GABRIEL (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 4)

by Marilyn Campbell

  "Go ahead," he encouraged her. "Say something."

  "Good morning."

  His wide grin was contagious. "I can hardly believe it," he said, bounding off the bed and crossing the cabin. "Say something else."

  She sat up, her curiosity increasing by the second. "I'll say more when you explain what this is about."

  "Look." He held out his hand and showed her the jammer. "I woke up this morning and realized it had come off during the night. When I couldn't find it right away, I tried blocking out the voices, the way you've been showing me." He came back and pulled her up off the bed. "Don't you see? I finally did it! Once I got used to that, I tried separating our minds and I did that too!" Giving her a great hug, he lifted her off the ground and swung her around. "Isn't this great?"

  When he set her down again, she tried to give him the happy response he wanted. It was just that she hadn't expected his liberation from her to happen so soon or so abruptly. She thought she had more time.

  "Shara? What's the matter?" She lowered her lashes so that he couldn't see her eyes, so he simply let go of the mental block.

  Immediately she raised a partition but his ability had strengthened so much that she had to strain to hold it against his efforts to tear it down. Finally she let him win, but asked, "Would you invade my mind against my will?"

  As he realized what he had just done, shame washed over him and he mentally backed way. "Forgive me. I wasn't thinking."

  Understanding how new and tempting this was for him, Shara stroked his cheek as she carefully closed off her thoughts. "The power can control you if you're not careful. Do unto others, Gabriel, and they might give you back more than you can handle."

  "Something I said caused you distress, sweetling. I only wanted to know what it was."

  "It was nothing. A selfish thought, that's all. I'm embarrassed that it even occurred to me."

  Gabriel rubbed his chin. "Now you've got me more curious about what it was. Shall I guess?"

  "Why don't we see if you've acquired any of my other skills instead?" She slipped out of his arms and went to the supply station to order something to wear.

  "I already tried. I still can't do anything else on my own but none of those powers are as important as the blocking. I know this is a small thing to you but..."

  Shara's pulse pounded in her ears, drowning out whatever he was saying but his excited pacing said enough. This was it. He didn't need her any longer. As soon as they got back, he'd be leaving on a long journey... alone. He would probably take her hand, give it a kiss and say something like It's been an interesting experience but there's really no reason to spend the rest of our lives together. Let's keep in touch though. And then he'd be gone.

  She welcomed him back to bed when he was done pacing and wanted to share his joy with her in a more physical manner. He was too caught up in his own happiness to think there was anything unusual in the way she clung to him, but while he was celebrating his accomplishment, she was saying good-bye.

  * * *

  Once everyone disembarked and went their separate ways, Shara and Gabriel found an empty alcove off a remote corridor of the transportation hangar to prepare for their transmigration to Outerworld.

  As she searched through her bag, she said, "I wasn't sure I would need this but I'm glad I brought it along just in case." She pulled out an ornate gold ring with a large fire opal in its center and put it on her finger.

  Gabriel recognized the special Innerworld ring immediately. Only a handful of people possessed them, since they were the key to so much power. Its obvious use was as a means of identification but it was also a direct connection to Innerworld's central computer and an extension for the transmigrator unit. "Are they issuing those to genetic scientists nowadays?" he asked with a doubtful expression.

  She clucked her tongue at him. "I only borrowed it from my father's office. With luck I'll have it back before he knows it's gone. I'll need some help with the coordinates."

  Gabriel extracted Beauty from a pocket of his jumper. "Beauty, give me a map of the Western Hemisphere of Outerworld Terra showing the former location of the continent of Atlantis in relationship to its neighbors' borders today." A grid appeared on the mirror and the land masses were outlined.

  He showed Shara the map and said, "Atlantis covered an area west of Europe and Africa from approximately twenty-two to forty-five degrees longitude and twenty to fifty-five degrees latitude. Beauty, highlight the royal city and the nearest seaport on the coast of Europe."

  One dot appeared on the easternmost extension of Atlantis and another identified Lisbon, Portugal.

  Gabriel arched an eyebrow at Shara. "I hate to criticize your plan but that's a distance of about a thousand kilometers over some very rough seas. Even if we located a boat large enough to safely make such a long trip, we wouldn't know how to pilot it ourselves. The more critical problem would come when we needed to time-hop from the past back to the present. Without being able to pinpoint the arrival time, we couldn't count on the boat being where we left it."

  "I've been working on that aspect and I think I've improved it but I see the problem." With a thoughtful frown, she studied the map for a moment. "If we time-hop backward from here, we might not be able to get to a location on Outerworld, since transmigration hadn't been invented yet. And if we migrate out now to where Atlantis was then, we'd wind up in the ocean. A boat was the only solution I could come up with."

  Gabriel put Beauty away. "I think I have another one. Keep an eye out for anyone passing by while I build us a raft."

  Shara knew better than to question one of Gabriel's plans, no matter how impossible it sounded. Her gaze alternated back and forth between the corridor and Gabriel. From his satchel he removed the square of silver that had formed the base of his tent, spread it out on the floor, and inflated it.

  "The underside is sturdy enough to hold us and our bags on top of water," Gabriel assured her. "And if we don't arrive on solid ground when we time-hop, I can improvise a sail to direct us toward land. The only serious difficulty we might have is, if the ocean is extremely choppy, we could be tossed overboard. I'd suggest you put the tempometer on, program it and have it set to go the minute we hit Outerworld."

  Shara did as he suggested, then asked Beauty for the exact coordinates of a spot on Atlantis's coast near the royal city. By pressing a series of the raised gold nodes on the sides of the ring, she tapped into the main transmigrator unit and programmed it to send them to their destination. "I'm set," she said and they both sat down on the raft.

  It took a little maneuvering but with Shara sitting between Gabriel's legs, they managed to maintain contact with each other while he kept one hand on their luggage and another on the raft, so that nothing would be left behind.

  "Sweetling, promise you'll stay by me so we can hop out again if the situation is too risky."

  "Yes, Gabriel."

  Her tone was almost too sweet to be believable. "And another thing. I haven't said it but I am glad you've come around to my way of thinking about not altering history." He suddenly felt as if she were mentally squirming. "Shara? You do agree with me now, don't you?"

  Rather than say a word, she turned the opal stone halfway around to the right and they were on their way.

  The migration took more than a minute but it wasn't nearly as jarring as a time-hop. They were simply suspended in a black void until they rematerialized on the Altantic Ocean.

  A bolt of lightning streaked across the gray sky followed closely by a crash of thunder. Blowing rain pelted their faces as the raft was carried high in the air by a mighty wave and dropped again with a bone-jarring splash.

  "Get us out of here. Now!" Gabriel yelled in Shara's ear.

  But just as her fingers moved on the tempometer switch, her bag came loose and slipped over the edge of the raft. In a panic, she made a dive for it.

  Chapter 18

  Security Chief Varius burst into the Governor's office. "Tunnel number seven just collapsed!"<
br />
  Rom's stomach clenched violently but he forced himself to ask, "Casualties?"

  "None have been reported so far," the chief replied, making a monumental effort to control his panic. "Two hours from now it would have been a different story. A ship was scheduled to depart for Norona using that lane."

  Rom rubbed his eyes. He hadn't slept in days. Couldn't. He mentally contacted Aster before giving Chief Varius his instructions.

  We can't put it off any longer. We have to act immediately, Aster thought to him.

  In the past two weeks, the changes had taken another giant, disastrous turn. Cattar had reluctantly revealed that she had known how much worse it could get but had hoped they would have prevented it.

  This was the second tunnel to disintegrate. The first had resulted in the death of seven hundred Innerworlders. In Outerworld, most of Europe was now a wasteland because the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 had been altered.

  Transmissions from Norona indicated they were also experiencing a series of strange phenomena but the changes didn't seem to be heading for deterioration of the planet.

  The only positive note was that Cattar and the Innerworld scientists were certain they were getting close to a solution to both flaws. Unfortunately, they still needed the original device in hand to conclude their analysis.

  Cattar deduced that Shara had made another time-hop that ripped the tear in the time-space continuum much wider, but wherever she had traveled to, it wasn't home. And if she didn't get here soon, there might be no home for her to arrive in.

  All things considered, Rom knew what had to be done. He met Chief Varius's worried gaze and said, "Notify Emissary R-17 that it's time to make contact with the Secretary General of Outerworld's United Nations. They have to be told what's going on, even if there's very little they'll be able to do about it."

  Varius nodded and waited for the Governor to issue the order he knew had to be given.

  Taking a deep, steadying breath, Rom spoke the dreaded words. "Commence evacuation procedures."

  Chapter 19

  Gabriel grasped Shara's ankle a second before she disappeared under the water. But his hand was slick with rain and he felt her slipping away despite his tremendous effort to pull her back. His other hand was gripping the edge of the raft. If he let that go to get a better hold on her, they could both go down. Shara!

  Help me! She sent him an urgent image of what he needed to do to save them. Suddenly the raft shot straight up in the air and Gabriel thought surely the end had come. Instead of flipping over however, the raft hovered there, as if being held up by a powerful geyser of water. But it was their combined mental power, not a physical force, keeping them levitated.

  With the raft fairly stabilized, he was able to drag Shara back on board. She lay over his lap, choking and sputtering and drenched from head to toe, but her fingers remained clenched around the handle of her precious bag.

  He wanted to comfort her and scream at her at the same time but both reactions would have to wait until they got clear of the storm. "The wind is blowing us off course. We've got to go." He shifted her back into their former position and as a bolt of lightning electrified the air around them, they surged into the next leg of their journey.

  At the end of the time-hop, it was immediately apparent that Gabriel had been correct about the wind blowing them off course. The late afternoon sun was shining in a clear blue sky and the sea beneath them was flat as a sheet of green glass but land was nowhere in sight.

  Holding the mirrored triangle in front of him and Shara, he instructed Beauty to give them their present coordinates. It wasn't quite as bad as it appeared. "Indicate distance and direction to nearest body of land with dense population of life-forms, evolution level four and above." Their destination was 2.2 kilometers northwest. "How are you at rowing?" he asked Shara.

  She twisted her head back to look at him. "I thought you said you could make a sail."

  "A sail needs wind. We went from one extreme to the other. I have a personal-sized retropower rocket that I could hook up to the rear of the raft, but it can only be used once and I'd rather save it for a real emergency."

  "Then save it and our strength. Take us in with your mind. You can do it now."

  "Not without your help."

  Shara shook her head. "All I did a minute ago was give you a push start then concentrate on not drowning. You held the raft up by yourself."

  Gabriel didn't know what to say. He'd been too terrified to think about who was doing what. In case it was only a fluke, he focused his mind on elevating the raft. When it rose off the water, he was so surprised, he let it drop again. Did I really do that by myself?

  Resting her head back against his chest, Shara smiled at the wondrous delight in his mental voice. A heartbeat later, she realized she hadn't reconstructed the partition. As she raised it, he stopped her.

  "Please don't. We can each block our own thoughts now and I'd rather keep the channel open between us." He felt her question. "I have a strange feeling that we may need it. Anyway, it's not as terrible as I remembered. I don't mind you being in here with me as much as I thought I would."

  Shara smiled again, letting him know his concession was appreciated.

  He tightened his arms around her for a moment then urged her around to face him. "Now that we've got that out of the way, perhaps you'd like to tell me what possessed you to attempt suicide back there?"

  His abrupt mood change was jarring but she knew she deserved his anger this time. "I'm so sorry. I panicked. I saw all my work about to disappear and I didn't think of the consequences."

  Crossing his arms in front of him, he kept his expression stern and his thoughts closed to her. "In the future, you will consider the consequences first then act. Both our lives could have been lost because you were worried about losing material possessions!"

  "I said I'm sorry. What do you want me to do? Penance?"

  He closed his hands over her shoulders. "What I want is a promise that you'll never, ever do anything so foolhardy again." He pulled her close and embraced her tightly. "In all my journeys, I have never felt fear so great."

  Shara held her response, hoping to hear some word of love following the scare of losing her, how his life wouldn't be complete without her, but his analysis was much more clinical.

  "It must have been due to our joining. If you feel an extremely strong emotion, such as fear, I suppose I can't help but feel it also."

  She sighed quietly and eased out of his arms. "Yes, I'm sure that's what it was. We should change clothes before we reach land."

  Gabriel thought she looked awfully dejected. Perhaps he'd been too hard on her but such an enormous breach of safety required serious handling. He reached over and tucked her wet hair behind her ear. "I didn't mean to be so harsh. I've become so accustomed to your being around, I forget how limited your journeying experience actually is. You'll get better in time, I'm sure."

  Yes, she thought to herself as she dug the rebel garb out of her bag. Better at journeying. Better at hiding her weakness. Better at accepting the fact that she would never have the loving relationship she had always dreamed of.

  In a short time they were once again dressed as Friends, Beauty hung from Gabriel's neck and Shara had returned the tempometer belt and special Innerworld ring to her bag. Under Gabriel's newly acquired power, they were headed toward land. It had been agreed that if anyone recognized them from Norona, they would explain that they'd traveled to Terra on Zeus's ship, which had set down in Athens, but then decided to explore more of the planet.

  With Beauty's help, Gabriel guided them to a stretch of beach with heavy vegetation a small distance from the royal city of Atlantis, where they might be able to make camp. As he lowered the raft onto the sand, he had the feeling they were being watched.

  Yes, I feel it too. When her eyes could see no one about, she used her mental vision. Not far away, crouched amid a thicket of broad-leaved bushes, were a man and woman.

 
They appear to be more frightened than dangerous, Gabriel surmised. You talk to them.

  "Hello?" Shara called in a purposely lilting voice. "Please come out. We mean you no harm."

  Very cautiously, the couple stood up, came out of the bushes, then fell to their knees with their foreheads pressed to the ground. Considerably shorter and stockier than Gabriel and Shara, they both had brown skin and straight black hair clipped below the ears. The only covering they wore was a short piece of rough brown material wrapped around their hips and knotted at the waist.

  Gabriel stopped Shara from telling them they didn't need to bow. They must have seen us float in on the raft and think we're gods. Remember, these were a very primitive, superstitious people. Don't disillusion them just yet. We need information and they might be more helpful if they're a bit awestruck.

  Whatever it takes, right?

  Within reason. "You may rise and tell us your names," he said in an imperious tone.

  They stood but kept their heads bowed. "I am Jarad and this is my spouse, Ester. You wear the dress of the Friends," the man said, sneaking a look at the strangers.

  Shara was instantly relieved to note that her translator chip was programmed with these people's language, whatever it was.

  "Yes," Gabriel replied. "That's right. We're Friends. We're looking for the others like us."

  "They're all gone," Ester said with a sad shake of her head, then looked to Gabriel with a hopeful expression. "They promised someone would return to help us. Are you the ones?"

  Gabriel quickly improvised. "We were told there would be a man and woman at this location who could guide us and answer our questions. Who made this promise you spoke of and when?"

  "The promise was made by the second visitors," Jarad told him, "and has been passed on secretly through two generations. We had begun to lose any hope of salvation but then Noe started hearing God's voice and now we have seen you arrive like birds from the sky, exactly as it was predicted."

  Shara thought she knew what Jarad was speaking of but she wanted to be sure. "What has God told Noe?"