by Michael Berg
“With feeling it could surpass our expectations.”
“I have an overwhelming sense of the same thing Mister Livingston. Lead us into the mist. We must find someone who can help us soon.”
“I agree Miss Candice. Stay close and hold on tight.”
Before entering the purple veil, their last clear vision was of a large set of stone rings – a common feature on the planet, yet these were different and Miss Candice felt they were conducting energy in a way as if this place was being protected from some invisible force.
“What is that mournful moaning sound Mister Livingston?”
“I think it is the ships at dock Miss Candice. They must be pushing against the wharves.”
“Of course. Silly me. There were no ships anywhere close to Jonstown Mister Livingston. It is a sound I cannot say I have heard before.”
“It does seem to suit this place though.”
“I agree and I like it Mister Livingston. It makes me feel the real sense of mystery here.”
“And the danger.”
“Naturally. One has to be alert Mister Livingston, and such a keenness of senses is invigorating.”
“Precisely how I see it Miss Candice. Let’s take to the laneways a street back from the wharves”. If Vindor is anything like Earth, those are the places you are likely to find the types we are looking for.”
Now and then, an amber light or a low green glow lead them through the thick purple veil towards the place Jonathon had decided they look. To see was a struggle – even their hands were almost lost to the mist where it lingered thickly in corners caught in swirling eddies.
“You will be taken to the place you need to go.”
“Who is speaking?”
“We have spoken before. I told you to return to your eagle, yet here you are.”
“We cannot see you old woman.”
“You don’t need to Miss. You all have passed the test. Your will bring success at the spring. You two and those other men you left behind tonight, have shown how your will delivers you to your place. Keep searching and look for a door leading downwards.”
“What test?”
“Showing you do not desire this…and your whiskey too much mister.”
“You see I am no drunkard.”
“One sometimes must be posed the question for the answer to be revealed. Keep searching for you are needed now. It will be soon for you Miss, but I cannot give you the answer you seek tonight. This man is here to take you such an encounter.”
The mist then cleared to reveal the place both Miss Candice and Jonathon had thought the voice had come from – she was gone. All they saw was an old wooden crate in the corner of a stone alcove and nothing more.
“Let’s go Mister Livingston. Show me the way.”
“I am not sure I know for certain Miss Candice. We must look for this door leading downwards.
They tried many to no avail. Few people were about and the literal few Jonathon trusted to ask based on their appearance provided no insights either. It was as if the mist was against them, shrouding their way, shrouding their vision, and at times, almost shrouding their minds.
“This weather is surely not ordinary Mister Livingston. Perhaps it may be an effect of this spring awakening. From what we know, Vindor and its people seem to have a bond or connection more than humans could expect.”
“They do seem to have a cultural oneness unlike the many nations of Earth Miss Candice.”
“All the more reason to apply ourselves now Mister Livingston. Time is nigh for an apparition I feel, and for Earth. As stewards on this mission, we must seek to endure with our objective.”
“Everywhere is locked or they won’t answer. We must have taken an hour or two by now. Perhaps we have been looking at this the wrong way. I recommend we look for any door including those actually facing downwards like cellar doors.”
“Splendid thinking Mister Livingston. The moment you mentioned it, I was struck by something as if it is behind such doors where we will find success.”
“And just what type of success would it be Miss?” A man as tall as Jonathon had emerged from the mist without their knowing.
“Somewhere to sleep. It is no business of yours.” Jonathon replied taking an assertive stance in readiness for the situation should it escalate.
“I could make a choice and so could you two. I am only after currency, so I would appreciate it if you would give me yours.”
“What if I decide against it?”
“Then you might come to regret your decision. A few pieces of currency are not worth it for you, but it is for me.”
“Don’t think I haven’t come across people like you before. How do you think I made it through hey? Do you think someone who just gives in to people like you would return to places where there are people like you?”
“Don’t give me the speech. We can try and take a gamble.” The man pulled a large knife from within his coat. It glimmered in the dull rain soaked light as he held it towards them trying to find menace.
Jonathon could see his doubt. The man’s degree of menace simply was not enough to worry him. The knife was there a few feet from his face, so he had some room to move if he was attacked suddenly. Experience had led him to be calm when faced with these situations.
As he felt this within, so he demonstrated with the ray gun in those seconds after the man lunged at them both. A blue electric bolt exactly like lightning surrounded with sparkling purple charge, shot out striking the man in the leg. Jonathon had no desire to kill the man or to even seriously injure him – the bolt was on its lowest setting, effectively rendering him unable to walk for a while.
The purple mist around them lit up in a strange luminescent glow. Both were immediately amazed at what they saw. Unseen in the darkness was the glittering gold within each tiny drop of fog. The air was much heavier than through moisture alone - they were breathing gold.
“You. I’ll revenge you for this. I can’t move my leg.”
“It won’t last fool. If you had asked me nicely, I would have given you some currency anyway. Take heed of this lesson because if we meet again, I might just have to put this gun on a higher setting.” Jonathon threw the man a single coin. “Have a meal anyway. You look like you need it.”
Miss Candice urged him away, leaving the man to himself as he scrambled over the stones to retrieve the coin left by Jonathon. “We must keep going. I feel ever more urgent Mister Livingston. Something is about to happen and it seems like I need to be there.”
“Whatever it is within you Miss Candice, we will find out why.” He took them closer to the wharves. The streets behind had led to nothing and the mist seemed to be giving way towards the waters’ edge. “There are often cellars beneath docks for storage Miss Candice. Let us look there.”
“Now Mister Livingston, whilst the rain is a drizzle.”
Most cellar doors, shop doors, and warehouse doors were locked and others led to empty spaces. A great number were in such ruin, they did not bother to look.
“Oh, it’s calling me Mister Livingston. I have to go. We must find it now…quickly.”
“What do you mean Miss Candice?”
“I am being drawn in. I cannot stop it Mister Livingston.”
“Drawn into what?”
“It feels like those fleeting seconds before our rocket went beyond the speed of light. I cannot escape it. Oh…oh oh, here it comes. Oh Mister Livingston…oh…oh…yes, oh…..tell Bobby…you must go to Planet Dealas.” With those words, Miss Candice disappeared before Jonathon’s eyes. She dematerialized in a few seconds where at the last, a flash ensued lasting another few seconds. Then she was gone entirely, leaving him standing there alone beside a cellar door with a few flecks of gold paint in the corner.
He noticed the entrance as soon as he looked away from the last place he had seen Miss Candice. Instinctively he opened the door and walked down the ten steps inside. The place was empty – no chair, no table, no box, no bottle, no person,
no machine, no stone, no gold, nothing. All Jonathon could see was a burn mark within a circular geometric pattern painted on the floor. He could smell freshly burned wood and knew this was a place to which they were draw for Miss Candice to travel. There was no mystic or map – only this clue of energies and of pathways on a planet to another, from one seeking to one giving and from one giving to one seeking. A natural alignment was taking place and Miss Candice had traveled upon its avenue through the stars to Dealas.
He left the scene, hurrying back towards where Mister Weston and Bobby keenly awaited news. Through the mist’s veil had retraced the streets taken with Miss Candice. Memory of her realized his loneliness for those few moments, and also his alertness for safely returning to Bobby so they could find her.
There was no need to draw his weapon as he encountered no other person within the mist on his way back. Its’ tendrils had now reached far into town on its way eventually to envelop the entire planet. He found the one small light they kept on in the window to guide his return, and within half a minute he was inside telling his tale.
“We must leave immediately. Mister Weston, gather our few belongings.”
“Certainly Mister Regal.”
“Tell us more when we are back aboard Eagle Jonathon. I have a feeling we are going to need to find out more in Salisbury sooner than we anticipated.”
“Something at Stonehenge could give us the means to find this spring Bobby. Simply going to Dealas will not be enough.”
Through the remainder of the night, and into the following morning, the three men strode as best they could retracing their route to Masquerdon from the rocket. When at last they reached the clearing in the forest where Bobby had landed the ship, they were exhausted but had no time rest. Immediately, he instructed Mister Weston to prepare for launch and for Jonathon to take over navigation from Miss Candice. He was missing her presence at the helm – this was the first real time since hearing of her disappearance. His focus remained though as he set course to Earth.
They realized the accomplishment of carrying out their mission undetected the moment they transcended light speed on a heading directly to Salisbury. Bobby would land the rocket in the field next to Stonehenge. Privileged with such rights as Steward of Earth Defense, he could land his rocket anywhere on Earth he chose.
“Set drive to Vindor Escape Mister Weston.”
“Aye Mister Regal. Vindor escape level nine set. We are ready to fly.”
“Thank you Mister Weston.”
At last after those few hours of flight where they had spent most of the time temporarily converting the ray gun into a scanning device capable of penetrating the ground and looking for gold, Bobby landed the rocket vertically beside Stonehenge on a misty morning heavy with dew. In contrast to the recent festival, the location was deserted at this time just as the sun was rising through the foggy veil. The scene was becoming a mixture of white, grey and green with a hint of purple and orange hues forming a line down low in the far east.
They set out immediately ready to use the gun scanner for locating their target. Something within Stonehenge was their clue to bridging the concept of this place of gold, and the feeling of this place of gold. As they moved about, the sun broke the horizon, sending long rays through the mist. When it reached the stone circles, long shadows of geometric design were cast through the fog just above their heads.
Alight in a mix of orange tinged with gold, the atmosphere in a pattern of both lines and colour illuminated the scene to become a matrix of alignments. As above them, so they below were also the patterns of cosmic numerical values. The gun scanner Jonathon held could draw upon to calculate its own matrix searching for elements as clues to their mystery.
Dressed in their flight suits, their appearance in the sun streaked mist amongst the stones, held mystery for them as cosmic astronauts at home in an alien world. Upon Earth as it was for Vindor, these moments unlocked secrets both races of these planets had never imagined. Those of Vindor aware of their transcendence opposed those of Earth – first in battle and now in command. Not one upon a field of battle, but of overcoming one’s own battle with self and definition of place in reality.
Though not as vivid in their projection of pride, humans too rendered examples of behavior demonstrating both the facets of diamond, and also those of stone. Within the deepest quarries both races could find themselves and from within such places riches emerged along with metals impure being bereft of clarity hence reflectively dull and indistinguishable. Such idioms were not present for the three men as they surveyed the scene, as their only concern was to find the answer in the stones and bridge the relationship of Earth’s monoliths with one, if not two other planets in the galaxy.
“Try using a geometric scan Jonathon. See if we can make our own sense of the alignments here and draw a pattern.”
“Fine thinking Mister Regal.”
“Thank you Mister Weston. Add in some mathematical constants and regulate the equations to see if there are divisions and multiplications as patterns on the geometries.”
“I’m resetting the scanning parameters to calculate variables also Bobby. There needs to be some room for fluctuations due to dimensional angulations.”
“The energies can spill over Mister Weston.”
“I recall the many fluctuations of our first time travel experience together Mister Regal. I was thinking we will require a stopover at the moon before proceeding to deep space again Mister Regal. The electric charge does require regenerating along with a maintenance diagnostic of the rocket. Our Moon escape was the first use of this new deep space drive.”
“Wise words Mister Weston. It would be best to proceed in full capacity. Please make it so the moment we are at Moon base. I expect we will only require an hour’s turn around at most.”
“Forty minutes should do the job Mister Regal.”
“I have something Bobby…Mister Weston. This triangulation seems to have divisions of phi contained in the layout. I am getting a weird low audio sound as well. It is as if this is tuning into a location and also a sound.”
“The basis of our portal for travel Mister Livingston.”
“Indeed Mister Weston. See the double signal? As the scanner fine tunes, it should bring out more definition for both.”
“If it is gold, then perhaps it is the sound of gold as well Jonathon.”
“We’ll soon see.”
When each man heard the sound the instant it became clear on the scanner, they were transfixed motionless entirely captivated. It was as if the song of the universe was sounding through the small audio emitter they had attached to the scanner gun. Drawn in as they were, the sound sang to their minds and their hearts defying all thought or analysis – it simply was and its immensity was galactic.
Tears welled as they felt the connection of material and feeling stretching beyond their conception of self and beyond even their conception of their beyond light speed voyage. Concept did not apply and with this knowing they understood why the spring would be a place if it was a place. They had found a way to feel the way to lead them to its waters of crystalline gold, yet this was but one way, for they would experience more upon the distant planet Dealas, where their quest would be one of place where the waters could be touched.
“Just take us to one hundred feet so we can hover over the stones Mister Weston.” Bobby instructed Jonathon and Weston to liftoff as soon as they emerged from those moments trance like in nature experiencing a clear mind where each of them knew their place in the events to come. “I just want to obtain a visual directly over the site. Those lines are spectacular and there might be some reference point we could use in the future from the mathematical perspective.”
For a minute they hovered vertically over the misty stones – the sun’s rays were still low enough to keep the final one third of each of the largest stones in shadow. Smaller patterns were fully bathed in the misty gold light, revealing an inner eccentricity the men were surprised to realize. In th
ese moments, the smaller circles were rings aligning the direction of light so as to create a golden interconnection without end. Bobby wondered if this phenomenon had ever been observed in recent times since the ancient construction of the site. He possessed no previous knowledge of it.
“We have enough now Mister Weston. Please take us to the moon.”
“Co-ordinates are set Mister Regal. I am engaging drive.”
Less than an hour later, Weston was at the ready again, “Co-ordinates set Mister Regal. I am engaging drive.”
“Thank you for your attention to detail Mister Weston. The Moon Base service took even less time than you had anticipated and we also have the mathematical analysis for the crystal structure of the gold beneath Stonehenge.”
“I do learn these systems and make analysis of improvements as we go Mister Regal.”
“Indeed. Please set the drive from Vindor escape to Moon escape.”
“Setting drive. Dial is on Moon escape Mister Regal.”
“Engage the drive please Mister Weston. Set for electric boost at one thousand meters above the moon base.”
“Parameters are set Mister Regal. We can go.”
“Then engage electrics Mister Weston. And Jonathon, stand by for tactical insertion on course for Dealas just above light speed.”
“And more Bobby.”
“Of course.”
Chapter 18
Miss Candice found herself wandering through a forest laden with spectacular fruit trees of types she had never imagined. For a moment she wondered if she had been taken to some Garden of Eden she had read about as a child, and then realized her destiny of now being in such a place. Her sense struck a chord of both excitement and mystery. Where was this path she found herself walking along, heading towards? Why had she been taken to this place at all, and how would the others find her? She was not concerned for her confidence in Bobby did not waiver. One thing she did know was her proximity to the legendary golden spring. It was why she was here, yet she didn’t know why she was here.
At a pond within a stream under a stone bridge on a bend, she saw a number of large dragonflies. Each of them had two sets of wings at both their forward and their rear ends. It was as if they may have originally been two separate dragonflies now merged as one. A gold frog then leaped high catching one of them, before landing back in the water and dragging the dragon fly under. Two more frogs emerged – it was a feast if they could take it, but Miss Candice could not linger to wait and see their catch for she felt the urge to continue her journey across this bridge and others finding her way to a place singing in her heart. Something else was there. It was familiar and a little unsettling as if it indicated confrontation was to come. She could hold her own and was not afraid – she had never been afraid at any time in her life she could ever remember. Perhaps she had been afraid as a very young child, but it was more likely she had been intrigued instead for she was not one to lose sight of herself if events demanded she remain forthright.