Gracie - Box Set #6, Part 2 of Ever After [an Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood novel]

by Robert Iannone

  “Bree, tell us what you guys found out.”

  “Thank you. First, I think I know who it is you saw me kissing.” She was referring to the vision that Egg had seen.

  “Really? Who?”

  “His name is Kon’dor.”

  *****

  “So she didn’t give any details about this Reverie Glass?”

  “Just that it’s located in a place they call the Sanctum of Reverie built into the base of a volcano. The main entrance and the two auxiliary ones were destroyed because of this invasion.”

  Jax’x added a few more details. “She also said it was powered by a giant lens located in the throat of that volcano. So, it should be easy to locate. If that power is turned off, the Glass will eventually spit out its’ occupants.”

  “Sparky, any idea what that means? What this glass thing is?”

  “Could be a portal to an alternate universe. Maybe something similar to what we found on Spell ‘bound.”

  “I read your report on that,” interrupted Skotti. “Don’t think it’s the same thing.”

  “Why?”

  “I think that a quantum . . .”

  “Stop,” demanded Egg. “No scientific gibberish.”

  “Egg.”

  “Yeah, Bree.”

  “She also said that Kon’dor told her that he was unable to exit the Glass the normal way – whatever that means.”

  “What about those bugs?”

  “Just what we told you. They came out of the meteors and started searching. She and Kon’dor thought that it was the Glass they were after and the Sky’lords just happened to be in the way.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Egg, L’elle mentioned a place called the Archive of Achievement. Sounds like a museum of sorts. It contained everything that was important to these Sky’lords. It might have some more information on the Glass.”

  “Good thinking, Skotti. Any idea where we would find it?”

  “Underwater.”

  “Perfect,” was the sarcastic response. “Okay, Prince Charming and I will meet you tomorrow morning at the rim of that volcano. I want to see if that lens is still functional. If it’s not, then those Sky’lords didn’t survive. Serenity, send me the coordinates.”

  “Done.”

  “Wife, we have no means of transportation. Should not the Gracie come fetch us?”

  Egg stared at the blue face of her husband. “Say what?’

  He repeated what he had just said.

  Egg looked back into the screen. “Would one of you like to explain it to this poor guy?”

  Sparky did. “You married Flying Girl, you dim-witted, doofus.”

  Did you know that when a blue skinned person blushes, the red from the blood combine with the blue pigment of his skin and the result is purple?

  The prince turned purple. “I knew that,” he stammered.

  *****

  Egg extended her hand to Benny. “Ready?”

  “Would I disappoint you terribly if I said that this mode of transportation is not my favorite?”

  “Husband, I’m devastated” she replied trying to sound sincere. “Don’t you think that you should have told me before we exchanged our vows?”

  “Well . . . I, um . . . that is to say, the thought did cross my mind. However, in my defense, I was so smitten with love that I was not thinking clearly.”

  “Smitten? Who even uses that word anymore?”

  “I apologize. I should have said I was besotted, enamored or infatuated.”

  “There you go. As to this mode of transportation, you have two choices. Man up or stay behind.”

  “It is not a matter of ‘manning-up’ as you so rudely put it. It is simply a matter of personal preference.”

  “I could carry you in my arms if that would make you feel safer?”

  “Ha. I dare you.”

  *****

  “Here she comes,” and Serenity pointed.

  “Is she carrying him?” asked Skotti.

  “If I was you, Lieutenant, I would pretend not to notice,” suggested Jax’x.

  “Good thinking. I’m just going over here to examine what remains of this mechanism,” and he sauntered off.

  Egg landed and gently put her man on the ground. “Hi, guys.”

  Benny brushed himself off, used his fingers to comb his hair then turned to face the others. “Please be assured that I will deny what you just witnessed. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

  “Oh please, you big baby. Did you think she was going to drop you,” scoffed you know who?

  “I was simply thinking of my beloved parents who would be overcome with grief if they lost their treasured son.” He struggled to hang on to his last shred of dignity.

  Skotti chose to come to his Sovereign’s assistance. “Your Majesty, if I may interrupt. Please take a look at this.”

  Benny raised his chin. “If you insist,” and walked off. When he reached Skotti he whispered, “Thank you, my friend. Those women – they will eat you alive.” He was probably kidding.

  “They are fearsome; I’ll give you that.”

  “So, what are we looking at?”

  “In that diary, L’elle said she had to destroy the lens’ closing mechanism. This is what remains.”

  “I see. And the lens is still functional?”

  By this time, the girls had joined them. “I’ll check it out,” said the Egg that could fly. She bounded into the air then down into the mouth of the volcano. A half minute later, she returned. “It’s still there. Doesn’t appear to be damaged.”

  “But is it still working?” asked Bree.

  “I can tell you one thing – it’s giving off some kind of energy field. I could feel it.”

  “Then I think we should assume that this Glass is still being powered,” said Jax’x.

  “What next?” asked Skotti.

  It was natural for everyone to turn to Egg for the answer. They weren’t disappointed. “Bree, you said that L’elle spoke to Kon’dor the night she died.”

  “Yes. Her goodbye to him made me cry.”

  “So why can’t we?”

  “Say goodbye?”

  “No. Talk to Kon’dor.”

  *****

  They all beamed back to the Gracie. Jax’x took the ship down from orbit and circled the volcano at a comfortable height. Skotti did the navigating.

  Egg and Benny sat at the computer terminal. “Computer. Scan the surface for life signs. Start at the volcano we are circling and expand the search to a radius of ten miles. Also scan as far below the surface as possible.”

  “Working.”

  While they were doing that, Serenity and Bree went to the communications station. “I’m going to broadcast on every frequency in the non-visible electromagnetic spectrum.”

  “Won’t that take forever?”

  “No. The AI can do it simultaneously. What message do you want to send?”

  “Let’s keep it simple. Ready?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Kon’dor of the Sky’lords, my name is BreeZee. Please respond.”

  “Okay. I’ll set it to repeat every fifteen seconds. Keep your fingers crossed.”

  *****

  Inside the Reverie Glass

  It’s not that time stood still. Well, kind of – but not really. Weeks and months and years came and went but the occupants of the Glass did not age. At the mildly positive setting, they all shared the one thing in common for all of them – their idyllic life on Splendora. What they experienced day by day however depended upon their own subconscious minds. Some days were exactly like previous ones. Others were different.

  For anyone on the outside, it would be a horrible form of boredom.

  For those inside the Glass, at a pleasure setting of two, it was quite satisfactory . . . peaceful, comfortable and contented.

  For Kon’dor it was different. Because he wore the apprentice bracelet, each day was created by his conscious mind. And not surprisingly, he re-experienced all tho
se moments with L’elle that he could remember. It was so very bittersweet. However, you can’t relive the past forever and eventually he was able to put his loss behind him. That left him with an infinite amount of time to find a way of ending this purgatory that he and his people were trapped in.

  But the Glass simply would not allow him to leave. He had tried everything he could think of. Had he succeeded, he would have searched for another passage out of the volcano. With so many lava tubes, he felt sure that he could find an exit. As for the bugs that L’elle had seen, he would worry about them later, assuming they were still there.

  Then the improbable happened; his communicator came alive. He was actually surprised that it still worked. “Kon’dor of the Sky’lords, my name is BreeZee. Please respond.”

  At first, he assumed it was the Glass creating something that he so desperately wanted . . . hope.

  “Kon’dor of the Sky’lords, my name is BreeZee. Please respond.”

  However, it kept repeating. Giving in to his curiosity, he touched the device and responded. “This is Kon’dor.” He didn’t expect a reply.

  Silence. Apparently, it was the Glass. How disappointing. (What he couldn’t know was that it was caused by Bree’s reaction to hearing the man’s voice).

  “Kon’dor, you’re alive.” Kind of a silly statement.

  “L’elle? L’elle is that you?” How could that be?

  “I’m so, so sorry. L’elle died a very long time ago.”

  He knew that; what was he thinking? “Who are you? How did you find me?”

  “She did it. L’elle left a diary describing . . . (she hesitated not wanting to upset the man by describing the woman’s love for her man) your situation. Through a series of very fortunate events, we found it. Kon’dor – L’elle was thinking about you, worrying about you up till the moment her ship . . . um, re-entered the atmosphere.”

  Kon’dor exhaled. “She was so very . . .” but he didn’t finish. He felt self-conscious talking about her to a total stranger.

  Bree waited for him to continue. When it became obvious he wasn’t, she said, “Yours is a love story that transcends time. You were both blessed to have had each other. I am truly sorry for your loss.”

  “You’re very kind. Please, I would like to read her last words.”

  “Of course. We’re going to find a way to help you. When we meet, I’ll hand the diary to you personally. But, um . . . you should know that she was pretty detailed about your relationship.”

  He laughed . . . for the first time in centuries. “L’elle always spoke her mind. I hope it didn’t offend you?”

  Bree felt she knew this man as if they had dated for years. Teasing him seemed appropriate. “Offend me, no. Embarrass you – my precious pink Kon’dee - probably.”

  Chapter 10 – The Last Rak’nex

  It had been a little more than fourteen cycles, yet only he still survived. They had brought an inadequate supply of electromagnetic nutrients and there was nothing on this world to harvest. Perhaps worse, the atmosphere was barely breathable and that had weakened all of them.

  Most frustrating, the Cognitron had been buried under a mountain. However, after much effort, it was finally so close he could almost touch it. They had been digging day and night since their arrival. But without the proper equipment, progress had been painfully slow. And now, as the last surviving Rak’nex, the chance to successfully conclude this mission was rapidly slipping away. Realistically . . . it was probably already too late because the sudden increase in seismic activity threatened to collapse the tunnel they had given their lives to dig.

  That he would be dead soon was of no importance. Failure of this enterprise deserved such a reward. What did make him weep was the acknowledgement that his people were all but certain to be condemned to a life of mindless barbarism. A society so painstakingly built with the help of the Cognitron would be lost within a generation or two.

  He had a recurring, and unsettling, thought, - it was the notion that the Rak’nex had not become sentient through natural evolution and had therefore violated some cosmic law. Maybe the Mentorians, the race that had created the device, had actually done them a disservice. He almost immediately banished the idea as too complex for his cognitive reasoning. He was the foremost scientific expert on the Cognitron and not a metaphysical philosopher. And so, he went back to the task at hand, and resumed digging.

  [The Mentorians were a scientifically advanced species with boundless curiosity. Their world and that of the Rak’nex were locked in a gravitational embrace – rotating around each other in an endless twirling dance. These Rak’nex were the polar opposite in their evolutionary development. They were as mindless and self-unaware as a colony of spiders. They spent their existence on two endeavors – fighting each other for food and for the right to procreate.

  The Mentorians, as part of a larger scientific study, decided to experiment on their neighbors . . . a dubious ethical and moral endeavor. Could they force these creatures to sentience? It took a very long while, but eventually they partially succeeded with the creation of the Cognitron.

  For some reason never determined, the offspring of Rak’nex who had been through the Cognitron could not pass their sentience to their offspring. So once a year when the Rak’nex brood was born, they were transported to the machine for treatment.

  Then catastrophe struck. A race of militant psychopaths (to use a familiar earth term) attacked and destroyed the Mentorians for reasons unknown. Soon after, when the Rak’nex returned for their annual use of the Cognitron, they found only total devastation. After determining that the machine had not been destroyed, they began tracking it. Eventually, this led them to Splendora.]

  *****

  Onboard the Gracie

  The mood in the control room was one of exuberance. Their search for the Sky’lords was a resounding success. And here they sat, in communications with Kon’dor – a being trapped for hundreds of years inside a remarkable piece of technology.

  Egg had just finished introducing each of them. “Kon’dor, though we were all involved to some extent, it was BreeZee who gets full credit. She is from the planet Zynn-Zaz’zia, a world your ancestors once visited. It was her interest in your people that led us to this moment.”

  “I am thankful beyond words for all of your efforts. I do look forward to meeting each of you. BreeZee, I know of your world and our people’s visit. Yours was the only humanoid species we found that also evolved with wings. If I remember my history, the Wind’ dancers sail rather than fly. Is that true?”

  “Yes. We can’t flap our wings like you.”

  “Still, I think we are more similar than different.” The way he said it – with more than casual interest – caused the girl to blush. Truth be told, she was already of the mindset that this man would one day be an important part of her life. Wishful thinking or premonition? Only time would tell.

  “That leads us to the obvious question,” continued Egg. “How do we rescue you?”

  “The simple answer is that we need an escape route from the Sanctum to the surface. Once that’s created or discovered, all you need do is close the iris on the lens and the power will be cut off. The Glass has a failsafe mechanism that will eject us once that happens.”

  “But how do you normally exit the Glass?” asked Skotti who was beside himself with curiosity about the Glass?

  “Under normal circumstances, all one needs to do is to imagine themselves outside the Glass.”

  “Doesn’t that seem a bit unusual to you?” asked the grease monkey.

  “Perhaps. Please remember, we didn’t create the Reverie Glass. My people found it in the rubble of a destroyed civilization. Our understanding of the science or even the purpose for it is almost non-existent.”

  Serenity was about to ask a very relevant question but Jax’x, as usual, beat her to it. “How do you know that turning off the power will eject you from the Glass since the other method doesn’t work anymore?”

  “I ha
ve no reason to believe that it won’t.”

  “Kon’dor, what would happen to you if the power is cut and you’re not ejected”? That question was just as good as the one Jax’x had asked and Serenity gave the girl a smirk.

  “That simply can’t happen.” So he thought. Unfortunately, he was wrong . . . dead wrong.

  “Can you tell us how many of your people are inside the Glass?” asked the Prince.

  “I don’t have an exact count. But, a good guess would be about eight thousand.”

  “Isn’t that strange. That’s about the population of Wind ‘dancers back home. I guess us winged wonders don’t propagate like the rest of the galaxy,” observed and commented Bree.

  “Any more and it could be construed as too much of a good thing,” teased Kon’dor.

  Sparky rolled her eyes – whether it was at the man’s comments or Bree’s giggles was not obvious.

  “Kon’dor, do you think your people would want to relocate to another world or remain on Bel'lanca?” asked Egg.

  “Bel’lanca? I’m sorry; is that a typical way to address someone on your world?”

  “What?”

  “Egg-o, Bel’lanca means ‘my love’, remember?”

  “Oops. Sorry about that.”

  “Married less than a month and already flirting with another man. I am devastated,” teased Mr. Egg.

  Kon’dor listened to the banter with great amusement. He was very intrigued – these strangers made him feel so incredibly comfortable. He believed they really did care about the well-being of his people. “Why do you ask, Bel’lanca”?

  “Everyone’s a comedian,” said our beloved grump.

  “I asked because . . . um, Splendora doesn’t seem like it’s ready to be home to anyone anytime soon. There’s nothing left of your world. Sorry if that sounded harsh.”

  “Nothing to forgive. As to your question, what alternative is there?”

  “Zynn-Zaz’zia,” blurted Bree. “You would all be welcomed there with open wings.”

  Jax’x sneaked a look at Serenity who winked back. Bree wasn’t fooling anyone.