"Basically you guessed?" Cooley interrupted.
Talia glared at him.
"No worries, I trust your guesses," Landry soothed. "We need to learn all we can about the new inhabitants of Orek. Craig tweaked the slight differences of the spoken language in the translator code. We're routing it through the onboard computers."
"When I've completed the speech function I'll include the tweaks with the upgrade patch for your current chip." Craig pointed to the data stream on his console. "This language has evolved from the files already in the ship's datacore, but the people on Orek are related to those destroyed by the Dragumon."
"Good. We can use that to our advantage. Cooley we need to make plans for first contact."
"I thought we were going to avoid them."
"We are, but be prepared for every situation. That still stands."
"Of course."
Talia sifted through the communication feeds. "Looks like several politicians, scientists and a handful of military personnel were off planet at the time of the Dragumon attack. They trickled home and set up a new world government. This first set of messages is their call for everyone left to come home."
"That should make learning about Jaron's world easier. We could slip down cloaked and observe," Craig commented.
"It's not that simple. This new order clearly doesn't include those of magical abilities. In fact, the only references to magic are attached to death warrants." Talia automatically reached for her necklace.
"Great," Cooley muttered, "we left everything for nothing."
"Maybe not. There's still the Wizard's Mountain. My memories say we'll find everything we're looking for there--records of magical training and the scientific government from Jaron's time." Landry scanned several video feeds. "There's nothing here but government propaganda. Cooley, it's a military regime but nothing like our Royalist monarchy."
"What do you mean?" Cooley moved to glance over Landry's shoulder. "Oh."
"What is it?" Talia asked but Landry shook his head. "Don't do this to me again. Tell me what the problem is."
"This government blames the wizards for the destruction of their people." He swiped at the screen and images appeared. "Their military tests the people for magical abilities. Those with them are killed, no matter their age."
Cooley flipped past a few more video feeds. "They've got a huge disparity between the classes too. The military live in the wealthy cities, but most of the population lives out in the country. Look."
Talia considered the biodata from the probe she'd sent. It clearly showed the majority of the population lived outside the cities.
"But the tech scan showed nothing in those areas."
"Exactly." Cooley nodded. "It's easy to control the masses if they have nothing to fight you with."
"What do we do? We've come all this way. Lost at least seven years on Sendek. If we turn around now we won't have anything to show for it, and we'll lose the other seven years on the journey home." Talia rested her head on the back of the chair. "I'm sorry guys."
"I think we should still go down there." Cooley leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "We've already lost the years, like you said. This is our chance to see a new planet. Another race of sentient beings."
"Cooley's right. We can still learn a lot," Craig spoke up. "This world used to blend science and magic. We have to find records from that time."
"We can go in cloaked, like Craig suggested earlier. But, if we meet up with the locals we have to play it smart. No mention or use of magic." Landry peered at Talia.
She nodded. "Okay, let's do it."
"Good. We'll stay out here and gather as much information as we can. There's no rush to get to Orek. I'll search Jaron's memories and we can come up with a story if needed."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Landry sat in the cockpit massaging his temple. The lights were low, the room lit mostly by the glow of computer screens and flashing buttons. For some reason this brought him more comfort than the brightly lit common area. His head ached from scanning the reports from Orek. Their probe survived two orbits before being shot down, sending a lot of data to sift through. He needed to decide if they could safely proceed with the mission. What would Talia say if he asked her to turn around?
Craig rushed into the room. "You've got to come now!"
Landry's instincts kicked in as he ran from the flight deck. He scanned the ship for the threat, taking in everything within seconds. Nothing appeared out of place. No strange sounds or smells.
But the door to his room was open.
"Talia!" Cooley sat on the side of the bed while Talia shook from a seizure.
Her eyes rolled back in her head and drool ran down her chin. Landry shoved Cooley out of the way. "I told you not to wake her from a dream."
Landry held her close and tried to enter her mind. The flashing images blocked him as soundly as the last time causing his head to hurt. Her body convulsed for another minute before she crumbled in a heap. Talia didn't move.
She's too still. All of Landry's worst fears pulsed through his mind. Heart pounding, he bent closer but couldn't feel or hear anything from his wife.
"Craig, get the autodoc open!" Landry scooped her up and ran. "She stopped breathing."
Craig led the way to the medical unit. He slapped the button and the sound of hydraulics filled the room. The lid popped open. Landry placed Talia inside while the control panels lit up. Craig helped him attach the oxygen, sensors and IVs while the machine started a full body scan.
"What can I do to help?" Cooley hovered in the door.
Landry clenched his jaw and ignored him, but spoke to Craig. "Get him out. Before I kill him."
Craig waved Cooley out the door. "Probably best you wait out there for a while."
"I didn't know--" Cooley stammered.
"Out!" Landry yelled, never taking his eyes off the autodoc sensors. "Come on Talia, help me out a little here."
The life support system kicked in, and he tried once more to enter her thoughts. He slipped in easily, but her mind and body remained empty--like after she destroyed the Dragumon.
"What happened?" Craig whispered, but Landry still jumped.
"She's not in there."
"What do you mean?"
"Her spirit is gone." He stiffened and moved to the door.
"You mean she's brain dead? Where are you going?"
Landry sprinted out the door in two strides.
"How is she?" Cooley asked.
Landry tackled him, and landed several punches before Craig pulled him off.
"Stop, this won't help your wife." Craig managed to hold onto Landry as he tried to fight his way free.
"Let me go." He growled.
"He made a mistake. Helping Talia is more important. Tell us what to do."
Cooley sat up wiping blood from his nose and lip. His eye swelled.
Landry took a deep breath. "You can let me go. I won't touch him, but if she dies because of him, I'll toss him out the air lock without a second thought."
"Let's make sure that won't be necessary." Craig released him and they stared at each other for a moment. "Now tell me again what you meant by she's not in there."
Landry groaned and returned to the autodoc. "We don't know everything about how this works. That's why we're on this trip, remember?"
He checked Talia's vitals and closed the lid. At least her body would be alive and waiting for her if she came back. Landry turned and punched the padded wall with everything he had.
When. It has to be when, not if.
"Calm down," Craig waved Cooley toward the smaller first aid kit, but stood between him and Landry. "Maybe that Jaron guy mentioned something?"
"No, we didn't really have much time with him. The only thing--" Landry paused. "I'm going to check out the ship's logs."
Landry returned to the bridge and brought up the video log from a few days before they destroyed the Dragumon. Jaron had been trying to convince them genocide was the only way t
o survive the invasion. Talia lay on the same bed they now shared. That day Jaron taught Talia to use her dreams to reach out and speak with one of the Dragumon.
"What did he say?" He mumbled to himself and backed up the conversation.
The tall thin man with white blond hair and blue eyes watched while Talia ordered a drink from the metabolizer.
"You can lose your way. We will stay with your body to call you back if needed."
That's it!
"What do you mean lose my way?" The sound of her voice nearly brought him to his knees. I'll find you, call you back somehow.
Jaron waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry. We will keep you safe."
"Answer her question." In the video, Landry stood between the alien and Talia.
"A weak spirit can lose track of the thread that leads back to their body. Your spirit is strong. I'm not concerned and you shouldn't be either." Jaron waved toward the bedroom. "Please, this way."
He walked off screen, leaving the two of them to follow.
On screen Landry took Talia's hand. "You don't have to do this."
"I'd like to try."
Landry watched the monitor as she lifted his hand to her face and leaned into his touch. He remembered how she had trembled and pled with him through their connection. Bring me back.
He had promised he would. Now he'd keep that promise.
He jumped when Craig spoke, "You think she got lost?"
"No, I think when Cooley woke her she got cut off from her body. We never considered she went somewhere else during the visions. I guess we should have."
They returned to Talia's side. Landry reached into the autodoc and held her hand. No familiar shock greeted him with that touch, even though the magic had returned. After entering her empty mind, he slowly and systematically searched for any thread connecting her body to her spirit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Talia drifted through space. Disoriented, she struggled to remember her name and how she came to be alone in a vast darkness filled with pinpricks of light and dancing shadows. Vestiges of fear teased her mind. What had scared her?
Jerking left and right, she attempted to get a better view of her surroundings. Stars came into focus. Bits of knowledge resurfaced as her self-awareness improved.
I'm on a journey. There must be more. What else? Think, think, think...
A massive shadow obliterated the star field, passing with such speed it sent her spinning out of control. Her scream made no sound in the void, pressing the silence closer around her. She clawed at the hair sticking to her face.
I must be dead.
Another shadow approached and she braced for the backlash. It slowed and solidified into a woman. Her crystal blue eyes and jet-black hair reminded Talia of someone.
"Where are we?" No sound left her mouth. Talia touched her throat.
"Talia? How did you get here, child"? The woman spoke directly to her mind. The tonal quality of the voice, along with her name, released a wave of memories. Landry! This woman had the same eyes as her husband.
"I don't know. Are you Landry's mother? Am I dead?"
The woman laughed, and it too reminded her of someone, but she couldn't think of a name or face to match the sound.
"No, I'm not his mother, but I am one of his ancestors."
"Then I am dead. How?"
"You're not dead. This is the ethereal realm and certain species with magical talents can enter it during a dream state. Usually they don't know they're here. Were you dreaming?"
"I'm not sure." She touched her body and it felt real enough. "So this isn't my body?"
"Only the dragons can enter the ethereal realm with a physical body. Your body is waiting for you somewhere. Shall I take you back to Sendek?"
"No!" Talia held her hands out in front of her. "No, we were on our way," memories of data streams flit through her mind, "to Orek."
A sucking sensation tugged at her stomach. A rush of air yanked her forward. Her imaginary body resisted, but the air squeezed her through a pinprick hole in the universe. The light of the stars disappeared in the glow of a planet. Indigo seas, swirling clouds, mountains and deserts. It was breath taking. For a moment Talia wondered if she'd returned home, but the landmass patterns were different than Sendek.
Orek. Somehow she'd reached Orek without her ship and crew.
"Well done. You have much potential. Elvin will be pleased, although Jenska will refuse to believe it of a human."
"What happened? Who are you?"
"Ah, so many questions and no time to answer them. We need to get you back to your body before it's too late."
"I don't understand."
"You will. When you're ready, you will. Now, think of the last place you remember being."
"But..."
"This is more important than your questions. Close your eyes and think!" The voice bellowed inside Talia's mind as the woman's body exploded. A green dragon floated beside her.
"Jewel?"
"Talia, you must return to your body--now!"
Jewel's command sparked another rush of air. The squeezing and expanding. Talia's spirit entered her quarters on the ship, but her body wasn't in the bed. She felt a small tug and moved through the bulkhead to the exercise/med facility next door.
Landry sat beside the autodoc holding her hand. His whispered voice the only sound other than the beeps and swish of compressed air. There were circles under his eyes and thick stubble covering his face.
"Come back. Follow the threads," he whispered
She saw it. A faint green glow, thin as an eyelash, connected her spirit to her body. It grew thicker as she moved closer to the autodoc. Landry's head popped up as he searched the room.
"Craig, I feel her. She's close."
Craig sat up from where he'd been laying on the floor. "Finally!"
"Landry?" Talia hovered over her body, but nothing happened. "Jewel? How do I do this?"
The dragon didn't answer, but Landry closed his eyes. A new thread became visible. This one pulsing with a multitude of colors, ever in flux, and it connected her spirit to him. Strong and thick. She reached out and grabbed it with both hands.
A final tug and the connection sucked her spirit into Landry's body.
There was no room. He filled the space completely, pushing her into one corner. The lack of room suffocated her. She panicked. Landry nudged her again, and she moved from his body to her own.
What a relief to spread out in her own skin. Air hissed one last time as she took control of her lungs. One by one the autodoc released critical functions to her care. Exhaustion settled on her, but before she succumbed to sleep, she heard Jewel's voice.
"Well done, my children."
Talia woke in her own bed, Landry warm beside her. She rested her hand on his chest. They'd been married almost six months, and she still couldn't get used to the idea he would be there every time she woke. The rise and fall of his breathing brought comfort.
"I thought I'd lost you." He didn't open his eyes, but he mentally stepped into their shared mind space.
"Jewel brought me back."
"Jewel?"
"Yes. I floated lost in the stars. She found me and brought me back to the ship."
"How did she find you?"
"I don't know. There are so many questions she didn't answer."
"Can you show me what you remember?"
She waved her hand and played back her memories. "Does she look familiar to you?"
"Not really. She's definitely not my ancestor."
"Why not?"
"I think she adopted a shape she hoped you'd respond to. And yet, when push came to shove she returned to her dragon form." Landry chuckled. "You don't take orders very well."
The images disappeared and they gave each other some mental privacy. She snuggled closer and he lifted his arm so she could move in to rest her head on his chest. Even though they put up walls, they could feel each other's presence hovering nearby.
"What I d
on't understand is the timing." He ran his fingers along her bare arm.
"Hmm?"
"What you showed me seemed like a few minutes, but you were in the autodoc for almost two days."
She pushed up on her elbow to see his face. "Really? Maybe I was unconscious a lot longer in the dream world?"
"Or maybe it's your space-time relativity thing. What if the dragons travel from one planet to another so fast that we experienced time dilation?"
"How would they do it?"
"With this ethereal realm of theirs. You moved from wherever you were to Orek in seconds by thinking about it. I bet that's how they do it."
"But if this realm is some kind of worm hole, what powers it?"
"Does it matter if it works?" He eased her back down. "Let's not worry about it now. I want to lay here and pretend we're the only two people on this ship."
The fear inside the ship calmed. Jewel smiled. How many times had she and Elvin found comfort in each other's arms? Her entire body shook as a tremor moved through her. She missed the solitude they'd shared while human.
Sleep well, my children. She sent waves of comfort and love before turning away. Jewel needed to talk with Elvin. If lucky, she could do it without Jenska, but she was rarely that lucky.
Jewel thought of the small world currently being terraformed by the dragons. The space around her shifted. Warped. The new sphere appeared before her, still more molten lava than anything else. She headed for the large asteroid that had been moved into the planet's orbit to act as a moon. That's where the dragon clans lived while they waited for the planet shaping stages to reach a conclusion. Elvin and Jenska both waited for her.
"Where have you been?" Jenska's voice growled. "You were out of range when we needed you."
"My apologies, but urgent business needed my attention."
Jenska's ears twitched and he stretched his wings. A clear sign of his displeasure. "There is no business for you but dragon business."
Dawn of the Mages (The Magic Wakes Book 2) Page 11