by Ines Johnson
Now, Shanti walked down the busy streets of a small village in the middle of India. Her suitcase bumped her heels as the wheels bumped over the graveled pathway. Off in the distance she saw flashing lights.
Everyone on the streets paused, looking over at the display. Obviously someone had set off fireworks over the waterways. It was a beautiful display of yellows and blues.
Shanti took a seat at a bus stop. The bus might not come until morning, but she had nowhere else to be. No one looking for her.
The nights were warm in India. But a cool breeze blew through the air from the body of water nearby. Shanti had tried to go down and see it earlier in her stay, but the ashram's strict schedule of peace always precluded her.
Looking at the posted schedule, she saw that the next bus out of the village wasn't coming for hours. She decided to take a moment to herself. She could go down to the waters. She might even catch more of the fireworks display.
She made slow progress down the path. It gave her time to think. Her feet matched the slow pace of her thoughts as she walked down into the clearing at the water's edge.
At the clearing's edge, Shanti looked out over the inky blackness of the still waters. She couldn't tell if the waters were polluted here. She supposed so.
Even though the planet was seventy percent water, humans seemed to think they couldn't harm it. They didn't seem to realize that only a small fraction of that water was viable to them, and the animals needed it more than they did.
But no, humans tossed their refuse into the oceans as though it were a garbage disposal. When she'd gone after the corporations who helped pollute the waters of her city the community had been behind her.
Initially.
Then once the people of the community saw that Shanti's plans would hurt their pocketbooks in the fishing and crabbing industry, that they'd have to give up some of the rights to their beachfront properties, they turned on her.
It was like the tale of the scorpion that needed a ride across the water and asked a turtle -or was it a frog- to help it get across. The turtle-frog was apprehensive at the request. Who wouldn't be? The potential passenger had a death ray on its tail. Still being a good-hearted, compassionate creature, like its parents probably crammed into its reptilian brain, it put its trust in the scorpion.
Halfway to the other side, the scorpion stung the turtle, or was it the frog, causing them both to sink. Before they were submerged, the turtle-frog asked why the scorpion did it? Hadn't the scorpion known they would both die? The scorpion replied that it was his nature.
Shanti sat down under a tree. She reached for the compassion that her parents had instilled in her, but it would not rise. All she felt was bitterness at the people in her community for turning on her when she’d tried to help them. Jealousy that Bow would probably be doing advanced yoga poses in Wiz's bed tonight. Direction-lessness at which way to go with her life now that she was out of a job and didn't care to show her face in the community that had said thank you, but no thank you to her help with change.
Out over on the other side of the water, Shanti thought she saw something move on the bank. She peered into the darkness, but stillness reigned in the twilight. She slunk back against the tree and looked up at the branches.
The leaves looked like they bared fig fruits. On closer inspection, she realized she sat underneath a Bodhi Tree. The same tree the Buddha sat under when he became enlightened.
Shanti chuckled. "All right.” She spread her arms skyward. "Enlighten me then."
She heard a rustle on the ground. She looked down. Under the starry night, she made out the small body of a scorpion. The two stared off; Shanti and the scorpion.
Shanti inched back. The scorpion took a skittered step to the side.
Shanti sprang to a crouch, but she wasn't fast enough. The scorpion struck. The last thing she remembered, as she toppled over from the poison coursing through her blood, was a hooded figure floating down towards her.
Chapter Three
Chen glided across the waters towards the prone figure laying beneath the foliage of an arbor. He'd heard the woman's cry of distress. Before that, he’d heard her heartfelt plea.
He didn't understand her words. The language was not his mother's tongue, but Chen read emotions clearly. Before something caused her distress, she was calling out to the Heavens for enlightenment.
As Chen made his way over to her, he looked down into the murky depths of the waters. A wave of disappointment crashed over him. Though the only light was from the moon's glow, Chen saw that the water didn't match any of the blue from his mother's memories. There would be no diving into its murky stillness.
When he'd landed a while ago, he'd seen the water clearly, though the liquid wasn't clear. Both the light from the planet's star and the lights from the ship's transport illuminated the waters. Refuse bobbed to the surface along with the carcasses of dead and decaying marine life. Chen's plans of sailing on a clear blue wave crashed when he saw the metallic scrapings he'd meet if he dared to wade in.
Careful of the vegetation underfoot, Chen glided away from the transport and wandered around perplexed. The bottom of his long robes trailed over a plant that closed off its petals in the absence of the light. Chen felt the petals sparking to life and reaching up to the soles of his feet as he drifted above them.
This was his mother's village. He would never doubt Hsing's navigation. His brother was meticulous and precise in all things.
Chen had stepped out of the clearing and came face-to-face with human life. Not exactly face-to-face as he was covered in dark robes and a hooded cloak. His kind genetically and physically favored their fathers’ and not their mother’s species. Though Chen had many traits from his human mother, there were some noticeable physical differences and Chen didn't wish to alarm the humans. Access to this planet was restricted and abduction was illegal.
Chen was not typically a rule breaker. But the times called for drastic measures. It wasn't in Chen's nature to go to extremes. He could bend, not break. He’d decided he wouldn't abduct a woman. He would take one that was willing. Not just any woman; one who called to his soul.
Moving into the mix of humans in the village, Chen felt his soul weighing down with each step. The amount of people out overwhelmed him. His kind were a small society, even before the war. The amount of humans out in the streets were more than the entire crew on his ship.
There hadn't been this many people in his mother's memories. There also hadn't been so many structures cluttered together. The dwellings were tall and spaced close together. Smoke rose in the air coloring the night's sky gray. The lights posted on the faces of some of the structures were of a spectrum on the light scale that hurt Chen's eyes.
As he made his way deeper into the village, his nose was assaulted with the smell of various foods. When he inhaled, his throat seized. He spluttered, coughing loudly. His hood nearly slipped from his head to reveal his face. A few humans looked his way.
Chen took smaller breaths, breathing through his mouth. Like humans, oxygen was necessary for his life's blood. Oxygen was a naturally occurring chemical throughout the universe.
The human food was laced with several chemical compounds, most toxic, others he simply couldn't fathom why they'd allow them near their food supply? Not only were the chemicals unappetizing, the look of the food turned his stomach. It appeared as though they'd purposely mixed the chemicals into the brown, orange, and yellow mush on purpose.
Chen also noticed a lack of wildlife in the area. What animals he saw were caged or on leashes. Chen closed his eyes and reached out into the surrounding hills. He sensed a conscious effort of animals in the wild keeping their distance out of fear and loathing for humankind. He sensed no tigers nearby.
Chen's shoulders slumped. There would be no blue itinerary. There would be no new memories of his own. This place resembled a bad dream he wanted to escape quickly.
How had things changed in such a short time? One thousand revolutions wa
s not a lot of time on the Heaven's clock. The Earth was still a young planet. It didn't get many uninvited visitors from the Heavens. The planet was under the protection of the Neterians, the oldest beings in the universe. Since they had a vested interest in the bipedal beings the Earth had birthed, most higher beings stayed away from the planet. Or at least they didn't make themselves known to the adolescent humankind.
Chen pulled his cloak further down his forehead. Hsing's edict had been to grab the first woman he saw and return. As much as Chen abhorred the idea of abduction, he felt even more revulsion at taking a woman who didn't call to his core. None of the women in the village appealed to him. They all rushed about with hunched shoulders. Many had children in their arms. Chen was completely averse to taking a mother away from its offspring.
Many of the young girls had the countenance of grown women as though they'd lived a hard and jaded life in their short time. Chen felt the weight of their sadness. He wanted to go to them, to help to alleviate their strains. But he couldn’t. He didn't have time.
Both Chen and Hsing wanted a mate of their mother's heritage. But none of the women Chen encountered in the village compared to the light in their mother's eyes, the strength in her heart, the clarity of her mind. Chen would not condemn himself, or his brother, to a life of discontent.
That's when Chen turned and headed back to the transport. This was a decision that would affect the rest of their lives. It would affect the direction of the lives of those remaining on their ship. It could not be made in haste. The woman they chose could not be random. She needed to be special.
Now, looking out across the water, something pricked at the base of Chen's spine and the crown of his head. The base of the spine was the seat of sexual desire. The crown of the head was the highest point of awareness. The prone form on the opposing bank called to both points, and Chen made his way to her.
He stepped onto the shore. The gravel crunched beneath his feet. The first thing that caught his eye was her brown skin. It was a deeper shade than his mother's had been.
Her dress differed from his mother's as well. The woman was clad in a small scrap of cloth that covered her sex and showed off her long, toned legs. Her waist was small in comparison to her hips and breasts. Though she lay prone, her breasts were still full and mountainous. Her long, lush eyelids rested at the tops of her cheekbones. His gaze traveled down to her pink lips and something deep inside of him flared.
Chen swallowed. There were no more distress signals coming from her. She was at peace. He reached towards her. His fingers itched to make contact.
A rustle of sand sounded beside him. Chen turned and caught a flash of blue. The small creature with many legs and external skeleton resembled the Arachnites of the planet Spenthro. Only this being was miniature. It was a lovely color of blue. Chen smiled in greeting.
The creature reared its tail, a sharp point at its end. Chen didn't need to reach out to know that the creature felt threatened by his presence. He reached out because he knew the creature did not understand that he posed no threat.
Chen sent a wave of compassion toward the animal, showing it he meant it no harm or malice. He showed the creature a few of his mother's memories: blue waves, lush green forests, the sound of laughing human children.
The creature sent back an image of the refuse in the murky waters, the shaved stumps of cut down arbors. It sent an image of pebbles turning as it scurried away from small humans with sticks swinging at it. The creature wanted to be left undisturbed, to live its life in quiet. It attacked in defense.
This would be an animal after Hsing's heart. Hsing would go to any length to protect what was left of his home and his family. The creature showed refuse littering the path to its home. Next it showed long legs towering over the entrance to its abode.
Chen looked to the woman lying prone on the ground. Her long, shapely legs matched those of the creature’s vision.
The creature continued sending short bursts of images. A flash of the woman in its path. A flash of the woman raising her hands; large, menacing, and crowding out the night star. A flash of her large eyes as she stared at it, intent on destruction. A flash as it scurried forth and struck the woman in self-defense.
Chen saw the woman in the creature’s mind's eye. He heard her desires and her heartfelt plea. But, looking through the creature’s eyes, Chen saw how the movements could be perceived as threatening to something so small.
Watching the creature’s memories, Chen saw the fear in the eyes of the woman as she saw the creature preparing to strike. The woman fell. The scorpion retreated a few steps, now defenseless after expending all of its venom.
Venom?
The creature sent a final flash to Chen, a flash that left him cold. The last image was of refuse covering the woman's body as it decayed in the murky waters.
Chen felt a double dose of fear. This was not a memory from the creature, it was its intention.
Chen narrowed his eyes on the small creature. Its eight legs backed away, its pincers high. Chen was a peaceful being by nature, but anger rose in him at the creature’s threats towards this woman.
With the creature now gone into the night, Chen turned back to the prone woman. His hands shook as they hovered over her body. Something deep inside told him that once he touched her it would change everything. A prickle of energy ran up his spine from the base to the crown.
She's the one, the energy whispered.
Chen found the spot on her leg where the creature struck. The skin was puckered and red. He saw it throbbing with pain. It wasn't peace she was experiencing. It was paralysis. He could wait no longer.
His fingers wrapped around her thigh. His eyes were caught in the contrast of brown skin and blue fingers. The pads of his fingers contacted her skin, and it was as though his entire being opened. Chen's instinct was to latch on to her and never let go. But overriding that instinct was a self-preservation instinct; an instinct to preserve her.
The poison wasn't life threatening. But it caused her body great distress. The distress arrowed directly to Chen's heart. He had to make it stop.
Chen folded himself down next to her. He gently lifted her head and placed it into his lap. Her lips parted, and he froze. His loins pulsed with desire. He shoved the lust away and focused.
He placed one hand on her forehead, the other on the inflicted area of her thigh. Chen dug into himself, reaching deep into his well of peace. Then he reached to her, for her.
He pulled against the venom, pulled against the current within her that spread the poison through her. Chen pulled against the tide. He separated the venom from her blood. He wrapped his will around the molecules that contained the neurotoxins and he pulled them until they receded from her body.
Slowly, her body began to move. First her legs twitched. Then her chest rose. Her hands clenched. Her thighs pressed together. A deep moan escaped her lips.
He knew he should remove her from his lap. He was deeply aroused. But the last thing he wanted was to be parted from her.
Her eyes opened. They locked with Chen's.
Her mouth moved. Chen couldn't understand the words coming from her. He was too distracted by her lips to reach out to understand her emotions.
He pushed his hood back, revealing his face.
The woman let out a blood-curdling scream.
Chapter Four
Shanti expected pain, but her whole body hummed, like that glowing feeling after an orgasm. God, it had been so long since she'd felt that hum of electricity between her thighs. If only this feeling were from a man.
But it wasn't.
The last thing she remembered was the blue scorpion coming towards her. Then pain in her leg. She'd heard that some predators sent endorphins into their prey as they ate them. If so, she wished she'd gotten stung to death a few months earlier so that she could've experienced this kind of release before laying down a chunk of her savings in search of a spiritual release in India. This feeling traveling through her body
was the ultimate release.
Oh no, she grimaced. She was dead. That eight-legged freak killed her. All she'd been doing was looking for a sign from God. But she guessed God intended to talk to her face-to-face.
Shanti struggled to open her eyes. When they adjusted she saw the dark blanket of night disturbed only by the stars that poked through. She wondered where she was. That looked like the Big Dipper over there. Was she still on Earth? Maybe she was having an out-of-body experience?
But...no. It felt like she was still in her body. The tingling in her leg continued. It radiated down to her toes and up through her spine. There was no pain. Instead, it felt...good. Really good.
Her mind turned to the sweet release that hummed at the base of her spine. She gave into the need to press her thighs together. But the friction didn't work. It increased the pressure. And that wasn't the only place she felt a delicious pressure.
It radiated up and down her leg. She also felt a pressure resting on her head. When she tried to blink, she felt an obstruction on her brow. Her eyes flicked over to the side. A hooded figure loomed over her.
This must be the Angel of Death. Wasn't that Saint Peter? But she was pretty sure Saint Peter didn't wear a hood. Plus there were no shimmering wings.
Maybe it was Anubis, the Egyptian god of the Underworld. That was whom her father had expected to meet at the end.
Shanti had spent many nights wondering who greeted her parents at the end of their lives. Her parents subscribed to different religious systems from each other. Her father began his life praying to Jesus, then prostrating to Allah, and finally ended up following a cult that worshiped the ancient Egyptian gods.