“Hey, Ray! I know this comes at a bad time, but do you think we can come over to your place instead of vice-versa? A couple of my family members decided to drop in unannounced and my oldest brother is acting like it’s the veritable end of the world. You know Harry: Always the Drama King.”
Rayna grinned despite herself. She found herself nodding just the same.
“Anyways…this might take a few hours to unravel. Harry’s brought over the wife and kids and it’s a fucking nightmare right now. I know we had some planned shopping in the Business District later on, but I’m afraid this can’t keep. Respond when you are able. Kisses all around. Rachel.”
Rayna saved the message for later–along with all the rest–and then had her living room terminal connect to her friend’s personal voice mail.
“Return call waiting.” Her terminal announced. “You may begin five seconds after the beep.”
The terminal beeped in a few seconds and Rayna recorded her message for her friend in waiting. It took about a minute and a half, but what she said got a lot of crap off her chest in one go. And the woman was personally glad that she had a friend like her so she could spill the beans when able.
Like right now.
The terminal beeped again once she finished recording her return message.
“Call sent. Any other requests?”
The woman shook her head. “No. Thank you. That will be all.” She responded pleasantly. That was a bit out of character for her, but since this was the weekend, she was going to let things slide for a bit.
Providing her recent headaches didn’t rear their ugly heads again.
Or the nightmares. Rayna was about to give anything to make them go away. For good.
Just as she was about to turn around and leave, her terminal beeped for her undivided attention again.
“Trace?” She automatically questioned.
“Incoming call. Channel 20-08-19. Doctor Arlene Khan.”
The woman sighed heavily–knowing she wasn‘t going to like this particular exchange one bit.
“Very well. Put it through.”
The terminal screen resolved itself to a show a rather young and striking woman of average age sitting at her desk terminal–with stacks of flimsies and folders full of filed paperwork and other department requests in view of the camera lens.
“You missed our regular appointment at 10:30 AM yesterday. Where were you?” Came her no-nonsense approach to these things.
Instead of acknowledging a simple logistical error on her division’s behalf, the woman tried her best to play dumb on the issue instead.
“Was it yesterday?” Rayna questioned in a most tactful manner possible. But the whole ploy failed in the fraction of a second once she got a good look at her doctor’s face.
It was not a pleasant one to say the least.
Arlene twisted around in her seat for a second and then sighed with heavy disappointment.
“Spare me your excuses, Captain. You are under orders from your superior to see me twice a week for your ongoing sleep issues and chronic depression. Do I need to write up another demerit for your lack of participation? It won’t look good on your record–seeing that you have three so far in the past six months alone.”
Rather than argue the point, the woman nodded quickly just the same.
“Fine. I’ll be in about an hour or two. I need to clean up my bed mess once more.”
“Night sweats?” The other woman correctly guessed.
Rayna blushed a bit. “Yes.” She admitted without difficulty.
Arlene’s expression softened with concern. “That’s the tenth incident in the last month alone.” She said. “I’m going to write you a script for some Maladine-40. That should help keep your body temperature regulated at nights so this doesn’t become a problem.”
Rayna studied the woman for a moment. “I don’t know if I want this problem corrected. At least not yet.”
“So you want to wake up and come into my office smelling like pickles, fish, and vinegar every session?”
“No, it’s just–it has something to do with my recurring night terrors.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m being burned alive by some strong force. I can’t explain what it feels like to the last minute detail. But I get the sense…something is going to be happening soon.”
“A premonition?”
Rayna shrugged helplessly. “I’m not sure, Doctor.”
“Have you undergone a recent TEMRI scan?”
“From what I heard about that–it’s still in the experimental stage…is it not?”
“The Medical Board just approved it for human use only last month. There’s a long waiting list, but if you want–? I can put you at the top and schedule an appointment to go see Doctor Roger Bartholomew. But be warned: It’s not like an atypical CPEC scan that they use in most major hospital agencies nowadays.”
The woman nodded in quiet understanding.
“I’ll take my chances. Anything to get rid of this nagging feeling in the back of my head.”
“Okay. I’ll set up an appointment in about a week. And this time–?”
“Yes, yes…I have to keep it. I know.” Rayna responded quickly–knowing that doing this was going to take a healthy bite out of this month’s paycheck.
But if she wanted some lasting answers…? The woman was going to have to bite the bullet for a bit longer than she wanted.
Her psychologist appeared pleased by her answer. “Good. As it is coming up on eight o’clock, I want you here no later than ten-thirty. If you have any forthcoming plans for the day–? Please make arrangements to reschedule or cancel them for the day.”
Rayna nodded. “It’s okay. I won’t have anything planned until at least four or five this afternoon anyways.”
“Family?”
“A friend,” the woman corrected gently. “Someone I hadn’t seen in awhile.”
Arlene made some notes in the spaces between a couple of binders and then looked up into the camera feed.
“Socializing will do you some good, Captain. You can’t remain bottled up inside your apartment suite forever.”
“I’m…not much a party animal, Doctor. I tend to keep to myself at all times.”
“I’m not asking you to let go completely, Rayna. I’m suggesting that a little socializing might do you some good. There has to be some places you can spend one evening at without compromising your boundaries.”
The woman gave it some thought. “Well, the Zero 76 Club is hosting a rave party the day after tomorrow. Standing room only. I suppose I can hit up Falco for an evening pass.”
“Good. Good. That’s a start. You’ve shown some excellent progress these past few months–despite your lingering problems. And I’d hate to see that go down the toilet because of a simple miscommunication or something even more serious.”
“Like losing my sanity? Because I tell you…some days I feel like going over to the other side and wrecking some beautiful havoc on extremely short notice.”
Arlene smiled somewhat in response to her statement of fact.
“Yes, I’ve noted in my records that you have a state certified sadistic streak in you. That comes with the territory–if I am not mistaken.”
“Kill or be killed.” Rayna responded cryptically. “Death before dishonor.”
“You don’t need to remind me of the Praetorial Guardsmen motto, Captain. I have a brother who is in the service myself.”
“My apologies. I didn’t know.”
“Now you do. And like you, he’s conditioned for conflict, combat, and other situations which sometimes demands the ultimate sacrifice.”
“Well, we try to keep that to a minimum.”
“And the recent strike in the Business District?”
Rayna blanched a little. “We…don’t talk about it. It’s bad for morale.”
“My mistake.” Arlene conceded easily enough. “At any rate, I have you logged in at 10:30. It’s 8:15 now. Better hu
rry up, Captain.”
Rayna nodded–thinking about what she was going to be doing next–before catching the next sky tube car out to Level 3453.
“I will. And thanks for getting in touch with me. I really appreciate it.” She deferred warmly.
“All part of the service. Now hurry up. I have a full day ahead of me and my schedule is booked as is.” Arlene reminded her before reaching out and killing the connection right then.
The living room terminal regressed back to a live shot of one of Gate Plazas up near the Sanctuary Dome. From here, Rayna could see birds flying overhead, the sun beating down on one of many marked pathways into the Plaza, a smattering of small parks and open recreation facilities for people to enjoy.
Seeing this view made the woman a bit envious and jealous at the same time.
I should be there–enjoying myself–before going over to Rachel’s. But now I’m stuck in a two-hour session with my psych-therapist and trying to figure out all the little mysteries which my mind has been showing me these past few months. She thought, before turning away and heading back up the small flight of stairs.
Going back into her bedroom, Rayna began the burdensome process of dumping her sheets (first) into the now open laundry mat room next door which serviced twelve family units at a time. She didn’t need her pass card key this time to open it.
Going back for the blankets a second time led to a small surprise: Rayna happened to run into one of her neighbors, Bradley Hennessey. The man was very much single and had been serious eye candy for the ladies in the twelve-family unit on this part of the level and even Rayna had to admit that she was smitten by him a little bit herself.
But their encounter was an innocent one nonetheless. The man was carrying an armload of laundry baskets that had more than their share of dirty laundry in them.
“A bit backed up, are we?” Rayna tossed off in a sudden and teasing manner. It was the first thing to fly out of her mouth since she woke up this morning to less than stellar news on the home front.
The other man was startled by her sudden appearance and shrugged sheepishly once he had sufficiently recovered from his fright.
“It’s my sister’s kids clothes. I had them over for the past week and finally got around to doing a few loads. How about you?”
Rayna smiled. “Dirty sheets and blankets. Nothing terribly important.” She assured him out in the open. “But I’m going to be running late coming back so could you be a favor Bradley?”
“Sure. Anything.”
“Finish my laundry and then stick it in this small basket of mine?” She ventured hopefully.
The other man smiled. “It would be my pleasure.”
Rayna felt relieved by her neighbor’s generosity. As an added bonus, she boldly asked: “Do you where I live?”
The smile was still there as Bradley gave her an appreciative nod.
“Oh, yes. I know. Your apartment suite is the only one with those swinging pots of rhododendrons on your back patio.”
Rayna had an enchanted look on her face. “And how do you know that?”
Bradley grinned.
“Because I live right above you.”
~34~
Shark’s Bay.
9:09 AM
Calis heard his communications terminal beep for attention just as he was finished connecting the armored side panel to the hover tank he was presently working on.
“Coming…!” he called out, wiping his hands along the way. It took him less than a minute to traverse the distance to the wall station built next to two work tables–both of them lit.
Activating the terminal’s on switch, he input his pass code and waited for the party on the other line to pick up.
It was Maye McGowan. And from the looks of things, she appeared to be in quite a panic. The recording of her showed that much at least.
“Calis! I got a call from Coeval Medical at six this morning–informing me that my daughter had been admitted for possible injuries or illness. The voice on the other end wasn’t very specific. But I got a second call from the Praetorial Guard’s Liaison’s Office Administrative Complex giving me and my family permission to travel up to the space complex to go meet her when she recovers! Just what the hell happened up there, Old Man?!? Why is she in the fucking hospital? You said this wouldn’t happen! You promised! You promised!”
Then the first transmission cut itself off at the source for the next fourteen seconds–leaving the forward terminal screen blank with snow and static–before a second transmission file popped up.
Calis calmly accessed that one and it was another uplink from Maye herself. This time she appeared onscreen in a disheveled state–her eyes puffy and red and worry lines creasing every aspect of her face.
“I’m sorry, Calis. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I know this isn’t your fault. Not directly. You gave her permission to travel star side and I believed you when you told me that nothing bad would happen. That was yesterday. Just trying to remember what it was that I told her mother years ago when we finally agreed on the exchange.”
Calis nodded sympathetically in lieu the poor woman’s plight. There had been a lot of secret dealings and pacts made for the safety and overall sanctity of both universes–which both sides agreed was a vital necessity–if they wanted to keep the God of Insanity at bay for the time being.
But the old man didn’t take into account any possible screw ups along the way either. Calis believed that they had timed everything down to the last detail.
Including this planned trip to the Stratos City Space complex. It was supposed to be a simple field trip from his perspective: Get in, get the goods, get out…? Return to the surface as quickly as possible and wait for the next phase of the operation to happen.
All the while, protecting both universes at the same time. Where the possibility of harm could not come to pass because of the promise all parties made in the interim.
“So how could things have fallen apart so quickly in just a day…?” He murmured with growing worry. But while he was focused on that, Maye was going on about a few things that had grabbed the old man’s attention and he realized that another meeting between both parties would be a top priority in order to safeguard the futures of both worlds–and universes–at the same time.
But without Isis in the picture and in the hands of the Praetorial Guard, things were going to get more dicey the longer things ran unchecked.
“Gods…” he breathed. “Just when we were so close too…”
Tarnek appeared in the space of a moment–waiting for the old man to acknowledge his presence.
“I take it we failed?” His own strong voice betraying real emotion for the first time in almost twenty years.
Twenty years to the day when one world was about to imperil another through fate itself and an accord had to be struck to protect both at the same time.
It was an absolutely foolproof plan.
So how could it have failed?
Calis sighed. “I don’t know, Tarnek. I don’t know. I thought we had covered all of our bases. That was the plan. And it worked. It worked! I know it did! There were no more dimensional incursions into our universe for almost twelve years after that event!”
“I get the sense more has happened then what is being led on, old friend. I can see it through the entire space complex. Something’s…changed.”
“What could possibly have changed? We both know that the legendary Starchild of Ancient Lore couldn’t possibly have existed in this universe! But you had me send her up on a fool’s errand, believing that such a being could have existed here in the first place! And look where it’s landed her: In the hands of a potential enemy!”
“They couldn’t know who she is, Calis. There’s no way they could have known.” Tarnek reminded him staunchly.
Calis shook his head–standing rigid at his communications terminal.
“It doesn’t matter now. It won’t take them long to piece things together. Not at this rate anyways.�
�
“Well, she can’t remain a prisoner of the Praetorial Senate or the Praetorial Guard. Such a move would endanger not only the space complex but the whole world in general.” Tarnek reminded the old man staunchly. “And we already know what happened the last time this happened–right?”
Calis nodded gravely. “I remember.”
“Then let’s not repeat the mistakes of old all over again. We have one chance and one chance only to make things right. For not only our universe, but for those universes still not yet born or have had that chance to grow into their full potential yet.”
“So what must be done, Tarnek? What? Tell me!”
“We have to get her out of there, old friend. And we must do it now–while we still have the time.”
“That’s going to be a tall order, Tarnek. If she’s incapacitated in any way–?”
Tarnek knew what that statement of fact fully entailed.
“Then all hope is lost. And evil shall be reborn on swift wings once again. The Messenger of Darkness shall return–greater than anything in its unnatural wake.”
“Greater than the God of Insanity…” the old man murmured. “Hard to believe…there are forces out there in the known and unknown multiverse that could possibly top Him.”
“All contained in the vessel of your protégé. The shard that once belonged to the Source of Chaos–heralds an even deeper secret than the ages themselves.” Tarnek schooled gently. “It must not be awakened. Not here. Not now.”
“I think that’s been taken out of our hands, old friend.” Calis said with equal sadness. “Because we failed to take into account other things which may have interceded on Isis’s behalf before we were even considered ready.”
“Then we have to move swiftly, Calis. And do so now.”
Calis stared at the broken image of the woman whom played her part well during the last incursion twelve years ago.
“I suppose no further harm could be done by taking the initiative. But it will mean exposing some rather ugly truths along the way. And I for one…do not look forward to this. Not at all.” He offered with a quiet sigh of defeat.
The Starchild Page 27