out what’s going on with you. I haven’t told her anything, but she’s a very perceptive person. Hopefully, I’ll be able to tell her all about what we’ve been up to.”
<
br />   Amanda sat down in the chair across from Bryon’s desk and answered, “That might be a while, Bryon. I have no idea what type of timeline Jehoban has for the task He’s set for me. I’m not even sure I understand the extent of His plan.”

  “No worries, Amanda. It’ll all be revealed in good time. Who can dare be against us with Jehoban on our side?” Bryon smiled and rested his elbows on his desk as he leaned forward. “Now, what do you have for me?”

  “Like I told you yesterday,” Amanda started as she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out Copa’s letter and bag of resh and set them on the table between them. “Copa said this note should be given to Vinia.”

  Bryon picked up the folded letter and turned it over several times in his hands as he contemplated his part in this journey. “Do you know what it says?”

  “Not precisely, but the gist of it is the plan for Vinia to get Neal to drink the super-drugged tea so we can take him home.”

  Bryon nodded slowly and asked, “What name does Neal go by here in Tuala? I can’t imagine it would be Neal since it’s a dishonorable name without it ending in an ‘n’.”

  “Elder Daven told me he’s registered as Nealan in the housing district of the Old Soul Engineering Facility.”

  Bryon nodded acceptance of the explanation. He should have known Elder Daven had been helping Amanda glean information. Elder Daven was, after all, Riccan’s father. It would make sense for him to be involved. He had also been present at the all-important and bizarre meeting with Jehoban.

  Amanda continued, “Riccan thought your idea of coming to help with Neal’s extraction from Tuala was a good one. He’s taking the day off of work and will be there with us. Are you planning on coming back to Earth or do you want to bring a separate telepod?”

  Bryon frowned and considered Amanda’s question. While he was intensely curious about seeing Earth again, he did not feel this would be an appropriate time to indulge in his whim. “I think I’ll pass on it this time and bring my own telepod. It’ll be one less thing for you to have to worry about.”