“Haleth is ready for you, Darrien,” she whispered.
Rantara shot one last, sidelong glare at Haleth as a silent reminder before kissing Norris gently on the cheek. “They want me to sleep before I get onto this thing, but I’ll be back when you wake,” she said softly.
Norris smiled and placed his hand gently against her face.
“I’ll be okay, don’t worry.”
Qural motioned for Haleth to begin as Rantara walked quickly from the chamber. Norris adjusted himself like a patient in a dentist’s chair, settling on the most comfortable spot as the lights dimmed, leaving only the Transceptor’s iridescent, aqua glow from its emitter above. Norris looked into the darkness, grinning at where he knew Haleth waited at the machine’s controls.
“If it makes you feel any better, I know exactly what it’s like to be on her wrong side.”
“That is a place I would rather not be,” Haleth replied.
Norris laughed out loud and said, “Could be worse, believe me; it took a while to stop the bleeding, not to mention a nice little fracture along my jawbone after she introduced it to the back of her hand, once upon a time.”
“An excellent point, Darrien; thank you.”
Inside the doorway leading to the inner laboratory, Tindas waited with Qural. She leaned close, almost at a whisper to avoid being overheard.
“It is astonishing, after all that has happened, but our Sergeant is an interesting study.”
“Oh?”
“She may be a far more complicated girl than we once thought, Ommit.”
“Something new emerged during your walk with her?”
She motioned him quietly inside.
“It seems strange—unnatural, perhaps—that one as coldly brutal and savage as she could become so obviously devoted to another.”
“Jodrall’s Condition,” he replied. “Sufferers almost always display such behavior, intensely and even aggressively protective of a Choice Mate. It’s the reason I suspected her change was underway.”
“I suppose so,” Qural whispered, “but their condition as adversaries inside that prison is now irrelevant; even without the influence of Tepseraline.”
Tindas looked past Qural to where Norris sat.
“I agree, but it is obvious the feeling is mutual. Darrien doesn’t speak of it openly, but it is plain and clear his affection for her has also become permanent.”
“She is not convinced Darrien feels as she does, but she agreed to allow Doctor Oreil to introduce him to the Choice; we needn’t concern ourselves with it any longer.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” the old man said with a relieved sigh, “but I believe Banen will have a willing audience.”
Qural smiled and said, “I find this fascinating, Ommit. Regardless of where she goes, those within reach are either terrified of her, or they are about to be. Everyone she meets fears her, and for good reason.”
Tindas nodded with a smile and said, “Except Darrien, and he may be the only one in this galaxy who doesn’t.”
“When we spoke outside,” Qural continued, “I felt the fear waiting inside me because I know how easily she can kill, yet there were times when she sounded so vulnerable—soft and gentle—as though speaking with the voice of a little girl.”
“Perhaps,” Tindas replied, “but she can turn in an instant and the child quickly disappears; Jodrall’s has made her what she is.”
“But has it?” Qural countered.
“I don’t understand.”
“We heard the history, Ommit—what her own family did when she was still young. I do not believe it was her condition, but instead, the way in which people have treated her since, pushed only by their fears. Onallin was no longer welcome in Khorran society. They abandoned her and she crossed over into a darker place, simply to survive.”
“You may be right,” Tindas nodded, “but the important question is whether the Sergeant can pull herself back from that darkness; those few who carry Jodrall’s rarely do.”
“I think she will have plenty of motivation,” Qural said as she nodded toward Norris.
On the far side of the chamber, the Transceptor was humming to life again and the machine’s curious, low tone echoed in Norris’ ears as it searched for the neural pathways.
“Can you hear the sound, Darrien?” Haleth asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “It’s just like last time, but a little louder now.”
“When the Transceptor has successfully found and mapped those areas of your brain that will receive the memories, it will send a signal.”
“How many times have I stood here?” Norris asked suddenly.
“Far too many to count,” Haleth replied and Norris returned a crooked smile at the thought.
“Will I see the memories as they come in?”
“Not clearly,” Haleth replied. “It will appear as a series of confused images, or disjointed dreams at first, but as you begin to regain consciousness, the memories will become more vivid. When you are fully awake, the visual cues in this chamber and the sound of our voices will trigger them easily. You will remember us as we were to you seventeen years ago, not as we are in this moment. Although the memories from today remain, they will become less prominent in your thoughts. It will be a unique experience for you, Darrien, but also pleasing, I believe.”
Norris took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I’m ready; let’s get the show on the road.”
BANEN AND THERIANI stood alone in the reception foyer, looking out through towering glass walls toward the south where the sea rolled gently onto a broad beach. From their lofty vantage, they could see the bright rooftops of the university’s marine biology institute, built on an ancient reef half a kilometer offshore. In the quiet, they held hands and sipped Qural’s special fruit drink that seemed more alcohol than juice.
Theriani looked at Banen. “This way that Darrien must take—we go out again with him, maybe?”
Banen smiled.
“I do not know what lies ahead, but it would appear to be a dangerous proposition, judging by Professor Tindas’ brief description. I cannot turn away from my responsibilities as Darrien’s doctor now.”
Theriani nodded. “So long we stayed in Bera Nima—many cycles of the moons that we don’t know, maybe. You deciding for us if it something so serious to do.”
“Do you object to this, my love? Darrien is like a family member to us now; how could we refuse when he needs us most?”
“No! Not saying we refuse, only. We stay with until Darrien make the way there and back safe. We keep him to safety all the ways, you see. If this become too dangerous, he need to have us with anyway. Onallin going, too—we stay with so they not take the way alone. I will go and make the battles for him if he need, just like always.”
Banen stood and walked to the vast window. Their escape should have been a gateway to better times; views of the future where their peace and happiness waited. Instead, a new task, mysterious and fresh, called to them.
“Tindas would not elaborate, but there is something horrible out there that must be met and corrected. Darrien plays a part in this from something that happened long before he first visited our space, Theriani. It was clear to me the Professor and Qural have been waiting to solve this problem. They need Darrien for that purpose, but we are needed as well.”
Theriani smiled and rested her head against Banen’s shoulder.
“We stay to Darrien, only; we do the thing more and help them.”
In a bedroom two floors above, Rantara was stirring. Outside, the sun moved across the sky toward the west, creating long shadows on the open yard between the veranda and the tree line. As she woke slowly, Rantara felt instinctively for Norris but the vacant pillow reminded her and she moved quickly to pull on her clothes at the edge of the bed. A glance at the chronometer above the door showed the time that had passed; he would be awake soon.
She made her way to the lower chamber where she found Norris sitting with his chin low on his chest. She move
d quickly to him, trying hard not to show the growing panic she felt inside.
“Darrien?”
Qural stood close with her hand gently caressing the back of his neck. “Onallin is here now,” she said softly.
As he raised his head slowly, she knelt and took his hand in hers. It was freezing and she moved close.
“Are you all right?”
Norris smiled and nodded, gripping her fingers firmly to reassure.
“I’m fine. It hurt a little when I first woke up, but it’s easing off now.”
Rantara looked at Haleth, then to Qural.
“Is this normal? Should he be this cold?”
Haleth remained at a strategically safe distance, but Qural nodded for him to answer.
“Darrien’s temperature is coming up quickly. He needs to move—a simple walk will do—but also, I have prepared a solution for him to drink that will speed his recovery. Everything went well, Sergeant; he is in excellent condition.”
She had to accept Haleth’s words, but still the demons of her distrust would not relent. She sat next to Norris and gently turned his face to meet hers.
“Do you know where you are?”
“Qural’s secret, mad scientist laboratory,” Norris said with a smile.
Rantara ignored Norris’ predictable jest and continued without pause. “Darrien, do you remember where we were? Before we came here, do you understand what happened to you?”
Norris held both her hands and gave them a gentle shake.
“I’m okay, Onallin; they didn’t do anything bad to me or scramble my brain. I remember all of it now. This is a lot to take in at once, but I haven’t forgotten anything—not anymore. I don’t know how to explain how this feels, but it’s a strange sensation, that’s for sure.”
She watched him as he pulled himself upright, leaning for a moment against the gentle arc of the Transceptor’s mast for support. Rantara felt better, but the remnants of her fears had moved deeper to a more personal place. Norris looked and he understood; she needed to know he still belonged to her, and she to him. He pulled her close, pressing his cheek to hers.
“Nothing has changed, Onallin; nothing could ever change that,” he whispered.
She turned to see Qural’s smile and it was suddenly clear; in every possible way, Norris had been brought back to her, too. After a few moments in silence, Rantara walked toward the Transceptor’s control panel where Haleth prepared the machine for its next task.
“Thank you,” she said, simply.
Haleth bowed his head slowly in the polite manner of all Searchers.
Norris smiled as he looked first at Haleth, then to Qural. He reached at once for her and they met in a slow, deliberate embrace. Qural worried that Rantara would bristle, yet she did not. For Norris, the memories had not flooded back in a torrent as he feared they might. Instead, he looked and simply remembered the way people do after years of separation from another; a distant past, reconnected with the present. The moment was unlike anything Norris had ever experienced and the truth that he had been there in his past was powerful. He was a reluctant traveler in the deepest reaches of space where only aliens stood between him and death. It was no longer mere words or assurances from strangers—he remembered.
After his cloudy vision cleared, the restored memories carried with them a strange, even comforting familiarity he held tightly. As he looked around the chamber, it seemed somehow normal in ways he couldn’t describe. After a moment, Qural gently touched his shoulder.
“Darrien,” she said softly, motioning his attention behind her where a doorway led into the central laboratory. Like the current of a river released suddenly from a mighty dam, a stir of emotion washed over him as Kol and Rentha walked slowly into the chamber. He stood, speechless for a moment until he rushed to them, stumbling in his depleted state. Rentha reached him first and he swept her around and around like a dancer in a firm embrace. Tears poured from her gleaming eyes as he held her finally at arm’s distance to inspect the adult he last remembered as a little girl.
“This is amazing,” he beamed. “You’re all grown up, just as you should be!”
“We missed you so much, Darrien!”
Hours before, she was a young Anashi female they insisted he knew, but now, it made sense and he grinned at the change and how beautifully she had grown. Rentha turned to Kol, but she was already moving. Her long, slender fingers met his as the colors across her cool, smooth skin began to swirl in iridescent waves and a throaty chortle conveyed her joy and relief. The moment was powerful, even for Rantara, unable to control her own emotions as the strange reunion unfolded. Only hours before, Norris looked and saw aliens who had somehow brought him and the others from captivity. But once restored, his memories had made him complete again, bathing in the warmth of friendships that had been forged nearly two decades before.
Now, he looked and saw old and dear companions who had taken away the confusion and fear of his sudden and involuntary journey beyond the stars to a place he could scarcely have imagined. They had held and protected him in a strange, distant place where everything was new and unexplained. Farther from Earth than any human had ever traveled, Norris felt the deep and comforting sensation of coming home.
Haleth waited while Rentha pulled the recliner from the Transceptor, but sensing the moment was right, he turned at last to Rantara.
“Sergeant, we are ready to extract and copy the memories from your unfortunate encounter with Creel, if you will allow it.”
Norris reached for her hand.
“Let him help,” he urged. “Tremmek can’t threaten you with a secret that no longer exists.”
Rantara nodded nervously, looking at last to Haleth.
“Do I stand here, like before?”
“Yes,” he answered. “Grasp the transfer nodes as you did when viewing Darrien’s memories. When I prompt you, recall the event for just a moment and the Transceptor will find what it needs quickly. This will take only a few moments; you will be awake and will feel no discomfort.”
“All right,” she said at last, stepping carefully onto the pedestal. Slowly, she gripped each smooth, metal orb where they rose from their towers at her side and in seconds, she heard the machine’s strange tone warbling in her ears—it was searching. Haleth waited for the bridge between the Transceptor and Rantara’s memory centers to complete.
He watched her and said, “Think of those first moments when Creel appeared, Sergeant. You needn’t dwell on it, but recall it clearly in your mind. The Transceptor will alert me when the memory package has been identified.”
She closed her eyes and drifted back in time, slowly at first, like walking in a darkened maze, unsure of what waited beyond the next turn but compelled to go on. Soon, she saw Creel’s face at her door, smiling in false benevolence to conceal the darkness he hid within. Rantara could hear his voice—the smooth, polished tone others found so appealing. She closed her eyes tighter with each fleeting vision, knowing it couldn’t change what had been. He reached for her, gently at first, but then with the perverse compulsion that brought him to her room late in the night. Suddenly, Haleth’s voice was a welcome interruption.
“Sergeant, the Transceptor has found all it needs; you may relax now.”
Rantara waited, listening to the clicks and hums of the machine as it probed and extracted the image sequences. Her pained expression made clear her inability to withdraw thoughts from that time and return to the present. Haleth spoke again, but louder and only to shift her from the torment.
“When you came out from Kalarive, you were forced to commandeer a Khorran naval vessel, do you remember?”
Rantara saw in her thoughts the trim little assault ship where it sat quietly in the glaring sun on a landing pad near the outskirts of Tevem. She smiled at the images of their ship venting off unwanted vapor from its engines in puffing exhalations like the breath of a magical creature on a winter day. She could smell the acrid condensate where it dripped from the smooth, black cow
lings and the crackling sound of pressure relief valves opening from deep within the silent engines.
“I remember,” she said softly.
“We wanted you to know,” Haleth continued, “Professor Tindas has made an official request that your Navy excuse the loss when you detonated its weapons on Sannaris.”
His words pried their way into Rantara’s consciousness, separating her from the horror of memories with Creel to bring her back from the misery those visions made. His distraction worked well enough to help her focus on other images, even if she recognized the deception for what it was. In her silence, Rantara was suddenly grateful for Haleth’s kindness and skill. She smiled at the notion of an Admiral, somewhere deep within the bureaucracy of the Khorran Navy, signing away the assault ship’s loss in a ledger as a matter of course. At last, she heard Haleth’s voice again as the swirling energy field around her faded.
“You may step down now, Sergeant.”
Her toes met the Transceptor’s pedestal gently until she stood on her own once more.
“Are you sure it has them?” she asked; “did it work?”
“Yes; the memories now reside in the Transceptor’s archive. At the appropriate time, we will make them available for Magistrate Ven. She will see and experience them in detail and she will understand.”
“Thank you, Haleth.”
“It has been an honor, Sergeant.”
She walked slowly toward Norris as the last tingling sensations eased with each step. Knowing the process was underway and Raniru Ven would soon see and understand made for a feeling of calm she had not experienced in a long time.
Norris reached for her.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she replied. “The Magistrate might help and she might not, but I won’t waste any more time worrying about this.”
AS THE SUN disappeared beyond the trees to the west, Qural and Rantara walked slowly with Norris on the sprawling lawn. In time, they would revisit the past and indulge their remembrances, but the moment called for fresh air and the warmth of a late afternoon stroll. Qural and Rantara said nothing, preferring instead to watch and wait as Norris adjusted slowly to the parade of memories. He paused, smiling at the vision of walks in that place and the soothing remembrance of pleasant conversations with Tindas or Kol.
Echoes of Esharam Page 3