“You’re trying to push the river,” Lumen said.
“Push the river?”
“You’ve got to go with the flow. Haven’t you ever heard that before?”
“Yeah, but I thought it was just an old cliché.”
“It is, but it’s true,” Lumen continued. “Don’t force it. Let it happen naturally.”
“I thought that was what I was doing.”
“You’re analyzing too much,” Lumen said and pointed at James’s head. “Feel, don’t think.” She grinned and walked out of the classroom and down the hallway, her space suit creaking and scrunching.
James glanced down at the furry patch on the back of his right hand. He rubbed it and then held his hand over his heart.
“YOU DIDN’T say it was a picnic,” James said as he met Falling Star, who was carrying a basket with him, at the North Gate.
“Can’t I surprise you?” Falling Star said and swept his golden bangs away from his eyes.
“Sure, it’s a nice surprise,” James said, smiling. “The food here is really boring. My mother was always dragging me to every new restaurant in the world that opened up near us. I don’t think there’s a culture on earth whose food I haven’t tried.”
“Do you have a favorite?”
“I love Ethiopian, vegetarian messob and injera, but I also love Vietnamese, especially beef pho,” James said and then paused to think. “Anything Indian is great too.”
“I’m glad you said that because I made you my special mushroom curry,” Falling Star replied and smiled his handsomest smile. “It’s an old family recipe. They let me cook it in the mess hall.”
“We always seem to do things around mushrooms,” James said as he walked up beside Falling Star.
“Don’t you like mushrooms?”
“I do. It’s just funny.”
“You’re my little mushroom,” Falling Star said.
James blushed a little bit. “Where’s Tenzing?”
“He’s hanging out with Keira today, catching up.”
“They have a unique bond,” James said. “When she first met him, he was a rat. Or he was in a rat’s body. That’s what he was when I met him too.”
“A rat?”
“Yeah, he’s been a silverback gorilla too.”
“He must be a tulpa,” Falling Star said.
“He is,” James replied, surprised. “How did you know?”
“It’s something from my part of the world. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about tulpas. Keira must be very special if she has a tulpa.”
“She is,” James replied and then thought about it. “Maybe more than we know.”
The MPs opened the plasma dome, and James and Falling Star strolled leisurely through. The sun climbed high. The Nibiru dot stood there. It made the sun look like a worried eyeball. The redwoods dangled their branches in the warm air. A few black flies swarmed around Falling Star for a moment, then flew off into the forest. The road continued down and away from the base. Along it, many trailheads forked off into the trees between Queen Anne’s lace and the mustard flowers.
“I never thought I’d see that happen,” James said as he walked quicker along the road to keep pace with Falling Star.
“What’s that?”
“Being able to come and go as we please here at Fort Bragg,” James said and indicated the closing hole in the dome behind them with a wave of his hand. “I’ve always been trapped in these places.”
“Now they’re treating me more like a guest,” Falling Star said.
“But that didn’t stop them from experimenting on you.”
“I thought it was a standard test to check my health,” Falling Star replied.
“They had you immobilized on an exam table. That’s not a standard test,” James said and then stopped in his tracks. “They were probably trying to figure out if they could remove some of your healing power,” James said and then paused, remembering something. “I haven’t told you what I made Dr. Albion promise, have I?”
“No.” Falling Star turned around to look at him. “What was it?”
“That she would let you and your people go.”
“Really?” Falling Star looked at James. “You did that for me?”
“I said she had to stop experimenting on you and the other Saesq’ec people.”
“How did she react?”
“She was confused at first why I was asking for that, and then I could tell she was mad. I told her I wouldn’t work on their project if she didn’t set you free.” James smiled again at Falling Star. “I even stood there while she made the call to make sure she was really going to do it.”
Falling Star stood silently.
“Didn’t you hear me?” James asked. “You never have to come back here again. None of your people do.”
Falling Star scooped James up in his hairy arms, rocked him back and forth, and covered him with quick kisses.
“Hey, be careful of that basket,” James said. “I don’t want to be covered in your curry!”
“I’m sorry,” Falling Star said and put James back on the ground. “You make me so happy. This is the second time you’ve saved me.”
“We’re even, believe me,” James replied and began to wipe yeti kisses off his face.
“Here’s our trail,” Falling Star said and walked into the forest.
James followed.
“I can’t wait to tell my mother.”
“How will you do that?” James asked as they rounded a moss-covered boulder and entered deeper into the greenery.
“She’s meeting us for lunch,” Falling Star said and lifted a broken branch off the trail for James.
“What?” James asked, flabbergasted.
“She really wants to meet you,” Falling Star explained. “Since you’re part of the prophecy.”
“Couldn’t your prophecy be wrong?”
“No,” Falling Star said while shaking his head. “Besides you have my sunahara gaanth.”
James rubbed the back of his hand. “Isn’t it a little unfair to mark someone who doesn’t know what’s going on?”
“But we are meant to be together. Don’t you see?” Falling Star asked. “It’s all happening for a reason.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that when it happened? I didn’t know what that thing on the back of my hand even was….”
“I did tell you,” Falling Star said as he bent back a giant fern frond that was blocking the way.
“Not until later, and only after I stuck a needle into that spot.”
“I still told you.”
James let out a frustrated sigh. “That is beside the point, anyway,” James said, getting back to the topic at hand. “We’re meeting your mother, and I haven’t even taken a shower today!”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Falling Star said. “She says all humans smell bad.”
“That’s just great. I haven’t even met her, and she already thinks I stink,” James said, blanching. “Could you slow down a little bit? I can’t keep up with you.”
“Of course,” Falling Star said and slackened his pace.
The trail faded away beneath their feet, giving way to the lichens and creeping violets; only Falling Star could tell the way they were heading. After a long trek downslope, through exposed boulders and rotten tree stumps, the redwoods thinned out a bit and a grove of old oak trees appeared in front of them. Their leaves glittered with dew, and deep shadows spread beneath their boughs.
“Here we are, the pavitr baag,” Falling Star announced and turned to look at James, who frowned back at him. “I mean, the sacred grove.”
“Is this where we’re meeting your mother?”
“Yes,” Falling Star replied. “Let me call her.”
Falling Star placed the picnic basket on the ground and cupped his hands around his mouth. He let out an unearthly scream, the likes of which James had never heard before. It sent a chill down his spine. Falling Star paused to listen. A moment later, an equally eerie cry answered his.
“She’s here!” Falling Star said with glee. “Let’s meet her in the center of the grove.”
“Lead on,” James said and picked up the basket that Falling Star had already forgotten in his excitement. He followed Falling Star deeper between the oaks. They walked a couple hundred yards straight into the center of the trees. With a cracking sound, an oak split in two and out from it stepped a nine-foot tall yeti. Her hair was black in most places with streaks of white running through, making it look marbled. She wore a crown of orange poppies interwoven with purple lupines. Falling Star ran to embrace her. They hugged for a few moments, his mother stroking the hair on Falling Star’s head as she rocked him. They began speaking in their language, and much to James’s surprise, he could understand them.
“I know what you’re saying,” James said suddenly.
“You do?” Falling Star asked, amazed, as he turned to look at James. “How can that be? Every time I use my language, you frown at me because you don’t understand.”
“For some reason I can’t understand the individual words when you say them, but when they are put into sentences, into conversations, I can understand it.”
“It must be the power from that red stone Tenzing has,” Falling Star explained. “But let’s speak English anyway. Mother needs to practice.”
“I do not need to practice,” Queen Chaandani said. “I’m the one who taught you how to speak English.”
“I’m just kidding,” Falling Star said, grinning ear to ear. “She’s gotten touchy in her old age.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” the queen said and swatted at Falling Star playfully with her enormous hand.
James put down the picnic basket and extended his hand to the queen. “I’m James Kerr.”
Queen Chaandani looked down at James and his outstretched hand. She took his hand, bent over, and gave it a good sniff. “Not so bad as the other ones,” she said to her son. “Actually, a pleasant odor, not so much plastic in it. Humans and their plastic. I don’t understand it.”
James blushed deep red and removed his hand from hers. “I’m glad you like my scent.”
“You may call me Chaandani,” she said. “No need to be so formal with the chosen one, am I correct?” The queen looked over at her son, who nodded.
Queen Chaandani smiled at James, looked him up and down a few more times, and then scooped him up into her arms and hugged him too. She wedged James tightly between her ample bosoms. Reflexively, James’s natural defenses started to charge. All the hair on the queen’s body began to stand on end. “Oh, what’s this?” she said looking at her herself. “It’s all true. You have an amazing talent, you do! I like this one, Tutata Taara. The oracle was right. James Kerr is the one for you.”
James squirmed a little bit and then pulled in his power, and Queen Chaandani placed him back on the leaf litter.
“You guys sure love hugging,” James said.
“Don’t you?” Queen Chaandani asked.
“Sure, it’s just that you’re so much taller than I am. I feel like a rag doll.”
“Oh, nonsense. A hug is a hug is a hug, whether you’re short or tall.”
“You sound like Gertrude Stein,” Falling Star said. “A hug is a hug.”
“Stop trying to show off in front of our guest,” Queen Chaandani said. “Now, what did you bring us for lunch? Do I smell curry?”
“Mushroom curry. I gathered them this morning: chanterelles, morels, and porcinis,” Falling Star said and picked up the basket and opened it. The tangy scent of turmeric and garam masala filled the air.
“That smells marvelous! Let’s go sit over there in that sunlit spot,” the queen said and then held her finger to her lips as if just remembering something. “I’m still so worried about that spot on the sun. Anil and Rishi keep bugging me to ask you.”
“It’s all right, Mother, I told you, James is going to take care of it,” Falling Star said as he followed his mother into the clearing. “He’s working on a project to stop it.”
James grabbed Falling Star and motioned for him to lean down. “Who are Anil and Rishi?”
“My brothers,” Falling Star said.
“Oh.” James seized the moment to score some brownie points with the queen. “Yeah, the US Government has been training my friends and me. We’re the best chance we have of destroying that object before it hits the earth.”
“Before it hits the earth?” she asked, truly surprised. “What is that thing out there?”
“It’s called Nibiru,” James said, enjoying how authoritative he sounded. “It was behind the sun for millions of years, and now its course has changed, and it’s heading for Earth.”
“How will you stop it?” the queen asked as she sat down on a mossy patch. “Please tell me.”
“We’re going to intercept it in an alien spaceship.”
“An alien ship?” Queen Chaandani asked. “Where did that come from?”
“The people at Fort Bragg designed it based on the one that crashed at Roswell, New Mexico in the 1940s,” James said as he joined Falling Star next to his mother in the sunny spot.
“Didn’t that Roswell ship belong to EBE?” the queen asked her son.
James was taken aback. “You know EBE?”
“Of course,” the queen continued. “The royal houses of Saesq’ec and Ouhd have been friends for many years.”
“Ouhd?” James asked. “I’ve never heard that name before.”
“That’s the name of the royal family on Hjärta, The Royal Ouhd.”
“EBE is my uncle,” James said.
“That’s wonderful!” Queen Chaandani gushed. “I’ve known EBE and UBE for over sixty years now. They’ve visited me, on and off, at various times and places. Actually, I haven’t heard from them in quite a while.”
“They’ve been busy,” James said, not wanting to explain the whole story.
“And Tutata Taara, you were worried about this one,” the queen playfully scolded. “He’s already a friend of the family. I think he’s delightful.”
Falling Star smiled bashfully at his mother then at James. “Let’s eat this curry before it gets any colder.”
James helped Falling Star pass out the bowls, napkins, and spoons. The queen held her utensil up. “The spoon. That’s one thing you humans got right.”
“I’m glad you like it,” James said and glanced at Falling Star, who was chuckling softly.
“No more talking about royal houses or spoons,” Queen Chaandani said. “Let’s eat.”
AFTER LUNCH, Queen Chaandani said her goodbyes, hugged and kissed both Falling Star and James multiple times, and lumbered off into the forest. James could hear trees snapping as she went off deeper and deeper into her beautiful kingdom. Falling Star had just come back from rinsing the bowls and spoons off in a small stream and was packing everything back into the picnic basket.
“She likes you a lot,” Falling Star said. “That’s a good thing.”
“Really? Was it all the hugging and kissing that gave it away?” James asked drolly. “I wasn’t really sure what she thought about me.”
“She’s a hugger.”
“And a kisser.”
“She’s always disliked the humans I brought to meet her in the past,” Falling Star said and closed the picnic basket.
“So, I’m not your first human?” James asked a little crestfallen.
“No, but they weren’t up to Mother’s standards,” he said. “But you. You are the one that the oracle predicted I’d be with. That means we have a divine bond created by a higher power.”
“What I meant was, I was surprised you’ve dated other humans before me.”
“I like humans,” Falling Star said.
“That’s weird.”
“Why?” Falling Star asked as he stood up, picnic basket in hand.
“Because of the way the US military treated you and your people. It’s disgraceful.”
“I knew other humans before getting capture
d by the military.”
“Really?” James asked and then thought about it for a bit. “When you say ‘knew,’ do you mean, like, in the physical sense?”
Falling Star tried to cover his smile with his hand as he laughed under his breath.
“What’s so funny?” James asked quickly.
“If I didn’t know you better, James, I’d say you were jealous.”
James stood stock-still, his left eyebrow raised. “I am not jealous,” he said. “We’re not really dating, anyway.”
“We’re not?” Falling Star asked teasingly. “Wasn’t this picnic a date?”
James frowned, getting a little more vexed. “Well, yes, I guess, sort of… it was a date.”
“So we are dating.”
“In a strictly technical sense, we are on a date. But we’re not dating-dating,” James replied, a little more frustrated. “Like Paul and I were.”
“What’s ‘dating-dating?’”
“Like, more than we’re doing now.”
“You mean more than picnics and swimming naked together?”
James’s face was turning red.
“Aren’t we in a relationship?” Falling Star asked.
“We’re friends.”
“That’s a relationship. But aren’t we more than just friends?”
“Yes, maybe, a little bit more than friends,” James conceded grudgingly. “But a relationship is when both people agree to see each other.”
“Didn’t we agree to hang out together today?”
“But I didn’t know it was going to be a… picnic,” James said and wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Phew, I’m getting warm over here.”
“And that’s because you’re jealous that I’ve dated other humans before you. Right?”
“No!” James shouted. “It’s not that. It’s just… it’s just….”
Falling Star stood back.
James felt something crack open inside him, a deep place full of hurt and sadness. Somewhere he’d not been to before. And from that place, the tears came. His heart was broken. James didn’t want to admit just how torn up he was about losing Paul. He tried his best not to feel it, not to feel anything. He didn’t want to think about it at all. But getting closer to Falling Star brought it all back up. The fears and the painful feelings were there all along. They’d caught up with him in spite of everything he tried to keep them away. James sank down onto his knees in the long grass, put his face in his hands, and wept.
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