Emma shifting on my back nearly pulls me over, and I’m forced to set her down.
We watch the horizon of our world. Light from the sun begins to illuminate the edge, and it’s breathtaking. The light pours over the world, revealing a little at a time. We watch as the ocean, mountains, and landscape become completely illuminated.
“We should probably take our leave of the ship,” I suggest. “Quva has permanently halted my testing. There’s no sense in staying here any longer.”
“Mother’s probably worried sick.”
They nod and we begin the trek back to the platform, cutting directly through the garden, except to avoid obstacles. Quva is still there, sitting cross-legged and typing on his tablet furiously.
“We’re ready to go,” I tell him. “We’d like to be taken home.”
“We shall arrange your departure immediately.” Quva pulls himself up.
The platform drops down and we exit the observation deck back into the living quarters. As we begin a diagonal descent and move toward one side of the ship, Quva speaks.
“Before you depart, can you tell me if some of the Tarak survive?”
“I’m sorry. I killed a lot of them and collapsed large portions of the network.” I frown. “That being said, we don’t know when Humans arise here. The Tarak likely have a very long time to flourish.”
“It would be a shame if they never became sentient, but you make an excellent point.”
“I think they did. They showed at least rudimentary battle strategies.”
This lightens Quva’s mood while we fly along. About mid-level of the ship it’s apparent he’s taking us back toward the main platform.
It takes a few minutes due to the sheer size of the interior, but when we arrive he doesn’t stop as I anticipated. Instead we descend vertically and nearing the bottom of the ship a large door opens up and we exit the ship, high above the land.
I gasp for air. Being so far up and only restricted from falling by the railing makes me nervous. Wind gushes by me and I inhale sharply.
I look down and the canyons are gone. The green areas which had been plateaus of rock pillars are now interconnected by solid, barren land.
“So this is how our land was shaped. What of the large creatures?”
“Herded away. They won’t return to this area for some time. This matches up with your account of your time line, correct?”
“Yes, it does. The landscape changes over the years, but this puts Novaum on the right path.”
As we reach what used to be our plateau, Agatha emerges from the house with a relieved look on her face. Quva lands on the grass and we exit onto familiar terrain. Ami runs to her mother, throwing her arms around her while I turn to Quva.
“We appreciate the information you have shared with us, Rain.” Quva nods at me.
“I’m just glad my near death experience could be of assistance to your files.” I laugh.
This strangely makes Quva laugh for the first time in our interactions, and it’s weird. It comes out as several short bursts of vibrations from his throat. I laugh a little bit harder because of the odd nature of it.
“In what timeframe will the anomaly occur?” he asks after calming.
“Not sure, a couple weeks of this world’s orbit. Just remember to move the ship completely away from this plot of land.”
“I will have my Mission First Command reposition upon my return.” He pauses for a moment and then moves to a new topic. “Since we were not able to extract the knowledge, I must trust any bits of technological, archaeological, social and agricultural information you retain will be kept safe. Such things could be devastating to your world if introduced before it is ready.”
“The Umarak.” I nod, citing a species who acquired information from another space fairing species, and met their demise by creating world destroying weapons with it. “I won’t let their fate become ours. I will keep it safe to my grave.”
“I am having something sent down.” Quva types on his tablet. “We found your weapon while excavating.”
Another platform descends, and is upon us in just a few moments. One of the Vraditi guards holds my sword in his massive hand and it looks like a knife would in mine. The platform lands and the guard steps off to hand it to me. I nod in thanks, noticing immediately there has been a change to it. Quva speaks up.
“The metal has been fused with lacings of the crystals from our home. Because of your ability to channel your power using the crystal, we thought as a defender of your planet, this would be a fitting gift.”
“Defender…”
Am I?
No. You are its conqueror!
I’m not.
Away from the group, I keep my eyes on the sword.
“Your companions mentioned the noble goals you have set and tried to enact.” Quva points to Ami, Eve and Emma.
Instinctively, I know what to do and put myself into a defensive stance, feet apart and braced for impact. I hold the sword up and pointed out with one hand while placing my other hand on the pommel. I force a shockwave out and through it. Rather than the unfocused wave which normally tears outward from my hands, a condensed shock-ring speeds toward the ground quickly. When it hits it causes a crater, dirt and rock flying everywhere.
“Use just one hand,” Quva instructs.
I pull the sword in and thrust outward with one hand and push a shockwave through the sword and it comes out as a much smaller ring and creates much less damage to the freshly laid dirt, but is still significant enough to be effective. Dirt splatters around and I am pleased with the modification.
“This is amazing. I can finally focus it to avoid collateral damage,” I grin. “Thank you Quva.”
“Use this gift wisely.”
This will help me protect the ones I love. I can reshape the world for the better.
Yes. We shall reshape the world for the better. That is our destiny.
No, Tiberius! This isn’t about you. This is about protecting people. You had your chance and you destroyed it.
Turning back to Quva I propose an idea, “Quva, may we requisition an Attendant to create some provisions for the house? Simply some level one items.”
“We can arrange this,” he responds and types on his pad.
One of the Attendants appears in a few moments and I beckon it to follow me. I lead it around through the basement, resupplying our stock of perishables. When I’m finished, I return the Attendant robot to Quva and smile in appreciation.
The time comes to part ways and I extend my hand out to Quva. He squints his four eyes in a questioning manner.
“It’s our form of hello and goodbye,” I tell him with a smile.
Quva extends his hand out and I grip it firmly, giving it a quick shake and then release. He nods to me in understanding and turns back to his platform and I follow him.
“Thanks for the experience,” I tell him.
“It is we who should thank you. The data we have collected and will collect is invaluable to our species.”
Quva holds out his hand and I take out the translator from my ear and hand it to him. The women follow suit and we nod to each other. As he, the guard and the Attendant return to the ship I wave to him. Within moments they have disappeared into the dark mass. The starship begins shifting slowly away from the house and stops dead again miles away.
Inside, we sit at the table. I sigh in relief at being home. Looking at the women in my life makes me realize how lucky I am to have a family who would do anything for me, including board a random starship to save me.
I put my arms behind my head and tilt back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The days pass slowly and we fail to do anything of any importance. Waiting for the time vortex to take us away, our lives continue as normally as possible. We each handle the chores about the house and I care for the horse and the yard.
Taking a brief break from trimming the grass, I sit and star
e up at the massive starship. Despite having some knowledge now of the universe, I am still in awe at the size of it, of the things I still don’t know. But I want to.
If I weren’t stuck here, I could see myself on a ship like that, traveling vast distances through the stars.
Agatha appears and hands me a glass of water which I promptly guzzle down.
“Thanks Aggy.”
“You’re welcome Rain.” She smiles at me and returns to the house.
The water didn’t satisfy. My stomach protests. In the kitchen, I’m met with an overwhelming smell of fish. When I look at the table there is a full smoked fish on a plate surrounded by boiled potatoes and carrots. The table is set with fine dishes, nice silverware and tall glasses of deep red wine. While I’m washing my hands, the others trickle in and sit at the table. When I approach they all look at me expectantly. Agatha beckons me to take my seat at the head of the table and I move slowly to sit down.
“What’s going on?” I ask with hesitation.
Agatha grabs her glass and raises it up and the other women do the same. Though I can’t see my own face, I feel it redden; I’m embarrassed.
“It’s thanks to you,” Agatha starts, “that my daughter and I are safe when many bad things could, and probably would have, happened to us.”
“Because of you, my days are no longer dull. I used to sit around and sew all day, but now I actually enjoy moving from time to time because of the adventures we have,” Ami follows and I feel my face becoming hotter.
“If it wasn’t for you, I’d be stuck in a dying city, married to Denis and being miserable!” Emma tells me.
“While I didn’t join you willingly,” Eve takes a moment to glare at me in jest. “I am glad I am here so that at some point, I can get a rematch against the only man who’s ever bested me.”
I laugh nervously. “Seriously, what is this all about?”
“We want you to know, who you are now matters to us, not who you used to be. You’ve brought meaning to people’s lives,” Agatha begins a speech. Tears form at the corners of my eyes. “We don’t want you to worry about who you used to be, because you’re Rain and we love you.”
My throat closes and I’m forced to wipe my eyes. I choke back the hidden sadness and smile to let them know I’m okay.
We dish up and eat. Though I may be looking at my plate, I can still feel their eyes on me. The smoked fish’s robust flavor fills my mouth and I savor every second. We enjoy the meal, and each other’s company.
I finish and attempt to wash my dishes, but Emma stops me, pushing me back down into my seat. She smiles sweetly. I sip more wine and feel my head swimming a bit. When my glass empties, Agatha refills it.
Apparently I’m just supposed to sit here and drink?
Being waited on is not new. Take it in.
They work together to clear the table off, all but for the bottle of wine and the glasses. There is a soft clatter of dishes as they clean everything up. I close my eyes and enjoy the soft, rhythmic sounds. Air moves about me and I peek. They’re preparing the table again. Ami places her hand on mine.
“You can’t sleep yet,” she says.
Agatha comes up from behind me and places down a single tier cake with a thin layer of white icing on the top. Eve sets down smaller plates while Emma lays down forks. Agatha cuts it up and everyone receives a small piece. It’s a moist, sweet chocolate cake with vanilla icing.
After stuffing my face with dinner, desert, and three and a half glasses of wine, I slouch in my chair. The bottle has been bled dry and I have no doubt each of them feeling just as dizzy as I am.
This time when I go to clean up my own spot I am successful, but my feet are uncooperative and I stumble around the kitchen trying to wash a small plate. Behind me I hear a thump and Emma is face down near her plate, her eyes shut.
“Lightweight,” Eve mumbles.
Trying desperately to wash my own dish, my motor skills have been thoroughly impaired when I pull the plate up and it’s still dirty. It drops into the sink with a clank, and I shuffle outside without any real reason or direction. Slowly, I make my way to the edge of the grass, nearly toppling over a couple times as I do. Down in the grass, I stare up.
I guess one other thing I can appreciate about being in a time where there isn’t a village or city, is there are no competing lights. The stars are so clear in the sky right now.
The noise of the door opening and closing grabs my attention for a moment and I tilt my head back to see the house upside down. A figure is walking toward me and it’s not until she comes close I recognize it as Ami. She lies down next to me.
“Have I ever told you about how my father and I used to look at the stars?” She intertwines her fingers with mine.
“No, you haven’t.”
“I was really little, but I remember him bringing me out at night and we would look at constellations,” she reminisces. “He taught me a lot of them, but I don’t see any of them in this sky. I guess because this is so far behind in time from where I came from.”
My eyes become heavy from the effects of the alcohol, but I attempt to keep the conversation going, “Did you ever imagine there was life on some other world out there?”
“Not really, but it’s probably because I’ve been too involved with this one.” She rolls closer.
I wrap my arm around her and pull her in. She rests her head on my shoulder and we are silent. The comforting warmth of her body pressed against mine outmatches the cool breeze drifting past the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The morning sun wakes me. Three bodies instead of just one smother me. Ami is in the same position, while Emma is curled up in my other arm and Eve is sprawled across my legs backward and snoring. Closing my eyes again I stay there until they all begin to stir. Ami is the first to say something.
“Where did you guys come from? This was a private deal,” she huffs.
“Private? Out in the open?” Eve mouths off. “He was out here and that’s as public as it gets.”
“Well, you weren’t invited,” Ami sneers.
Emma says nothing, but I feel her move. Ami and Eve bicker back and forth and I tune it out.
The ground begins to tremor in a familiar manner and I stay put on the ground. The dark circle of the starship sits in the sky, observing, as the majestic blue vortex begins to swirl up around our property line. The world beyond our barrier blurs and as a last farewell to Quva I wave heartily in hope he sees me. All too quickly the sky changes and Quva and his ship are gone.
I sit up. It appears to be late summer by the heat from the sun as well as the surrounding vegetation being full and green. In front of us lies a city under construction in an arc around the house, behind us is the forest. We have landed somewhere between Emma’s time and the Forest of Hunger’s rule of the land. Far off to the left is a crew of workers tearing into the forest with large machinery, cutting down and moving it off.
“Mother!” Ami screams at the top of her lungs – my heart skips a beat. “Mother come out here!”
We all climb to our feet and Agatha appears. She covers her mouth in shock.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “What’s going on?”
“I think we’re home. I think this is close to our original time!” Ami squeals.
“More importantly,” Evalyn takes over Agatha without hesitation. “I bet we can find the imbued artifacts I know of. Maybe we can stop the vortex here.”
“We can find my father!” Ami squeals again. “We can bring him home!”
“Then,” I place my hand in hers, “we have a lot of work to do before this month is over.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~To conclude in R.E.coil!~~~~~~~~~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas W. Everson is father to Bubby, a rambunctious boy despite having autism and other health issues, and has been married to Brandi for over a decade. He loves to spend time with his family by indulging in f
ictional worlds through books, shows, movies, and games.
He was born in Seattle. He moved around to a couple different states, but ultimately came back to live and work in Washington. He loves his job working in an aircraft component repair facility, but he hopes that one day his ideas will take him on to become a great writer.
Keep updated with Thomas
http://www.tweverson.com
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorThomasEverson
https://twitter.com/WriterThomasE
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R.E.solve (Rain Experience Book 2) Page 38