by Melanie Ray
“Uh oh,” Xiam watched her as she began to chuckle. “We’re getting farther from the inhibitor, we seriously need to turn back. Ezra, come back this way.”
Ezra didn't answer him as she ran a bit further and stopped. She turned to look back at him, and smiled.“Xiam? It’s gone.” She touched her forehead with her hand. “The ache in my head is gone.”
“That’s great, now come back this way,” Xiam said as he beckoned for her.
Ezra started to head toward him, but stopped as she felt tingling pain again. She turned back around and felt no pain. “Huh?”
“This is a new development.” Iri looked over at Xiam. “I think we should go back and get the Protector. What do you think?”
Xiam nodded. “Ezra, don’t go much further than this, okay? We’ll be back soon.”
“IT’S COMING BACK?” Ezra groaned as she grabbed her head. No way, she had only broken free. How could it be coming back? She was far from the house, the cause of the never ending pain.
“(**^)&_(&*!”
Now was not the time to get to know neighbors, her head hurt so much she refused to open her eyes anymore. “Please, leave me be.” The native kept talking through its own language, but her transears ceased working. The language wasn't soft, it was choppy, and there was no melody at all to it.
“*%&(%#*(%?!”
Ezra felt someone touch her arm. She opened her eyes and saw a familiar small creature, with a long arm. Not being able to concentrate on who it was, she closed her eyes again. Ezra held her head tightly as she felt the creature hold her by the hand and walk her somewhere. She felt herself being lifted onto a platform and tried to open her eyes. She saw another creature, bigger and more blurry, but she couldn't keep her eyes open again.
“^&%^%%(&_? &)_(*^&%)*&? What about now, do you hear me now?”
Ezra didn’t open her eyes but nodded. She could understand them, and she heard the difference between both voices.
“I saw her in the middle of the road and pulled her before she got hit. She’s got a headache, babe. A bongo bongo headache. I mean boom boom boom!”
“You’re not helping her headache any, Jemias. You never help anyone’s headache. No, I can see she's in pain, it is obvious."
Ezra felt herself being moved onto something. Were they going to help? “Ah!” She tried to cover her already closed eyes as many lights shined upon her. She tried to get away, but felt the creature with the long arm tugging her back.
“It’s okay, we’re helping. Bibble here is going to look at your skeleton. For free too, which is rare. I mean for now, there'll be a bill later.”
“My skeleton?” Ezra struggled to get away, but felt herself falling as she ran into something.
“Calm down, they are X-Rays, you idiot. Hold her still Jemias.”
Ezra tried to hold still as she felt more light fall upon her. Sheer torture, that was what Bibble offered. "I have to run, I have to escape.”
“Run?” Bibble was intrigued by her answer. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I just, I have to run further away to escape the pain,” Ezra whimpered. “I escaped it once, I have to escape it.”
“You escaped it once? Interesting. Okay, Jemias, escort her outside and run away with her until she feels better. Then hold your position. We’ll see if it’s in her head, or in her head.”
“Ezra?” Xiam shouted around the lab. “I told her not to move.”
“This isn’t like her,” Yed looked over at Xiam. “You’re positive you told her not to move?” Yed scanned the area. She wouldn't run off on a new planet, she had kids she needed to know, and she had her family back. Even with pain, running wouldn't do much good, especially out into the light. “She can’t run that far, she’ll get too distant from the inhibitor.”
"I found one of your nimrods," A familiar said from behind him Yed.
Yed looked over his shoulder and saw Bibble. “You’ve seen her?”
“Yes, she ran.” Bibble stared at him inquisitively. “What is this inhibitor?”
“None of your concern,” Yed said. “Where’d she run to?”
“None of your concern,” Bibble repeated back.
“Did her headache come back?” Xiam asked impatiently. “Her head was hurting with a bad migraine.”
“It’s more than that,” Bibble looked over at Yed again. “This ‘headache’.”
This could be a good thing. Yed kept his stare level, Bibbles curiosity may have overridden the price issue. “What’s going on?”
“You tell me,” Bibble yawned. "I thought you were the brilliant ones."
“You know something,” Yed crossed his arms. “It's obvious you examined her. What’s causing her headache?”
“There’s something in her brain," Bibble revealed. "Each X-ray I took showed it getting pushed harder on her brain. It was getting unbearable, so I let her take off.”
“Something? When?” Xiam asked. “This was far enough, why did she have to go farther now? What changed?”
“What is an inhibitor?” Bibble had to ask.
“Only affects us,” Yed said. “Sorry, nothing helpful to let you take over planets or for making you any money in any way.” He brought out a tiny green crystal he chipped off from the bigger piece. Since they were leaving so far, it was their only choice.
“Affects your teeny little minds?” Bibble asked still highly intrigued. "Is it the reason you go crazy and disappear for years before coming back to your senses? Is that the substance?"
"It's only worth something to us, no place on Earth will want it." Yed held it tighter in his grasp. "It's not a form of payment."
"As per usual, you missed the point entirely. It all went over that itty bitty mind of yours. Oh, not much smarter than the natives, sometimes I swear you must pick lice out of each other's hair like monkeys." Bibble scoffed. "Think about it."
Yed took a second before smacking his head. He saw Bibble's point clearly as he gave the crystal to Xiam. “Take this back but make Danva get over here. Pronto.” He quickly took off down the street yelling out for Ezra. It took him a few blocks, but he finally saw her running toward him.
Ezra wasn’t as happy, but she wasn't in pain anymore. “What’s going on, Yed? Why is this planet hurting my head on and off?”
“I don’t know, something is wrong, and it's not as simple as I thought," Yed said. “We’re getting close to figuring it out though. You and the inhibitor aren’t getting along, and you’ve got to be on the outer edge of its power. Welcome to Earth, huh?” He patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry Ezra, I sent the inhibitor back to the house. The pain won't come back."
“I got him.” Xiam walked over to Yed and stood between him and Ezra. “See? He’s beside you.”
Yed looked beside him and saw his father. He seemed to be sweating, and he was messing with his collar. Not a happy sign. “Why is something pressing up against her brain?”
Danva took a moment to pick at his ears. He scratched his head briefly and then cleared his throat. “Well, I-I had to move fast, Junior. You wanted out, you wanted your friends out and the more I dawdled to come up with a plan, the more likely someone would find out. So, I moved fast.”
“What do you mean?” Yed raised an eyebrow. “Danva?”
“The waryes’ control the females with a chip in the brain. In order to take them out, I had to perform brain surgery,” Danva explained. “Everything’s done delicately, and most is done with help of machines and microscopic tools. I’ve done it more than once, but it takes awhile. Litalia’s took four hours, Phaver’s took four hours and your friend Iridescent took uh...”
“Why are you taking your time at this explaining?” Xiam nudged his shoulder. "Hurry it up, what is wrong with my sister?"
“I was running out of time,” Danva said again. “I rushed a little with Iri, but I was careful and nothing happened. Hers was out in three hours.” He clicked his tongue. “Unfortunately, time was up. I knew you wanted this dear female Ezra, she obviously meant the world to
you.” He smiled sweetly at her and bowed his head in politeness, before looking back at Yed. “...so I crushed it instead of taking it out.”
“You crushed it?” Yed stared at Danva. “You just crushed it? You left it there?!”
“It was either leave it behind or crush it,” Danva said as he loosened his collar even more. “I had to take that risk. I’m sorry, it was in a good spot, but it must have shifted when we came here.”
“So the headaches are from it putting pressure on her brain?” Xiam groaned. “You should have told us that." He looked over at his sister. "Sorry Ezra, you've got to stay farther away from the inhibitors.” He noticed a blankness in her expression. “Ezra?” Ezra scratched her head and looked confused.
“No, she’s too far away from the inhibitors, she is losing herself,” Yed insisted. “Come on, step this way Ezra. You’ll remember who you are and all that good stuff.”
“Ummm...”
Yed and Xiam both looked at Danva again.
“There may be more than just pressure.” Danva said slowly. “The pieces aren’t dull, they are sharp. You might say razor sharp, and there might be some internal-” He didn't finish the phrase as Yed shoved him up on the building next to them. "I'm sorry."
“You’re sorry?” Yed looked over at Ezra who appeared downright out of it. After all this time, all these years his Protectee, his Ezra was supposed to be safe. “Bleeding, is she bleeding? Do you think she is hemorrhaging? Is there brain damage?” He pulled him back and threw him up against the wall, hard. "Are you killing Ezraponia?"
“I don’t know, I’m sorry,” Danva apologized again. “Keep her away from the inhibitors, and she will be safe. No inhibitor influence, no pressure. She won’t hurt or die that way, I promise. Just don’t bring her near-”
“Oh.” Ezra wobbled as she felt her head.
“The inhibitor?” X whined. “I gave it to Muin, but I didn’t tell her why.” He quickly ran back the other way to make her stop.
“Just get her out further before it pushes it too hard and-” Danva didn’t have time to finish his statement as Yed quickly picked Ezra up and ran in the other direction.
YED SAT BESIDE EZRA a fair amount away from where he had grabbed her and ran. A distance where he barely remembered who he was and what was going on, his mind on the brink between Yed and the insanity of Wye.
“Now where am I?” Ezra groaned.
Yed chuckled. “Well, hi there mother of my children. You can’t go too near the inhibitor, it's pushing on your brain.”
“Pressure on my head?” Ezra found herself chuckling as she knocked on her own head. “I don’t feel any pressure. I don’t feel anything at all.”
“That’s 'cause you are on the most outer limits,” Yed said. “Otherwise your brain would be like-” Yed smushed his face around. “-like this.”
“Oh, like this?” Ezra laughed and smushed her own face up. “That’s awful. I am seriously screwed.”
“Uh huh,” Yed said, “you’re totally screwed."
“Hey that’s great,” Ezra said cheerfully. She turned around in a circle, fancy free. “I feel incredibly weird, funky and neat.”
“Yeah. It’s a fantastic feeling.” Yed laughed. "Yah, yah, yah."
Ezra giggled again. “I feel so funny and I can’t stop laughing.” She started to spin around in a circle again.
Yed joined her in spinning. “Glad you like it out this far, ‘cause this is your new home. Let’s go find you an apartment.” He went over to her and grabbed her hand anxiously. “See that sign by that apartment? It means that it's looking for someone to live there. Come on, let's go check it out.”
“If you got the money.” Ezra smiled as she spun into Yed’s arms. “Yeah, an apartment. Will it have a stove?”
“I don’t know.” Yed walked with his right arm around her. “Let’s go see, babe.”
“Let’s not go see.” Xiam said as he came up from behind them. He saw Yed with his arm around her and chuckled. “Well. Uh. I know I shouldn’t like that.” He shrugged. “So. Living conditions? By herself?”
“Temporarily, we’ve gotta get the tiny broken fragments out of her dang head.” Yed said as he pointed to his head. “Can’t be that hard, it’s not brain surgery.” He laughed. “Oh wait, yes it is.”
“We can’t trust the humans though,” Xiam smiled at Ezra. “Don’t wanna be dissected, that wouldn’t feel good. What about your dad, Yed?”
“Oh, he worked with way different tools than these Earthlings have,” Yed said. “We’ll need to find someone else.” He scratched his chin. “Someone who’s truly brilliant and probably wouldn’t dissect us. Just someone curious and who is a total bitch.”
“Oh, that jerk that found me?” Ezra laughed and asked at the same time. “The one who kept calling me an idiot?”
“Yeah, that would be her. If Bibble can’t do it, no one on this planet can,” Yed agreed. “Then you’ll be stuck with half of your senses forever.”
“We should get someone out here with her though,” Xiam said. “She doesn’t know the area. Maybe one of us should live way out here with her?”
“Yeah, one of us original three," Yed decided. “Great idea, Xiam. Let’s go talk to Muin and figure it out.” He smiled at Ezra. “I’ll be back. Don’t move this time, okay?”
Ezra laughed and agreed as Yed and Xiam left.
A few minutes later...
“You had your arm wrapped around her?” Xiam stopped as he suddenly realized what he saw. “Yed!”
Yed stopped too and pondered what he did. Did I actually make a joke of her being the mother of my children? He slapped his forehead. “Idiot.”
“Yeah, you were. You shouldn’t be wrapping your arms around my sister,” Xiam complained.
“Huh? Oh.” Yed groaned. “I didn’t mean to. I can’t think straight, remember? You couldn’t think straight either.”
“Yeah, but why did you do that?” X whined again.
“Could we focus on the most important part?” Yed frowned. “One of us is going to have to stay out there with her, until Bibble fixes her.”
“If she fixes her, why would she even want to?” X realized. “We’ll have to bribe her with something.”
“Money would work,” Yed said, "if we had enough extra."
“A place to live, money to buy things. Buying? Shopping? Yed, she can’t even run that far either, to or fro, can she?” X had to ask.
Yed rubbed his nose. Great, another problem. “It’s temporary until Bibble can fix her. I can show her how to walk horizontal across the city instead of diagonal. She’ll be able to go farther.”
“You show her?” X frowned. “Why do you have to show her? You’re back on Earth, you don’t have to be her Protector anymore. I’m her brother, I can handle it. Besides, you’ll have to take care of Tiger and Carress. I have no kids, just a wife and I’m sure Iri will come with us.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” Yed apologized as he kicked a rock. “Old habits die hard.”
“Old habits die hard?”
Yed and Xiam saw Muin appear next to them.
“Did you fix her yet?” Muin asked. “I can’t help but feel a little worried about her.”
“No, we haven’t.” Yed looked at her curiously. “Muin, where’s the inhibitor?”
“Oh yeah,” Muin showed them the green crystal in her hand. "I forgot to take it back home."
Chapter 54
BLESSING OR CURSE
“Ezra? Ezra?” Yed called out. Where could she be now? As soon as he knew Muin had the inhibitor, he ran off to find her.
“Protector Yed?”
“Hey.” Yed smiled, but realized he didn’t have to. In fact, he felt fully functional still. “You’re not too far from the inhibitor, why aren’t you moaning in pain?”
“Y-Yed?” Ezra coughed. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
“Earth, a few blocks down from earlier.” Yed said. “I know that Dallas is enormous, and everything's different. Ezra, do y
ou feel any pain?”
“Earth? Where is that?”
Yed stared at her, hoping it was some kind of joke. No. “We escaped to Earth, remember?”
“We did?” Ezra tried to think. “We were on our way to a travel machine, but something happened.” She looked at her stomach. “My stomach is flat. Did I have the babies?”
Yed closed his eyes in horror. At least eighty years had been erased. He was going to kill him. Father or not, Danva was dead. “Ezra, concentrate, okay?" He came nearer and took her hand gently. "You’ve probably suffered some brain damage, but try and remember. You had the babies, you were taken away and given a new life as a waryes.”
“Taken away?” Ezra gasped with a small choke following afterward. “I was turned into a waryes?”
“It wasn’t bad, and you lived well. The babies grew up though, they are kids now, and I came back. I got you out along with others. We’re living on Earth now,” Yed finished. “Is any of this making sense?”
Ezra covered her eyes. “I don’t remember.”
“That’s okay, you will.” Yed sighed. “You don’t feel any pain in your head?” Ezra shook her head and hugged herself tightly. “I had forgotten everything before I came to Earth the first time,” Yed said as he gently patted her back. “It’ll come back, don’t worry. You’ll remember when you’re ready.” He sighed and rubbed her back.
“Kids? Becoming a waryes?” Ezra launched herself into Yed’s embrace. “I don’t remember anything.”
“It’s okay,” Yed said again. He hugged her tighter as he felt her cry upon him. “You’ll remember it one day.”
“My mother?” Ezra asked weakly. Yed felt his shirt getting wetter from her tears. She was reacting more strongly than when she was first rescued, the memories were fresh.
“She’s alive,” Yed said. That’s all he was going to say about that matter. “Iri was taken, and she was with you those missing years. She can help fill in some stuff if you want. The kids are okay now. It was a bit rough, and Tigeravich is a little hard to get along with. We don’t think he was raised by the nicest of warnos, but he’s safe now too. So is Carress. You raised her, I think, a lot.” Words were starting to fail him as he felt her cry more and more. “It is okay now.” He raised her head to his and looked into her tear streaked eyes. “We’re all together. That is what’s important, the war is over.” There was so much sadness and fear in her eyes, yet he still saw such an enigmatic beauty to her face. A beauty that he had seen when they first met, and a beauty that remained with her ever since.