Star Chaser- The Traveler

by Reiter

  The light of the three Osamu soon became the light of the cube and its black metal became silvery white. The two living essences flowed into the construct and immediately flourished. They took with them, however, a third form that was without mind, without heart, without form… simply living energy.

  Alpha glowed, deciding not to follow the instruction it had been given. It read of the last moments of Saru and sent those readings to its creator who gripped his extension with all of his might. Not in any futile attempt to crush it, but to find something that would not give, that would remain an anchor for him as he heard the song again. “The chance that our eyes will see one another again, sweet nyaka, has been set. The love I have for you… the love we created… shall never wane. When you hear this song, Dungias, you will feel my embrace… and live… my Star Chaser… you shall live through our love!”

  Dungias wept, but he did so softly. There could be no sound his body could make that would give fair sign of his pain. He would scream to the Stars, only to judge the outcry as insufficient… what yawp would befit his most precious Star?

  “I will…” he bawled. “I will… see you… in the gardens… nyaka!”

  “Sylundaree,” a voice said as Dungias was taken back to the place he had seen just before his introduction to The Campus. The hangar was replaced by the field of stars and Dungias could see regret and remorse on all of the faces around him. He turned to face the one who had spoken to him and she smiled as he locked his eyes upon her. “So you know which one I am.”

  “I am not the same Dungias you met before,” he responded.

  “I can vouch for that!” At the sound of the voice, Dungias spun with a surprising speed and fury. Those who floated around him jumped in shock, as did Saru who was clad in robes of soft white starlight.

  “My wife!” he exclaimed.

  “My husband,” she said softly, her head tilting slightly to her left. Dungias started toward her but she held up her hand. “No, Dungias. Do not fall into that trap. For if you do, you will fall short of the trek you have nearly finished. Your love has brought me here, and here I shall dwell, but you cannot expect to live here when life awaits you in the world of our birth.

  “Still, poor is the heart of this moment without a single embrace,” Saru added. “Promise me–”

  “The only thing that has changed is where I will find you... but that is not yet where I will find my life or my next trek-stride,” Dungias declared. “This place is my Inner Star and I must trek it, master it, and find the same realm outside my body.” Saru’s eyes widened with surprise and great joy. “You did not expect me to know that, did you?”

  “No, nyaka, none of us did.”

  “You can thank my deceitful mistress for that,” Dungias replied, gesturing to the confused floating woman. “She took you while you were still touching Alpha!”

  Saru gasped in shock, as did the woman and nearly all of those flying about Dungias. The mysterious woman flew to him, to remove Dungias, but before her hand could reach his chest, his hand found her throat.

  “And Alpha still touches her body,” Dungias said as he squeezed. “You needn’t worry though. You have yet to tell Saru everything, though this particular part of the riddle is already solved. There is no Inner Star to find. Because it was never lost! Nothing in our lives is as much a discovery as it is truly a revelation. The Queen showed me that much. The BroSohnti might have been the gateways to power, but it was up to each who entered upon those grounds to make that power their own. Well, I am making the Inner Star my own… right now!” The woman screamed as her body burst in a blinding light.

  Dungias staggered back, the field of stars was gone and Alpha was in his left hand with the cube, now glowing, still attached to the end. In his right hand, however, there was a woman’s neck. She was quite comely with long white-blonde hair and crystal blue eyes that reminded him of clear mornings on Threm. By instinct alone Dungias started to squeeze. The woman gasped in shock before a hand strike weakened Dungias’ grip. She pulled free of his grasp and set to defend herself. Her stance was perfect, and her movement to it reminded him of water moving in a soft current. Dungias smiled and nodded.

  “Good form,” he remarked.

  “Are we done trying to kill me?” she asked.

  “That would depend,” he replied. “That would most certainly depend on you, milady. More cryptic messages from the places inside me?” he said sarcastically. “Or will you at least set your schemes to music so that I might more thoroughly enjoy the affair?!”

  The woman relaxed from her stance, her tongue moving around the inside of her mouth. “Perhaps my particular approach could have used…”

  “A different approach?” Dungias offered. “And should I call you Sylundaree?”

  “That was the name of the first Star Chaser,” the woman informed. “My name is Isse! Many, many, many years ago, Sylundaree found my husband and asked him for his help. You see, her people were being hounded and killed by interplanetary blackguards called the BroSohnti. My husband, along with his dearest friends, came to her call.”

  “Your husband was Zeu Rex?!”

  “My husband is Zeu Rex,” she corrected. “One of the reasons why they called themselves the Founders was because Sylundaree found them. She called, they came, and the rest I am sure you can piece together for yourself. You do not want for deductive reasoning.

  “And if any of this comes off as awkward,” Isse warned. “… it is because I’ve never had the opportunity to speak to anyone outside of the family the way I normally speak.”

  “Would it help if I call you Vi-Prin?” Dungias asked.

  “More than you know,” she replied.

  “You find it hard to talk because talking to a mortal from an immortal’s perspective must be very trying indeed.” Isse looked up slightly confused as to how he had made that deduction. “Your husband could face whole fleets of warships alone and that was, as you have already said, ages ago! You speak of him in present tense, and I doubt you are newly married. Which means, you are of his power level, or, if you are anything like my wife, of greater power.” Isse smiled at the reference. “So, since I am not a blind follower, you need not try to lead me at all. Tell me what it is you need, tell me why a goddess can’t do it for herself, and we can go from there.”

  Smiling brightly, nodding, and rather enjoying the ability to relax and be herself, Isse sent everything to Dungias’ mind. He blinked several times and lowered his head.

  “That is indeed a very interesting predicament. And I appreciate the addition of the culture of these... hoo-mans, is it?”

  “Humans,” Isse corrected.

  “Thank you,” Dungias said as he began to pace. “So, the two systems that are my home do not come to be even a half of your Inner Rim… and around that there is the Middle Rim… and around that the Outer Rim. What is beyond the Outer Rim?”

  “There are reasons why I don’t tell you everything,” Isse responded.

  “Ah!” Dungias nodded, placing his hands behind his back. Alpha remained in place, floating in the air, its lock with the cube maintained. “You don’t know… at least not in most directions. I see. Very well. And am I to understand that you are, oh, how would Alphexeous put it, ‘calling one in’?”

  “I am asking for your help,” Isse answered.

  “But if I say no, you’ll call one in.”

  “Yes.”

  “And if too many deities get involved, the collateral damage will be such that one would ask why defend humanity at all if gods are simply going to wrestle about, destroying every planet where they dwell.”

  “My father has severely crippled the entity they tried to make into a goddess,” Isse advised. “She still exists, but she is very weak and her followers are more than scattered.”

  “She will recover and they will gather,” Dungias concluded. “It seems I have another Queen asking me to lead her army. Twice in one star-term. That has got to stand for something!”

  “
Will you help?”

  Dungias started to pace, but only took three steps before stopping. “The things I saw, the field of stars that spoke to me. Was that a deception?”

  “No, it was not. That place exists, both in your mind and in the cosmos. It is as Nugar told you; to attain it, one is normally led by a sponsor. I have been allowed to be yours. As to the one who spoke, she did so at my behest. She allowed me to speak through her form and... manipulate you.”

  “You wanted to say ‘guide’?”

  “You have to understand how long I’ve… manipulated things in a certain fashion. It is a little difficult to undo at a moment’s notice.”

  Dungias chuckled. “Then don’t. I will help. Your husband, along with his family, saved my people. It is the least one of us could do to save their home.”

  “One? Dungias you could call forth an army!”

  “There are several conditions that must be met before I engage in this,” Dungias explained as he resumed pacing. “They are not negotiable, and since I do not subscribe to your human-based ethics, ‘calling one in’ only holds so much ground with me. I would just as soon tell you to… fuck off! Are we clear?”

  “What are your conditions?” Isse asked, not sure if she was feeling pride or fury.

  “One. Only one of us is coming,” Dungias informed. “Sylundaree called to your husband and he decided to make it a family affair. I’m not human, and I will not foolishly engage any of my people to this quest. The problem is humanity. It must fight for itself. If the Founders taught us nothing else, they demonstrated that wisdom.

  “Two. You and I will never communicate directly or indirectly again until I’m either dead, the deed is done, or I call to you. You’re also bound to not speak of our pact to your son, your father, or any entity you may encounter or have encountered outside this moment.

  “And three. If you’re truly the Isse of Freund, quite poetic by the way, then you’ll blind him to my approach and do your utmost to remove me from his chessboard. Can you abide by this?”

  “I can and do, Master Traveler. Or should I say Star Chaser?”

  Dungias gave the question very little consideration. “Seeing as how neither has any importance in the current human existence, you may use either. And thank you, Lady Isse, my deceitful, manipulative and very good friend.”

  “Why are you thanking me?”

  “Because I don’t think I could’ve...” Dungias walked back over toward the regenerator unit and looked down. They were still in locked time, so Saru did not exist. There was nothing to see. Dungias squared his shoulders and straightened his back. He had made his choices once more. “Pardon. What I meant to say was I do not think I could have pulled myself from the grips of a very powerful star as I watched it die. Without this quest, what reason would I have had to continue?”

  “I’m sure you would’ve found something,” Isse stated.

  “I did. And a fine quest it is… per your earlier promise.” Dungias returned to Alpha and took hold of his Osamu. “Now please, go back to being a goddess. Leave the lunacy of mortality to me and mine.”

  Isse departed without another word and the unit sounded its third and last alarm. The energy built up inside the unit could not be contained… not by that machine. Alpha, however, was up to the task. Once the feed had been completed, Dungias returned the cube to the pocket dimension. He found the dimension was beginning to dissipate, but it returned to its normal status once the cube was put back there. Dungias then inserted a scanner and had Alpha take readings of the pocket, deciding to later remove the cube and study how to make internal pockets of his own. The small bins he had now were too limiting. That he would have to address.

  He departed from the room, alerting his mentor that he would be available for the memorial service at the next three-moon festival on her home planet. That was nearly ten star-terms away, which would give ample time for the Queen to make her announcements and Dungias to make the necessary, albeit painful, appearances. This bend of the course would be a hard trek indeed!

  It’s a game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they’re gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun and go around the board as many times as I can before it’s my turn to leave.

  Tupac Shakur

  (IX)

  Silk! There have been many things made to be a friend of humanity. Silk was one of the simpler perfections. She did not know how he had managed it, but it felt as if Freund had inserted soft spring breezes into each and every thread; she found herself lying atop a cloud after a light rain.

  “You know, I only want you for your toys,” Tolarra jested as she played with her hair. The lack of response made her sit up to see Freund standing in the darkest corner of the room. He was wearing light robes and rubbing his chin. She could feel the weight had returned to his shoulders. Whatever relief their embrace had provided, it was gone now and Freund was once again back to work! “I suppose asking you to come back to bed is a waste of time, effort, and the incredible naked body you’ve got lying in the middle of your bed.”

  “Not a waste,” he spoke softly and with genuine concern, but she could tell her offer was not his focus. “Simply not an invitation I can accept at the moment.”

  “So what is it now?” Tolarra asked, letting her head return to the pillow. “What proverbial cat is stuck in the proverbial tree today?!”

  “And I thought you were coming to understand my work,” he replied.

  “Give it a rest!” she snapped. “Understanding it and liking it are two different things.” She laid there for a moment, thinking and remembering. With a sigh and some muttering, Lark moved to the side of the bed. “Seriously, baby, how the hell can you save people when you don’t take the time to save yourself?”

  “A very interesting point,” Freund said. The room shuddered and Tolarra was out of the bed and dressed in a flash of light.

  “What the hell was that?!”

  “I never said why I could not accept your invitation,” Freund replied, standing up and receiving his floating staff. “And where are your senses?”

  “I get a little thick in the after-glow,” she explained. “What happened back there was superlative and I’ve got to come to grips with what I’m feeling. Whether or not you’ve got the I-M in front of mortal or not, feelings… ugh! I think I’d rather fight–”

  “A child of Cosmos?” Freund stated as the room shook once more. “That would be for you. It’s Fission, and I think he’s a little aggravated.”

  “Oh no you don’t,” Lark waved her hands in protest. “I only did what you told me to do! If he’s pissed off, maybe you should go and talk to him.”

  “Perhaps I should have been more clear. At what point did I say attack them?” Freund asked as he walked out of the room.

  “Hey, you sent me,” Lark replied, following Freund out into the corridor. “Did you think I was going to show up in a pair of fuck-me pumps and sing ‘boo-boo-pee-do’?” Freund stopped walking, looking as if he was considering what she had said. “Be very careful with how you answer that, old man,” she warned.

  “That wasn’t just sex for you, was it?”

  “No!” Lark said softly as her tone changed. She took hold of Freund’s arm and stroked his shoulder. “No, it was much more than that.”

  “Now I am surprised,” Freund said, lifting his head, extending his senses.

  “Why?” Lark asked, stepping back from Freund. “What was it for you?!”

  Freund smiled and put his hand on Lark’s shoulders and let her see through his perceptions. While the shields had held, there were certain parts of the castle that had been marked by Fission’s attacks. The make of the shields and stone of the castle, however, had proved to be more than the entity wished to further engage. “You really need to engage your senses,” he suggested.

  “Give me a break, I’m newly immortal!” Lark remarked.

  “Understood, but if you don’t learn to multi-task efficiently, you won’t be immortal for long.” Fr
eund continued down the corridor to the stairs. They eventually worked their way around to the game room where Freund proceeded to the chessboard and Lark walked to the balcony. “Euphoria!”

  Lark turned away from looking at outer space and faced Freund. “What?”

  “You asked me what our time was for me,” Freund shared. “It was euphoria… or perhaps I should say it was a time where I thought I would save myself, but you beat me to the punch.”

  Rubbing her hands together nervously while coming up off her heels, Tolarra allowed herself a smile. She shrugged her shoulders in consideration. “Either one works for me.”

  “Good then.”

  “Better than good,” she smiled. She stared for a moment before she remembered Freund did not have eyes to see her stare, and she looked back at the stars. “Do you happen to know where the cosmic entity selling door to door went off to?”

  “Not a clue,” Freund answered, running his hand over the board. “And I felt it… your stare. It has an unmistakable presence, much like the feeling you get from the sheets, only for me, your stare is more like a cherished moment in winter.”

  “Winter?”

  “Everything is covered in a blanket of ice and snow,” Freund spoke, taking a seat at the table. “The air is sweet and crisp.”

  “And it’s cold,” Tolarra added.

  “Which is why you seek the comfort of a roaring fire and the touch of a special heart,” Freund returned. “Yes, you remind me of a cherished moment in winter.”