Mind Over Psyche
Page 32
They shared one last meal with Terry, Ocapo, and Tasmae—and Salgoud and Leinad. Joshua raised his brows when he saw the Remembrance Keeper, though he was relieved to see the older man looking relaxed and friendly for once.
“Tasmae’s talked to him,” Deryl said.
“Hope so, for your sake.”
As they ate, people came to wish him farewell. Some gave him gifts: The parents of the girl he’d helped gave him a tooth and bone-bead necklace; Ocapo, the flute he’d been learning; and Terry, the vest he’d embroidered. Tasmae gave him one of the elaborately decorated punch daggers she wore in her hair.
“I want to visit your world,” Terry said. “I want to learn more about human healing.”
Ocapo said, “Spot and I, too. Please?”
“Let me get my life settled first.” Joshua laughed. “I’m going to need to come up with an orientation program!”
Then it was time to leave. Tasmae gave Joshua a friendly kiss on the cheek, and shared a far more intimate one with Deryl. Joshua rolled his eyes. “Save it for when you get back. I need him to have a clear head, thank you.”
She backed away with a mocking bow. Deryl set his hand on Joshua’s shoulder. “Practice run first, to the unicorn fields.”
“Sounds good.” Joshua took a breath—then they were near the stables.
Deryl smirked. “I think someone’s going to be missed.”
The entire herd had surrounded them, and as one, they lowered their heads in a bow. Grinning and touched, Joshua returned the gesture. Glory had pulled out nine of her tail hairs, and held them out for him.
“Aw, thanks, baby.” He took them, wrapped his arms around her neck, and accepted a horsey kiss. He waved as they ran off.
“You know, despite all the danger and stress, this was a pretty cool adventure,” he said as he braided the hairs together. “Not that I want to repeat it.”
“No promises. How are you going to explain that stuff?” Deryl asked.
“I’m not,” Joshua replied as he tied a final knot and slipped it into his pocket. “If you really get us back to my apartment, I’m going to hide it, first thing. You sure you can get us back?”
“Of course I can. I not only learned how to teleport from the Bondfriends, but I know it first hand through Tasmae.”
Joshua shook his head in disgust. “Yeah, right. You should see the grin on your face. I’m sure you spent a quiet evening talking about teleportation.”
Deryl’s grin got bigger. “Mating on Kanaan is of the psyche as well as the body,” he told him mysteriously.
Joshua shrugged. “Really? Guess that’s why they mate for life, then. Well, I’m ready! What do you need me to do?”
Over breakfast, they had decided to take Joshua back to his Rhode Island flat, aiming for Tuesday morning, less than a day after they’d left. Joshua’s cover story would be that Deryl had knocked him out, and he’d awakened there. Already, he had shared his memories of the apartment with Deryl, much the same way that he had shared his memories of his grandfather’s razor.
Was that really only a week ago? Deryl “heard” His friend wonder, and grinned. So much had happened since then, so many wonders. He actually felt a little sad about leaving.
“Close your eyes and think about your apartment. Picture it in as much detail as possible. Don’t think about Sachiko, though, or anyone else—”
“Yeah, you had to say that!” Joshua huffed. “Now why don’t you not think about a blue monkey?”
“Sorry. Think of your apartment as you left it, empty, the sun streaming in the windows…”
As Deryl led Joshua through the visualization, the picture became clearer and clearer in his mind. When he saw even the dust playing in the sunlight, he concentrated on being there. He felt a stir of wind, a sudden, but more gentle wrenching, then nothingness.
*
A breathless moment later, they stood in Joshua’s apartment.
“Oh, yes!” Joshua breathed, and then dashed to his laptop on the side table. “What’s the day?” He flipped up the monitor and turned it on. While it went through the boot-up sequence, he dashed to the closet, burying the satchel under his dirty laundry, then made a beeline for the fridge. He cheered to find the soda cool and the brownies still good. He shoved an entire brownie into his mouth, moaning with pleasure, tossed Deryl a can of Coke, grabbed a D.C. for himself, and headed back. He logged in and whooped when he saw the date and time. “Tuesday afternoon!”
Deryl glanced at the apartment and noted the sun coming in from the west. “Wrong windows,” he commented wryly, then laughed as Joshua pulled him into a tight bear hug.
Joshua released him, thinking aloud. “Mrs. Radcliffe usually shops on Tuesday afternoons, so we may have some time before anyone notices we’re here. Is there anything you want from Earth before you go?”
“A book on orbital mechanics.”
Joshua laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I…I don’t know why I said that. I…” Deryl shook his head. “You know my stuffed bear, Descartes? Grab it. Keep it safe. If I return, I’ll need it. Got it?”
“What’s your bear got to do with anything?”
Deryl cocked a brow. “You think I didn’t have an alternate escape plan?”
“What? What’s in the bear?”
“Someone’s coming!” Deryl interrupted. His eyes pinpointed as he concentrated on an outside psyche. “It’s Malachai!”
They heard wheels crunching on the rock driveway. There was a familiar knocking in the engine after it shut off. “Why’s he driving my car?”
“Your parents are with him—and Sachiko.”
“Really? Oh, man! You’ve got to get out of here. I’ll go stall.” He turned to leave.
“Josh!”
Joshua turned to look at him.
Outside car doors were opening.
“Tell Sachiko and your parents I’m sorry. And thanks—” Deryl paused, mashing his lips together against his emotions.
Joshua pulled him into another quick hug. “That’s what friends are for, right? Besides, that was definitely the adventure of a lifetime!” He held him at arm’s length and regarded him earnestly. “You ever need anything—”
“I know who to come to. And if you need me, just think of me, hard.”
“You got it. I’d better go!” Footsteps crunched on the gravel and the car trunk creaked open. Joshua gave his friend a quick squeeze on the shoulder and dashed out the door.
*
Deryl heard him pounding down the steps, calling out Sachiko’s name, then shouts of joy. He looked again around Joshua’s small apartment: the wardrobe of clothes, the laptop computer with a dozen messages—he noted with surprise that he could look at the screen now—the paperback lying open, facedown, on the table, the synthesizer on its stand between two window fans. He thought of Joshua outside, surrounded by his family, his boss, and the woman he loved.
So this is a normal Earth life? It felt so wrong. Even the sounds of traffic seemed alien to him.
He thought about a world with mandrakes-on-steroids and everyn and unicorns that could “talk” to you, and about a woman who could change the world with the power of her mind.
He grinned, closed his eyes, and went home.
*
“Joshua!” Even though Joshua had bounded out of the house calling his fiancée’s name, his mother saw him first. She dropped her travel bag and ran, Sachiko and his father looking up and following with shouts of their own.
Joshua jumped the last six steps and threw himself into his mother’s arms. “Mom! What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean, what am I doing? You were kidnapped!” But she was laughing and crying too hard to scold him properly, and she only released him when he twisted to reach Sachiko. As he kissed his fiancée enthusiastically, his mother le
aned against his dad, who held her close, both smiling through their tears.
Malachai, however, was unmoved. “Where’s Deryl Stephens?”
Just then, the windows of Joshua’s apartment rattled.
“Gone,” Joshua pulled away from Sachiko’s lips enough to say.
The chief psychiatrist gave him a murderous look and ran up the stairs. They heard him shouting Deryl’s name as he searched the tiny flat.
Joshua laughed as he reached out to his parents and tried to hug them and Sachiko all at once. He was going to be in for it when Dr. Malachai came back down, he knew, but for the moment, he didn’t care.
He was home.
EPILOGUE
In the Temple of Eternal Guidance, government headquarters of God’s Republic of Barinnin, a robed and bespectacled bishop spoke to the frazzled scientist on the other side of the telephone line. Although frazzled himself after the trying conversation, he nonetheless kept his voice serene as he spoke. “I am very sorry, Exalted Intellect Revluc, but as I have said repeatedly, the Great Prophet can see no one right now. Yes, yes, I understand the urgency of your findings, but he is in even more urgent prayer.”
When the annoying man continued to protest—as he had off and on for days now—Bishop Anglin pulled out his last weapon.
“Surely you understand the importance of Alugiac’s prayers? Surely you agree that it is only the cooperation of your science with God’s will, given to us through him, that we will ever fulfill God’s destiny for our people and make the pilgrimage to the next world? I thought so. No, no, I never doubted you, and I do promise to make speaking to you his top priority when he returns to us from his sacred raptures. Of course. God guide you, too.”
He felt like a tasmae for what he had just done. He’d all but accused one of the most promising scientists of the Fifth Age of blasphemy and treason—both of which were punishable by the most horrible of public deaths. Had he not seen the Prophet call on the power of the Ydrel to fling a man across a room in punishment for his continued insolence? The congregation had watched in awe and horror as the wrath of God the Conqueror made itself known upon Counselor Kusel, but stopped before the death blow. Alugiac said it was God’s warning, and anyone seeing Kusel’s misshapen face should certainly heed it.
Still, I should not have threatened Revluc so, but it was the only way I could think of to get him to leave me alone. Pernicious man!
Bishop Anglin sighed as he rifled through the pile of requests Alugiac had entrusted to him. Such trivialities! Could no one in the entire nation could make a decision without the approval of their Supreme Leader?
What was taking Alugiac so long? Could he truly bring the Ydrel to them? Ydrel, Path Forger. Ydrel, Sacred Weapon. Anglin felt a thrill that such holy events would come to pass in his lifetime—but when? Too much, he did not understand, but he knew one thing: Alugiac must return, and soon. For two weeks now, two long weeks of silence and growing unrest among the order, Alugiac had been locked in his room with the command that no one disturb him.
God help me. I will disobey those orders if he does not return to us soon. Forgive me, Lord Conqueror of All, if that be a lack of faith, he prayed as he turned to the endless paperwork.
*
Locked in his room, Alugiac, too, prayed. “Oh, God, what have I done? What have I done?”
Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
EPILOGUE