Egg and Ezra came back. “Okay, you guys, I’ll see you when I see you.”
She administered the requisite hugs and kisses, pulled on her flying cap and goggles, turned and walked away. When she got to the plane, she stowed her flight bag in a little compartment . . . but not before she took out her maps, a brown nag with snacks in it and the device that Serenity had given her.
She attached the device to the wing strut just next to the empty passenger seat. It was her good luck charm and she never flew without it.
She climbed in, secured her parachute buckle, reviewed her checklist, then yelled “CLEAR.” All pilots did that to warn people that the propeller was about to start spinning. She turned on the ignition, set the fuel throttle, put her feet on the brakes then pressed the starter button. The engine coughed then came to life with a roar.
Egg turned to her family and waved. Then she concentrated on the task at hand. She taxied the plane out to the runway, applied full throttle and released the brakes. The biplane shot forward and in a few seconds reached forty-five miles per hour. Egg pulled back on the yoke and the plane took off.
She circled the airport once, rocking her wings at those ant-like specs on the ground that were her family, then she gained altitude and headed north.
Her first destination was Mount Rushmore . . . the place where she had once taken Sylvia.
She would be flying over some pretty desolate territory . . . called the Badlands. It had everything from deserts, rocky hills and small mountains, canyons, ravines, gullies and gorges . . . all in all, a place that deserved its name.
However, as long as the plane stayed in the sky, it would be a simple flight.
The weather was ideal for flying.
The aircraft was humming . . . all systems working as they should.
Egg was as happy as she had been in the last five years.
Everything was perfect.
So when her airplane was reported overdue and missing, no one could understand why.
Like Amelia Earhart before her, the aircraft would never be found.
The evening news, hosted by the same person that had interviewed her that very morning, reported the tragedy. “This courageous young woman, Eloise Graystone, failed to arrive at her destination as scheduled and is officially listed as missing. She was doing what she loved to do, some say was born to do, – and that is to fly.
Our sympathies go out to her family and friends as they anxiously await word of her fate.”
Epilogue
Egg was cruising at about five thousand feet over a particularly treacherous stretch of canyons that scarred some unnamed mountain range. It certainly was a place to avoid for an emergency landing if something happened to malfunction on the airplane.
Her mind wasn’t really concentrating on flying. Truth is, once airborne, the plane hardly needed a pilot. She was watching the strangely beautiful scenery while day dreaming about the first time she flew as Flying Girl. She smiled at the memory of meeting a hot air balloon with two people in the gondola. They had asked her, “Who are you? What are you?”
“I’m Flying Girl,” and she blew them a kiss.
She took a deep breath . . . and shook her head in amazement. “No one should be as lucky as I’ve been,” she told a cumulus cloud that was shaped like Jynxie (if you used your imagination).
Then she remembered a conversation about luck . . . was it with Spirit? She had said she didn’t like to think about all the luck they had had. Sooner or later, it was bound to end.
And she got goose bumps.
“Rats.”
Seemingly on cue, she noticed smoke rising from the passenger seat and her heart began to beat faster.
To her surprise (and relief), she saw it wasn’t coming from the plane . . . but from Serenity’s device.
It took her a second to realize that someone was coming through.
The smoke became solid and there stood Tee’ka. The girl looked around trying to get her bearings. She reached for something to steady herself and by chance grabbed the same device that she had just passed through.
A second or two later she recognized her friend. “EGG,” she yelled, a big grin on her face.
With the engine and wind sound, Egg couldn’t hear her friend but she could read her lips. She smiled from ear to ear and returned the wave. She had been right all along . . . they came back for her.
Then she realized that Tee’ka was standing up . . . on the passenger seat . . . in an open cockpit plane . . . at an altitude of five thousand feet. “Tee, sit down, sit down,” but, of course, the girl couldn’t hear her.
Egg gestured with her hand . . . “Sit down.”
Tee’ka frowned then looked down . . . but not at the seat. She looked over the side of the plane and Egg could see the look of surprise on her face as the girl realized they weren’t on the ground.
As bad luck would have it, a strong gust of wind blew the aircraft. Tee’ka was unprepared for the sudden movement and lost her balance. She gripped the device tighter but it wasn’t enough to steady her.
She started to fall head first out of the airplane.
The strap that held the device – never designed to support the weight of a person - snapped.
And Tee’ka fell out . . . arms wind milling as if she was trying to fly.
“NOOOOOOOOO,” screamed Egg in horror as she watched her friend plummet to earth.
Book 3
Heart and Soul
The conclusion of Sisterhood’s End
Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood
Heart and Soul
Book 3, Sisterhood’s End
The Final Novel of
Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood
Copyright 2014, by Robert Iannone
All rights reserved
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1 – The Shadows
Chapter 2 – Tee’ka
Chapter 3 – Scattered
Chapter 4 – Side Show Soo
Chapter 5 – Swamped
Chapter 6 – They Came from Outer Space
Chapter 7 – Three Down, Two to Go
Chapter 8 – Of Butterflies and Aliens
Chapter 9 – Earth, You’re Not Alone
Chapter 10 – Back to the Future
Epilogue
Prologue
Her first destination was Mount Rushmore . . . the place where she had once taken Sylvia.
She would be flying over some pretty desolate territory . . . called the Badlands. It had everything from deserts, rocky hills and small mountains, canyons, ravines, gullies and gorges . . . all in all, a place that deserved its name.
However, as long as the plane stayed in the sky, it would be a simple flight.
The weather was ideal for flying.
The aircraft was humming . . . all systems working as they should.
Egg was as happy as she had been in the last five years.
Everything was perfect.
So when her airplane was reported overdue and missing, no one could understand why.
Like Amelia Earhart before her, the aircraft would never be found.
The evening news, hosted by the same person that had interviewed her that very morning, reported the tragedy. “This courageous young woman, Eloise Graystone, failed to arrive at her destination as scheduled and is officially listed as missing. She was doing what she loved to do, some say was born to do – and that is to fly.
Our sympathies go out to her family and friends as they anxiously await word of her fate.”
*****
Chapter 1 – The Shadows
Aboard the Seven
Above Aerianna a few days ago
“Meggy . . . sorry, I mean Your Majesty . . . we’re ready to leave.”
“Sisters, I bid you a safe and speedy journey. I only wish that I could be with you.”
“We’ll be back soon enough. Serenity made one of those contraption things . . .”
A voice ca
lled out, “It’s called a camera.”
“Right. She made a camera and we’ll take lots of pictures for you.”
“Thank you, BreeZee. I look forward to seeing them.” Turning serious, Meggy reminded the girls, “Please remember to contact me as soon as you have found Egg and Sylvia. Our dear sister might still need some convincing to return to us.”
“But you don’t want us to tell her about why your mom did what she did?”
“As I said, it would be unthinkable if this information drove a wedge between Egg and her grandmother. We need to tread carefully.”
“Got it. Okay then, we’ll see you in a week, maybe a bit longer.”
“Do hurry. I find the anticipation of seeing Egg and Sylvia again, and having them rejoin the Sisterhood, almost too painful to bear.”
“Yeah. I know that feeling. Bye Meggy.”
“Bye, Bree.”
*****
They had three days and nothing to do.
And that was absolutely perfect. Life had grown comfortably hectic for the former, and now once-again, sisters. Between the Council of Equals, the new university, the tourist trade on Zynn-Zaz’zia, marriage, scientific research . . . well, the list was extensive and impressive. They all were working hard and deserved a little ‘down time’.
Sitting in the main lounge on reclining chairs, thick mats or a shallow vat of water, the young women all made themselves comfortable and relaxed.
“Can I get anyone some refreshments?” volunteered Spirit.
“I’m good,” replied Soo. The others also declined the offer.
“So, Serenity . . . what’s the plan when we get to Earth?”
“Bree, we’ll cloak the ship then enter orbit.”
“I thought only The Shadow had that capability.”
“When Queen Meggy asked me to submit a design for a new generation of spaceships, I took the best of the Seven and the Shadow plus a few other ideas I had. Our very wise sister asked me to modify this craft to prove my designs. So, that’s why we can cloak.”
“She’s turning out to be a great Queen, isn’t she?” asked Bl’azzz.
“She really is. But, give her mom some of the credit. Rose got the former Royals to resign and added new blood to the Council before giving Meg the Crown. Our sister picked up where her mother left off. Simply put, everything can now be questioned . . . the old rules don’t necessarily apply to the new world we live in.”
“It’s been fun to be part of it,” added Spirit.
“Back to the original question . . . once in orbit, I’ll locate the device that I gave Egg. We’re going to have to take the chance that when we contact her, no one else will be around.”
“What happens if she isn’t where the device is?”
“Then we go find Grammy. I have the coordinates.”
“I wonder what she and Syl look like now,” mused Tee’ka. One of the drawbacks in having an avatar body was that it didn’t age.
“Hope she took my advice,” answered Serenity.
“Which was?”
“Add a few pounds and some curves.” Tee’ka, BreeZee and Spirit smiled. The dragon and sea serpent just looked confused.
“Do you think she’ll come back with us?” asked Soo. Before anyone could answer, the serpent added, “I’m not above kidnapping her. Just saying.” The other girls laughed.
Changing the subject, Bl’azzz asked, “Hey Spirit or Serenity, I’ve got a question. How close do we have to be to earth to find out what a ‘big bird’ is?”
“Nice going, you irrepressibly, inquisitive iguana. I’m dying to know too,” replied her best friend. “So, what’s the answer?”
“I have no idea. Serenity, I defer to you.”
“Um . . . if I understood Sylvia, this bird is part of a play or performance. The images are broadcast from a central transmitter and anyone with the proper receiver can watch it. If I have it straight, we will be able to intercept some of those transmissions. Once we enter Earth’s solar system, we should be close enough to capture the images.”
“Yay. That makes the whole trip worthwhile,” replied an elated Bl’azzz.
“Why?” asked Spirit.
“Cause you’ve just got to figure that with Egg’s twisted sense of humor, this big bird is going to be utterly goofy. Then I get to show it to Aeri’elle. But when I do, it’ll be in front of a classroom full of her students.”
“A bit mean, don’t you think?” asked Bree half-jokingly.
“Listen, I’ve been the resident gas bag – and the butt of jokes - for like a billion years. Time to share the honor.”
“Speaking of which . . .” said Soo with a big grin. “. . . have you burped and burned your boyfriend anymore?”
“She didn’t?” Bree had to put her hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh.
“Just once. Really, just once when we first met.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he should’ve been quicker.”
“Wow. What a gentleman.”
“Yeah. He’s okay.” Not exactly high praise, but the tone of her voice said otherwise.
“You’re not still hung up on the King, are you?”
“It took a while, but I’m good now. He was way out of my league so it’s for the best.”
“Just think . . . if you had married him, you would have become Queen.”
“WHAT?” Bl’azzz had never even considered the obvious. Her eyes grew wide . . .
“Red Alert” yelled Soo, “she’s going to blow.” The other girls dove for cover.
But no burp, no burn.
“What happened?” asked Tee’ka who, like the rest, was surprised at the lack of fire.
“I take pills now.”
“What?”
“Apparently on one of the worlds in the Federation, this type of thing is common. So, they have these pills . . . they’re called antsy acids or something.”
“Antacids,” explained Serenity. “They neutralize . . . it doesn’t matter. They stop the gas.”
Leave it to Jynx to show her appreciation. “Grrrrrr” and she bounded over to the F’yre Dragon, jumped up and gave her a big, wet lick.
“Gross, Jynxie . . . but thank you.”
Soo pretended to hate the idea. “No more burp and burn . . . now there’s absolutely no reason to have you around.”
“I’m still cute.”
“Yeah, not as much as you would want.”
“And I can still breathe fire, you slap-happy sea slug,” quipped the dragon.
“Teasing. Just teasing.”
The conversation continued to meander randomly from topic to topic for the next few hours. When they finally reached a lull, Serenity asked the group, “I hate to break the mood, but would this be a good time to show you the emergency escape pods?”
“Pods? Like you stuck us in back on your ship?” asked Soo.
“No, these are actually one-man spacecraft. About the other pods . . . sorry.”
“I’ll probably forgive you . . . someday,” teased the serpent.
“I knew you were planning on installing them . . . but I didn’t realize they were operational,” commented Spirit.
“Operational is such a . . . precise word.”
“You haven’t tested them, have you?”
“Well, not exactly. I did run computer simulations and they performed flawlessly.”
“Why do we need escape pods?” asked BreeZee. “Are we expecting trouble?”
“Did you ever notice that the trouble you expect is never the trouble you get?” philosophized Tee’ka.
“Wow . . . that was impressive,” offered Serenity.
“Why?” To Tee’ka it was just an honest observation.
“Because it’s true. However, sometimes the obvious tends to escape our notice.”
“Too deep,” complained the F’yre Dragon. “Let’s bring it down a notch or three.” Everyone giggled . . . not because it was funny, but because Bl’azzz was serious.
&n
bsp; “Come on . . . let’s go down to the cargo bay and I’ll demonstrate how they work.”
“You still didn’t answer the question . . . why do we need them?”
“Not to be flip, but you don’t need them until you do. This spacecraft is very advanced and very complicated. You can’t predict when something will malfunction. I’m surprised it didn’t have any to begin with.”
“That’s my fault. I usually do a Thought Braid before I go traveling. If there’s a high probability of trouble, I find a less dangerous path.”
“What the heck is a Thought Braid?” asked Soo.
“It’s a smaller version of a Thought Weave. It’s just the name I gave it.”
“Cute.”
“Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“Oh.”
“How come you didn’t Braid our trip?”
“Bree, we had so many things happening and I was so excited about getting Egg and Sylvia that it just slipped my mind. I’ll do it tonight.”
They made their way to the cargo hold and found a line of escape pods . . . each identical to the next.
“So they’re all the same?” asked Bree.
“With two exceptions. Since Jynx can’t pilot a pod, I have hers linked to Spirit’s. Wherever you go, she’ll follow. So this one here is hers and the one next to it is yours.”
“How thoughtful. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. And the other pod that’s different is this one here,” and she pointed. “It’s designed to accommodate my wheelchair. . . and will follow me wherever I land. So, please, please, don’t take it.”
“Are they hard to fly?” asked Soo who wasn’t all that mechanically minded.
“No. Not at all. Let me show you . . .” and she did. She also showed them where the emergency supplies were kept. “Everyone have their communications crystals with them?” They all did. “Great. If we did have to abandon ship, we won’t end up in the same place. So, we’ll need the crystals to help find each other.”
Box Set #4: Sisterhood's End: [The 3 book 4th adventure of Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood] Page 22