Alliance

by Andrew Stride

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  Frank looked around in an attempt to see these Formless Ones for himself. There was something dark in the shadow of an old tree, but he couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t his eyes playing tricks on him.

  “Where are the others?”

  “Safe for the moment. What are you doing here?”

  “Something called me. I think it was Miar and I knew I had to come.”

  “I need water.”

  “I’ve got some in the cab.”

  “I need a bit more than that. The pond, over there.” Laja could barely lift his arm.

  Frank knew the pond he was talking about, even if he hadn’t the slightest idea why Laja needed that much water.

  “Frank, if you want to survive this, you should go.”

  “I’ve lived a full life. Just tell me what I need to do.”

  Laja looked at the pickup.

  “I’ll bring it closer,” and with that, Frank ran back to his vehicle.

  He was never going to get Laja into the cab, in his condition. The only option was the back of the pickup. Frank was nervously watching the trees for any sign of the Formless Ones and now back with Laja, he knew he was going to have to lift him. Frank wasn’t the man he used to be and Laja could do nothing to help himself. Knowing time was not on their side; Frank scooped Laja’s battered and bloodied body up in his arms and staggered forward, then lowered him as gently as he could into the back of the pickup. Laja yelled in pain and you could see by the look on Frank’s face that he would have taken that pain himself, if only he could.

  Laja wasn’t oblivious to Frank’s efforts and he wondered if Frank had any inkling at all to the aid he was giving him on a spiritual level.

  A shadow passed over them and Frank looked up expecting to see something.

  “Frank, we’ve got to move.”

  “It’s going to be a rough ride.”

  Frank wasn’t kidding. They left the track and were motoring across an expanse of meadow. It was just as well that Laja was wedged between bags of garden waste, as they were stopping him from rolling around in the back.

  The Formless Ones were in hot pursuit, but there was nothing Laja could do about it. Their first attack was concentrated on the rear of the pickup and they thumped into the tailgate with so much force that it raised the back wheels off the ground. Hitting the ground again, the backend slid out and Frank battled with the steering to regain control. He managed it and then took a hit from the side and braced himself, just before he used his trusted pickup to ram through a fence.

  “Sorry old girl,” he whispered.

  The pond was directly ahead and this crazy idea popped into Frank’s head. ‘Drive into it’ he said to himself and in the same instant something black crossed the pickup’s path. Frank swerved and this sent them into a spin. He fought the steering, but there was nothing he could do and now facing the wrong direction, Frank instinctively shoved the pickup into reverse. There followed an almighty splash and the pickup was up to its axles in water and sinking rapidly into the muddy bottom of the pond.

  Frank was still gunning the engine, trying to drive the pickup into deeper water, even though he had no idea why he was trying to do this. He must have done enough because his foot came off the accelerator and from the cab’s rear window, he could see several bags of garden waste floating out the back of the pickup and across the pond.

  He was shocked and confused and then panicked when he caught sight of Laja and his head was barely above the water. Frank leapt out of the cab and sank up to his middle in mud and water. He was still questioning what had possessed him to reverse into the pond and in a panic, he waded around the side of the pickup and hauled himself into the back.

  The back end of the pickup was still sinking and he was horrified to find that Laja was nowhere to be seen and in desperation, he leapt back into the water.

  Frank called out and scanned the surface of the water, hoping to see him floating amongst the rubbish, but there was no sign of him. Frank had worked himself up into quite a state and noticed the air in front of him change and become distorted. Then he felt his chest tighten and he wondered if he was having a heart attack. The tightness increased and it now felt like a pair of invisible hands were at his throat, throttling him.

  Frank’s world was turning black and yet there was something else, a faint humming sound and what looked like a ball light hovering in the centre of the pond. His brain was being starved of oxygen, so it was likely that this was a hallucination, except that the humming sound was growing louder and the ball of light remained steady.

  Frank hadn’t even realised he’d been lifted into the air, so when the pressure on his body eased, it came as quite a shock to be returned to earth with a splash. He thrashed about a bit, before he managed to reach out and grab hold of the pickup.

  Catching his breath, Frank could see that it wasn’t his imagination; there really was something seriously wrong with the pond. The ball of light was still there, pulsing like a heartbeat and the water appeared to be boiling; however, there was no heat, just a mysterious mist building at its centre.

  The mist expanded before his eyes, rolling across the pond like the sea mist he’d seen so many times here on the island.

  Frank hadn’t the faintest idea what he was seeing and with all these distractions, he’d forgotten about Laja.

  Just when he thought things couldn’t get any stranger, the mist was whipped up and condensed into a broad rotating column and Frank was suddenly very scared.

  The centre of the pond was where the action was, but Frank had also noticed a number of dark shadowy forms flying around and somehow he knew they were the Formless Ones he’d been told about.

  In a bid to disrupt what was taking place here, they flew out across the pond, but they did not fare well and were torn apart by the energy that was being generated. Despite this, they kept trying, hoping to find a weakness.

  The Formless Ones looked anything but in control and one of these things broke away and was headed straight for Frank. Frank saw it coming, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. The pressure on his body was back and he was being forced down into the water. It seemed that this time they were intent on drowning him. Frank was putting up a good fight, but it wasn’t a fight he was likely to win.

  The glowing column of mist slowed to a stop and without warning, it blew itself apart.

  Instead of a shower of debris as Frank had expected, there was a shower of light and water droplets and the pressure that was forcing his head into the water, stopped abruptly.

  It was like time had slowed to a crawl and hovering in the centre of the pond was a shimmering being. The being stood with purpose, arms raised to the sky, drawing energy from some otherworldly source. It was an incredible sight to behold, but there was unfinished business here and on an out breath, the being released this energy, which resulted in an explosion without sound. The explosion expanded outwards like a bubble, taking the shadowy forms with it.

  When this bubble of energy hit Frank, something unexpected happened, his body became very light, like he’d been filled with helium and he was pulled from the water.

  A moment or two later, gravity took hold again and it looked like he was in for another dunking, but instead of sinking into this element, he found himself standing on its surface.

  Standing there in utter amazement, Frank felt the water flex beneath his feet and was just doubting his sanity when a voice came into his mind, telling him not to be alarmed.

  The being in the centre of the pond was talking to him and rising above his anxiety, Frank felt ready to ask it a question.

  “What did you do with Laja?”

  “I am Laja.”

  “I don’t understand, you, this, how is any of it possible?”

  Laja walked over to where Frank was standing.

  “What are you?” asked Frank.

  “I am a Lumsulu. I come from a planet far from here and my mission is to help sav
e your kind.”

  “I didn’t know we needed saving.”

  “Those shadowy forms you saw, the Formless Ones, have imprisoned your race and created an illusion, this existence you call life.”

  “What would we be without this life?”

  “You would be free.”

  “Free?” Frank looked confused.

  Laja knew that when the door to freedom finally opened there would be many like Frank, who would struggle to adapt and then there would be others who would refuse it altogether and remain loyal to the Formless Ones.

  “I need to get back to the others before the Formless Ones return,” said Laja.

  Frank still couldn’t believe what he was seeing and Laja supported him back onto solid ground and without too much effort, pulled the pickup out of the pond.

  “How will we know when we are free?”

  “You will feel it, like a heavy weight lifted from your shoulders. The real change will come when you metamorphose from your current human form into the next.”

  “Into the next?”

  “Without the Formless Ones your race will grow and evolve naturally.”

  “Will we become something else, like you?”

  “I was talking more about your spiritual evolution. With every rebirth, you will become more aware. Experiences of your previous lives will be banked and accessible to you.”

  “I’m not a religious man, but I always thought we came back.”

  “The current situation does not allow you the freedom to choose. Your lives are not your own, trickery and deceit, cloud every aspect in equal measure.”

  What a bombshell and Laja wondered if he’d overdone it as he looked at Frank trying to process the information. He kind of thought Frank deserved an explanation, after all his help and in his heart, he felt he’d done the right thing.

  He turned and looked across the meadow in the direction of the old lighthouse. A dog could be heard barking and the sound of voices. It was definitely time he left.

  “You going to be able to explain what happened here?”

  “You mean, can I make a convincing liar?”

  Laja smiled. “You’re a good man, Frank. Who knows, one day our paths may cross again.”

  And with that, Laja brought the palms of his hands together and blew into them to produce a succession of notes, which rendered him almost invisible and he was quickly lost in the landscape.

  Frank stood there looking at his mud-caked pickup and a dog came bounding over, quickly followed by a couple who had heard him break through the fence. The idea that they just happened to be walking by at the time, wasn’t all that unusual, after all, a lot of dog owners came out here. It was only when they started asking questions about his companion that Frank suspected something was up. He stayed calm and said they’d been mistaken and it was then that things turned a bit weird, if the day could have possibly become any stranger. He felt their eyes upon him, prying deep into his mind and he was unable to stop them retrieving his memory of the events that had led him here.

  He must have blacked out because when he came to, he was sitting in his pickup and the couple with the dog were nowhere to be seen. He knew he could have done no more, but hoped it was enough and that Laja had made it safely back to the lighthouse.

  Laja had indeed made it back to the lighthouse and slipped inside where the others were waiting for him and all he had to do now was open this portal. He took a couple of moments to compose himself, bringing his flute to his lips and then releasing a combination of notes that blew the fabric of this dimension away, like a deck of cards. They watched in amazement as an intense white light engulfed them like a crashing wave and they were back in the teleportation chamber on Vulsumar.

  The journey felt pretty instant and they had barely materialised before Lim and Miar were in each other’s arms.

  “I’ll never let you go again,” whispered Lim.

  There were tears in Miar’s eyes, but their reunion was cut short. They all felt a vibration and the light inside the chamber, faltered. Possibly an explosion.

  “Looks like we got back just in time,” said Laja.

  “Yes, but in time for what?” asked Joeum.

  “To die,” said Clom.

  Their attention was drawn to the door of the chamber, which had begun to open and hovering in the doorway was an RDU bristling with hardware and everyone froze. It was only when it spoke that they knew they were safe.

  “Huey?” said Lim.

  Miar looked at Lim as if he’d gone mad. Who the hell was Huey? And then she got a second shock when the RDU responded.

  “Lim, you’ve returned.”

  “Don’t sound so surprised,” said Clom.

  Huey was still in control of the telepoint, but he wasn't going to get away with it for much longer and he needed to turn them around pretty quickly. During his time here, Huey had uncovered something about the telepoint and it was as the Harmonic Ones had feared; only there wasn’t a great deal of time to explain and another explosion sent a tremor through the chamber. More violent this time.

  “Well!” said Huey, eager to be away from this place.

  “Let’s do it,” said Laja.

  “Where are we going this time?” asked Clom.

  “We’re going to find out what the Formless Ones have been hiding all this time,” said Laja.

  Huey was in position and his hands hovered over the controls and quite suddenly, everything distorted.

  Clom would never get used to these things and he shut his eyes to save himself from seeing anything out of the ordinary. His body was tingling all over, a side-effect that passed quickly, but a blinding flash left them disorientated and they couldn’t explain the massive drop in temperature.

  Their eyes were slow to adjust, while they struggled to make sense of their new surroundings. Confused and disorientated, they reached out to one another and huddled together for warmth.

  No one had actually said anything and Laja’s voice came into their minds in an effort to calm everyone and bring some understanding to their predicament.

  They were standing in a frozen landscape, bathed in the light of a blood red sun that struggled to penetrate layers of thick mountainous cloud. The sun may have been out, but they certainly couldn’t feel any warmth from it and Clom’s teeth were chattering so badly that he was in danger of chipping a tooth.

  High above their position, flashes of lightning arced across the sky, lighting up the icy wilderness that looked as uninviting as it felt. As they stood there shivering, they noticed floating formations moving in and out of the clouds around them, but these remained unidentified for the moment.

  Then something strange happened. A hush descended and there was absolutely no sound. It was like someone had hit the mute button and when Miar spoke, she was shocked when only air came out of her mouth. She tried again, still nothing. It was the same for everyone. Laja spoke into their minds again and assured them that they hadn’t all become deaf, but the atmosphere here was unlike anything they were familiar with and sound was not behaving normally.

  So was it just luck that the air was breathable? Luck or not, they weren’t complaining and although they didn’t know anything about this planet, Laja was sure that the conditions they were experiencing weren’t necessarily the same throughout.

  And then they noticed someone was missing. Where was Huey?

  Despite leaving Vulsumar together, Huey was indeed missing and there wasn’t much they could do about this, but they had to hope he was around here somewhere.

  In no immediate danger, but lacking Huey’s insight, it was essential that Laja took a few moments to reach an understanding about this environment and his conclusion was that they were actually standing on an island made of ice.

  “Like an iceberg?” questioned Joeum.

  “Yes, like an iceberg,” said Laja.

  Except, this iceberg wasn’t floating in an ocean, it was actually floating in the planet’s atmosphere and the objects they could se
e moving in and out of the clouds, were also islands made of ice.

  “How is that possible?” asked Clom.

  “I am picking up a life form within the ice that is able to create its own gravity.”

  “How could life have evolved in such an environment?” asked Miar.

  Life here had had to adapt and in most cases that meant migrating from one place to another to stay alive, but rather than this happening on the planet’s surface, it was taking place in the planet’s atmosphere.

  Making the most of what was on offer up here would sometimes mean occupying small pockets that formed in very hostile layers. These pockets were often unstable and could only support life for short periods of time.

  Being transported to a pocket of breathable atmosphere was probably less down to chance and more intervention on the part of the Harmonic Ones. As reassuring as this thought was, Laja wasn’t convinced, simply because this place was likely to be outside their jurisdiction.

  Not wanting to add to their anxiety, he kept the idea to himself for the moment and explained that this world had a huge atmosphere, which was divided up into layers. Much like any planet, except this atmosphere was not likely to behave in accordance with what they were used to.

  In some layers, they would feel as heavy as lead and the pressure might be strong enough to crush them, while in others, they would feel as light as a feather and could take to the air like birds.

  “You know all this from just standing here?” asked Clom.

  They could all hear Clom’s voice loud and clear in their minds, but he was still using his mouth, despite the fact that nothing could be heard audibly.

  Laja reminded them that he was a Lumsulu and being able to quickly attune to a planet’s life-force and reach a deep understanding, was a natural gift.

  This world was troubled, deeply scarred and its battle to correct the sanctions imposed upon it, had resulted in a turbulent and hostile environment.

  Clom’s lips were moving again. He wanted to know if there was a layer where they weren’t going to freeze to death. Laja got the message.

  His Lumsulu form was less susceptible to extreme temperature, but he was going to have to do something for his human companions, as he could see they were struggling. A protective shield would help, so without further delay, he created one and the advantages were immediate.