by E L Russell
71
Collection
Hope
While the lives of hundreds rested in their hands, the successful rescue of Jamal was the one foremost in her mind. They were a team with a unified goal and the full reality of the situation suffocated Finna. She maneuvered the invisible ball through space toward a gravity monster that could eat her alive and concentrated preventing Vald’s horrendous act from coming to completion.
The idea of transporting people such distances rattled Finna to the core. It stopped her heartbeat and her breathing. Everything about the rescue operation was a hocus-pocus affair. How could Mother boil this down to simple theft? Stealing people? When had she bought into all that Mother and Leeth promised? When had she bought into the promise of a Second Awaking?
God’s Bones.
She found herself accepting new ideas from Leeth because she believed in him. Mystified, she realized she had come to trust him completely. She wished it shut down her terror that she would fail in holding up her end of the rescue. Miri comment didn’t help.
Finna’s breathing hitched and she jerked in alarm when Mother’s voice blasted into her mind.
Finna hauled in a deep breath.
In rapid succession, the teams retrieved the Liberi from one coffin after another. Their first retrieval consisted of a family of three crammed into one capsule. A little girl with terror-filled eyes collapsed at their feet. Her mother and father immediately swooped her away and held her close. The three rushed to the back of the floor area and sat huddled together in silence.
Finna spoke low to Miri,
The children broke Finna's heart. They were terrified. While she reminded herself they were safe now, she wondered if the memory of the horror would ever leave them. Miri's shout refocused her to their task and they retrieved another . . . And then another. Their numbers blurred as they retrieved Vald's intended victims one, by one, by one.
But not Jamal.
Mother’s voice in her head interrupted her focus with a crisp staccato.
A renewed panic gripped Finna’s heart.
With their workload nearly doubled, physical and mental fatigue eventually took over in spite of Mother’s call for pacing. Still, when Finna and Miri rescued enough Liberi to fill the five-sided floor of their collection sphere, they were the first to reposition one hundred Liberi to Mother’s sphere. Knosh and Tood’s sphere was next only because Yasmin could not resist saving one more, and one more, in hopes that it would be Jamal.
* * *
Hours passed and Finna wondered if they could possibly rescue everyone. Miri’s concentration wandered and yelled at her to focus. In truth, they took turns keeping each other on task. How long they could keep this up?
While their first saves were done on schedule, Vald's increasing numbers of cylinders slowed their efficiency. On the bright side, the more people Vald consigned to destruction in the Maelstrom, the more Liberi lives they could save, a fact not lost on her. Still, the thought of knowing some might not be saved terrified her.
When the total collected exceeded five hundred and fifty, Mother announced she would reposition them to Torg where the people awaited their arrival at Leeth's castle. She assured the teams there would be no break in the rescues. Meanwhile, the underlying concern for Jamal grew and festered. Where was he?
They were closing in on the last of the canisters and still, there was no sign of him. Each retrieval raised their hopes and each ensuing disappointment plummeted Yasmin to the depths of hell. When her team repositioned the last three Liberi from their assigned sector, Yasmin dissolved into tears.
Finna repositioned her sphere to the new capture site but was confused by what she saw.
< Jamal must be in one of the containers,> Yasmin cried.
Tears streamed down Finna’s cheeks. Each group had seemed like the last chance to find Jamal and each disappointment had been gut-wrenching. It was hard not to crumble and die, but Mother and Leeth drove them. The Time Overlords cast a meticulous net of vigilance. No canister will go unnoticed.
Finna imagined she felt the sphere’s speed increase and was herself being drawn in. She needed his commands to focus. It would have been too easy to fold into despair.
With assistance from the Time Overlords scanning for new groups of ejected Liberi, Mother continued collecting and repositioning each team’s rescued victims directly to Torg.
Yasmin focused on retrieval like a woman possessed. She had to find Jamal.
In rapid secession, the Liberi were pulled into their spheres to fall to the floor in an emotional meltdown. Even with the Time Overlords' ability to detect lost souls, Finna, too, vized as far ahead as possible for any missed coffins. She was so afraid they would miss Jamal. Panic ate at her.
told her.
Mother’s voice returned to everyone’s head.
Leeth shouted.
There was silence after that and all Finna heard was her own heavy breathing and Yasmin’s sobs. Time stretched—
72
Caught
Falling Forever
Leeth’s excited voice filled their heads.
Finna melted to the floor in relief and cheered along with everyone else. She thought she heard Mother's usually steady voice as well. Although Yasmin's voice was not the loudest, it was the most heartfelt and Finna tears joined her friend's in happy relief until a cry came from Leeth.
Leeth, as well as Yasmin and Jamal and the remaining eight survivors, were caught in the gravity of the black hole. Finna’s stomach dropped to her boots.
Finna, with Mother, joined Leeth and Yasmin, who clung to a pale and unconscious Jamal in a fierce hug in their small collection sphere.
Finna prayed Leeth and Mother knew what they were doing.
The power of seven. They could combine their strength and use every part of their being to resist the pull of the Maelstrom and redirect the sphere.
At their arrival, Mother gave new directions.
It was over. They had done it. On the third try, they had escaped the sphere to Torg. They had found Jamal had saved him and the Liberi prisoners. Finna felt like a boneless rag and Yasmin could not stop touching her son. Between hugs, she scolded him for the foolish thing he had done and then she hugged him again and told him he was a hero. Remaining slightly rattled and positively pale, Jamal stoically accepted all she said. In spite of his usual wanderlust, he did not venture from her side.
Although drained by emotional exhaustion, a riot of happy noise rang through the courtyard of Leeth’s castle as the five hundred fifty-seven liberated Liberi celebrated their unbelievable escape from death. Hours later, they dispersed to the homes of the people of Torg who volunteered to take them in.
Leeth confirmed from the Time Overlords that Vald and his minions remained unaware of the rescues. The deaths of the Liberi were written in the Silva records and Vald, therefore, would not be searching for them. On hearing the news, another great whoop of joy went up.
As Finna watched Leeth talk to a small group of the survivors, she realized he looked relaxed and happy for the first time in a long, long time. She was glad for him. After orchestrating the rescue, he deserved happiness. He was the Liberi hero, just as Miri had told her a while back, and she could see he basked in their respect and admiration. Lord knew he hadn’t gotten much reverence from her during their adventures.
Yasmin joined her with Jamal in tow and she gave him a warm hug.
He returned the hug. “The entire time I’ve known you, Finna, we’ve had one harrowing adventure after another. This one, however, I was sure was the end.”
“Maybe you are the catalyst that makes these adventures happen,” Finna teased. “God’s Bones. You scared us to death.”
When his mom hugged him hard, Jamal returned the embrace and lifted her from the ground. “I think we take turns, and yes, Mom, that means you as well. But you,” he said, poking Finna in the arm, “and Leeth, are at the center of everything that created excitement, terrorizing as most of it was, in our lives.”
“You can say that even after Leeth made an extra effort to save you and your mom from the prince?" She liked the gentle ribbing and was astonished to find herself defending her Seeker.
Her Seeker. What was she thinking? When had he become her Seeker?
Yasmin ruffled her son’s hair and snorted at Finna. “Hah, you mean from that bastard prince. Let’s go ask him why he did it.”
Leeth greeted them with a big smile and moved over to make more room. “We did it, didn’t we? Our plan worked.”
Finna held up two cheering fists. “Right out from under Vald’s long hooked hoary nose we did it.” She grinned at Yasmin. “Now there’s a right and proper bastard.” While they all laughed, Finna thought there were far too many bad guys in their life and the moniker for this one seemed to slip from her lips involuntarily every time she thought of him. “Where’s Mother? She should be enjoying this moment, too. Has she returned?”
“Not sure,” Leeth said. “I didn’t see her after we arrived here. For the record, we’ve been told to stay away from the Maelstrom region of space until the Time Lords have completed their longitudinal study, so she can’t still be there.”
“Longitudinal study?” Jamal, ever curious, wanted an explanation. Yet his actual desire for an answer dissipated as he looked around. “Where’s Miri? I haven’t seen her since our escape.”
“Miri? Isn’t she a bit old for you?” Finna teased.
Jamal's face suddenly resembled a cat with a mouse tail hanging from a corner of its mouth. "I'll be thirteen this month, on Earth, anyway." He stood taller and stuck his chin out. "Besides, on Torg, I've matured early."
Miri walked toward them and Jamal’s face lit up. Finna looked forward to the next few minutes. Leeth, oblivious to the by-play gently shook the boy’s shoulder. “A good response, my fine, fellow.”
Miri went to Jamal and took both his hands. “You’re safe.”
“Yes, I am recused and none too soon. What took you so long?”
Leeth stepped in. “Ah, another good question, but for another time. It is too depressing for now. Let it suffice you are here and safe.”
Jamal reverted to his earlier question. “About that longitudinal study, Seeker,” he said, sounding so much like Finna, they all laughed.
“It means research on something over a long time, which brings me back to your question about Mother, Finna. Evidently, she created a small sphere of her own and repositioned without saying goodbye.” He forced a one-syllable laugh. “I can only guess that’s what happened because it’s not unusual. She has a penchant for going off on her own at the strangest times. I’ve opened my mind to her several times since we arrived here, but her image fades in and out and I can’t understand a word she’s saying.”
Finna pulled her chin back in surprise. “You don’t find it unusual? Could she be in trouble? The Maelstrom—”
Leeth dismissively patted down the air between them. "She always returns with an exciting story."
Jamal, rallying from the horror of his ordeal, wanted to know what happened in his absence. “How did you know Vald changed his plans? Whose plan was it to replace the containers? Did you really call them coffins? That’s sick. How did you actually make the rescues?” He paused and rubbed his face with his hands. His face took on a gray haunted look and he reached for Yasmin’s arm. “It was hell in there, Mother. I knew you’d come, but you took your time. Why didn’t you get us sooner?”
It was a question he’d asked before and Finna felt a chill of horror every time he asked it. He turned his head in all directions.
“I heard some of the others say we were going someplace else soon. Where would that be? And where’s that old woman? Finna said I should thank her.”
/> Finna hid a grin when Yasmin patted his arm. She knew it was a signal for him to stop talking. “We all owe her our thanks.”
When Jamal opened his mouth to ask another question, Leeth held up a hand. "Hang on." He tilted his head and leaned forward as if trying to listen to a quiet conversation. "What the sarding hell? Look at this recorded viz the Time Lords just sent." He opened his mind. "That's Mother standing with her back to us in a small sphere that is falling toward the Maelstrom. No wonder I can't reach her." They watched as her sphere's speed increased.
Finna gasped. The Maelstrom— She’ll die. Her heart tripped and she reached out for support. “Mother’s looking back at us as though she knows we see her. She’s waving.”
73
Parallax
Next Step
Finna jerked Leeth’s sleeve. “What is she doing? We finally have everyone safe. Why would Mother allow her sphere to get that close to the Maelstrom? I don’t understand. It looks like she intended to establish an orbit. What could possibly be her motive?”
Leeth sighed. “The orbit’s an illusion, a space warp.” He lowered his head. “Mother’s actually on a direct plunge to hell.”
“What are you saying?” Finna wished she could reach out to the image. “She’s looking back at us. Oh, no . . .”