by R.E. Rowe
Chapter 23
Two suns glowed high in the light-blue sky: one, a yellowish-orange, resembled the one circling Earth, the other glowed ruby red. A large, dimly lit white moon floated like a massive balloon above snowcapped mountains.
Rhea2’s sister led Jayden, BBgun, and Nora out of the transport and onto the polished marble courtyard. Ten UFO spacecraft and scores of smaller spacecraft the size of fighter jets rested haphazardly on the stone surface.
Jayden was amazed at the magnificent archway entrances that rose up every fifty yards or so. He gazed at the gigantic stone castle surrounding the rectangular courtyard. The castle towered thirty stories with smaller, square towers soaring even higher at the courtyard corners. Large, rectangular windows peppered the castle walls and sparkled like diamonds. Solid gold majestic roofs capped the massive structures.
The thin air required him to work harder than normal to breathe. But he didn’t mind because a jasmine smell lingered in the air, reminding him of Nora’s perfume back home. No wonder Altair3 smelled like a Hawaiian lei, he thought.
Jayden, BBgun, and Nora followed Rhea1 through an archway to a large set of polished silver doors framed with dark brown wood. Inlaid diamonds and other colorful jewels twinkled over the doors like stars. Two tall, stoic men dressed in long red robes with ornate gold trims stood on either side of the double doors.
Jayden did a double take when he saw the black hats the green men wore. They looked as though they’d jacked the hats from a couple of London Bobbies. He noticed each man held an intricately carved gold staff, twice as tall as a typical walking stick on Earth. Long, wiry green beards framed each one of their lime-green faces, and stringy, lime-green hair dangled down from under their black hats.
Two other men wore multilayered metallic armor suits. Each held a long silver sword like something teleported from the Knights of the Round Table. The two men in armor suits opened the double doors.
The four of them entered the castle and strolled down a massive hallway with a ceiling three stories above their heads, and walls made of polished gray marble. Paintings of creatures from some alien zoo mash-up covered the ceiling. Jayden thought one animal resembled a tiger with a giraffe neck, another had a water buffalo body and a bear head, and still another resembled Rox, but with eagle wings. He chuckled to himself when he thought about how the creature would seriously freak out his dog back home.
Strange, colorful flags dangled above his head. Far overhead, small windows let filtered light through rainbows of colored glass. The entire place appeared to be over a thousand years old, but it was surprisingly spotless. Rosa would give it two thumbs up.
After a hundred feet, they walked through two large, wooden doors and entered a long hallway. Bulky golden candleholders ran along the back wall, with tall, white candles giving off a flickering, yellow glow.
They approached a man with long, curly green hair and a trimmed, hunter-green beard who weighed at least three hundred pounds. From the furrows on his face, he was old, maybe, a few hundred years old.
The fern-headed giant sat on an enormous, dark wood throne decorated with hand-carved animals, landscapes, and people. The old man fidgeted and adjusted himself in the chair.
Dear old dad? Jayden wondered.
Two guards stood at attention on either side of the old guy. Each dressed in what appeared to be red spandex, from their necks to the tops of their black boots. One held a modern metallic weapon that resembled an AK-47 automatic rifle. Six more green-bearded guards in red velvet clothing and two others sporting purple velvet, stood guard around the room.
Rhea1 caught Jayden raising an eyebrow and staring at the men in red tights. She whispered to him, “It is Andros body armor. Quite deceiving, really. Very high tech and completely blaster-proof.” She stopped ten feet from the big man, then did a sort of multi-stepped greeting dance in front of him. It reminded Jayden of a line dance that his parents practiced on the weekends in San Jose.
When Rhea1 stopped the dance, she faced the big man, with BBgun, Jayden, and Nora standing shoulder-to-shoulder a few feet behind her. “Dear Father, I present to you, children of Earth from Milky Way Galaxy.” She turned to them, smiled, and gave a sweep of her arm. “This is Nora, the great Zeekmo. Jayden, the ultimate Killgeek. And Hank, the amazing BBgun.”
Jayden was ready to correct fern girl on the descriptions, but just as he opened his mouth, Nora elbowed him. The girl was a mind reader. He quickly let it go.
“Welcome children from Milky Way’s sol system’s third planet, known as Earth,” the emperor said, then grinned large and in charge. “I am known as Ruchbah9, and father of Rhea1 and Rhea2. Thank you, I say, for saving my daughter’s life.”
The three of them stood silently in front of the old man and nodded as if they were synchronized bobble heads. Jayden asked, “So you’re Rhea2’s father?”
Ruchbah9 nodded with pride. “In flesh, as it were.”
Jayden was impressed. The fern-headed girl was a daughter of the man who ruled a civilization spread over a galaxy of more than a trillion stars.
“My apologies, your highness,” said Nora, “but we’re in a rush to get back and rescue my brother.”
“Yes, I completely understand.” Emperor Ruchbah9 let out a long breath and stood. “Please do follow me.”
Nora sighed. They followed the emperor and Rhea1 through a side door next to the throne, then into a long hall. Jayden noticed that other men shadowed them, presumably Ruchbah9’s bodyguards.
“You must meet the ‘one of energy,’” the emperor said, peering at Jayden. “She has called for you, young mason, Jayden, the ultimate Killgeek.”
“Dude, you’re famous.” BBgun snickered.
Jayden gave him a discrete shove as his stomach did a backflip. Uh oh. That couldn’t be good, he thought. “Some alien called for me? Why me?”
The emperor frowned. “It is not known why the energy being called for you,” he said. “She tells us not reasons she wishes to speak. Only that she wishes to do so. Will you receive her?” This emperor sounded a little like Altair3 to Jayden.
Jayden glanced at Nora. She shrugged. “Might as well see what she has to say,” she whispered. “Maybe this alien chick knows a shortcut to Earth.”
“Why not?” added BBgun.
Jayden turned to the emperor. “Sure, count us in.”
Ruchbah9 smiled. “Marvelous. Please follow.”
They walked through a doorway and into a room behind the wooden throne. It was a small, dark room with a high ceiling. In the middle, a round, wooden table with high back, matching chairs nearly filled the room.
The emperor sat and motioned for them to do the same.
The door closed, and a single, yellow orb glowed on the ceiling above Jayden’s head.
“Please be still.” The emperor clapped twice. “She is—”
The room went pitch black. The red tablet in Jayden’s t-shirt began to vibrate. He reached around and pulled out the tablet. The screen had turned a dazzling white.
Suddenly a beam of light shot out of the tablet to the ceiling like it’d done in his robo pod. He held the tablet with outstretched arms as it vibrated harder. Just when he was about to toss the tablet, the white beam transformed into a colorful, glowing figure of a purple girl dressed in yellow. Her image floated in the air above the tablet.
Jayden leaned in and peered at the creature. He saw wings and smelled something that reminded him of an approaching summer rainstorm. His nose tickled. A fairy?
The small light being flitted up and down around the room with a crackle. It reminded him of a high-voltage power plant sound. Her face was petite, kind, and her smile large. When small sparks shot out from her body, Jayden realized she was no hologram. She was the real deal!
“How could she have come out of the tablet?” he wondered and glanced at Nora, then at BBgun. Both of them stared at the winged fairy girl in disbelief.
The tiny fairy girl sang the words of a song soft. Her soprano v
oice was pleasing to the ear.
“Birth of the new,
Light of the full,
A time comes soon,
Align Sol, Earth, and moon.”
He thought her angelic voice was fitting of a pixie. It gave him goose bumps but made him feel calm at the same time.
The glowing purple “energy being” glided six inches away from of Jayden’s face and studied him with large, serious round eyes. Instead of round irises, each was the shape and color of a marigold flower with a black dot in the center, surrounded by a circle of pure white.
The fairy girl continued to sing to him as she hovered in place.
“Find the spot behind the neck,
Push to switch off the holo-tech,
Reveal you will find the truth at last,
Tell all you can, quantum fast.”
Her eyes softened as she rose slowly to the ceiling, gazing off into the distance, and continued her song.
“Exceptionally high, exceptionally low,
Worlds collide, during spring tide.”
Then she dove back down and circled Jayden’s head slowly. Around and around she flew.
“Where masons try,
As missiles fly,
Must find a way,
To save the day.”
Her graceful dance stopped over his head. Jayden gazed up at her and felt tingles on the back of his neck.
“A boy must rise,
A leader must fall,
Deciding you must,
To lead, follow, or . . .”
She stiffened. “Bust!” screeched the fairy girl.
All three of them jumped at the same time. Then the being’s form relaxed and floated over to Nora. It kissed her on the cheek. The being glided to BBgun, then kissed his cheek. Finally, the fairy flew back to Jayden and kissed him for a full three seconds on his cheek before flying again around the room in a fluttering dance.
The energy being’s dance was mesmerizing. She made another circle, rising slowly to the ceiling as she sang, allowing her words to linger like a ringing bell.
“Spring Tide Masons face the gun,
Fighting and dying until it is done,
The Ga invasion from the sun,
Death is certain if he runs.”
The singing fairy floated upward to the ceiling, and then in a flash disappeared back into the tablet. The orb lit up and painted the room with yellow light.
“As I was saying, very shy that one,” the emperor said with a slight chuckle.
“What did it all mean?” Jayden asked the emperor. He figured the pixie girl had to be seriously confused. “And how did she come out of my dad’s tablet?”
“Ah. Give it time,” he said. “The message was most certainly for you, young Killgeek. You will know the meaning when the time is right.”
“Follow me. We will converse more in the great hall,” the emperor said. “Someone else wishes to greet you.”