by Ramy Vance
Alex wasn’t sure if she should disclose her mistrust of Vardis to Abby. Boundless and Myrddin knew, but that was because they had been on the mission. Anything else might have just been putting people on edge unnecessarily. “He says he has a weapon that’ll take care of the Dark One. What more do we need to know?”
Abby was silent for a moment, looking as if she were trying to find the right words to express her worries. “Took a quick look last night. There are only a couple of volcanoes in Middang3ard. The biggest ones, which would yield the largest number of kin, have channels that lead to the core of the planet. And I know Myrddin—he’ll want to go big or go home. That’s what he’ll give Vardis.”
Alex poked the leftover food on her plate. “You think he’ll do it even if he has cause not to trust Vardis?”
Abby nodded solemnly. “He’s a gambler. Might put on an air of being in control and whatnot, but he doesn’t know what’s going on any more than the rest of us most of the time. He just does a better job of hiding it. He’s as likely to risk it all as any of us are.”
Alex weighed her options. There didn’t seem to be many. “Okay. I’ll have Gill and Jim take a look at prospective places. Tomorrow. I don’t want to deal with it until tomorrow. I want a normal night, or as normal as it can get.”
“What’s the most normal thing you can think of?”
Alex ran a couple of scenarios in her head. “You want to come to dinner with Jim and me?”
Chapter Ten
Dinner was served at 6:30, which was earlier than Alex was used to. For the last few weeks, she’d been able to eat anytime she wanted to. Being restricted to her parents’ idea of when food should be served was interesting, to say the least.
Jim and Abby showed up at her door a little before the food was to be served. Her parents were caught off-guard by two additional people arriving for dinner but didn’t say anything.
Alex brought Abby and Jim into the kitchen, fielding questions from her parents that she didn’t want to deal with. Most of them had to do with Alex’s mission. Her father was very curious to know how it had all panned out. Alex wasn’t ready to give them any details.
Jim and Abby did most of the talking during the meal prep. Alex’s parents were more than happy to be regaled with Abby’s stories of the bizarreness of working with so many non-humans. They were equally interested in Jim’s tales of being the only mech rider in Boundless.
Alex stayed quiet and helped with the preparations as much as she could. It was a pleasant change to be told what to do rather than having to make the calls herself, even if the decisions were as benign as choosing the proper way to cut an onion.
Chicken curry was what Alex’s father had planned for the evening. After all the ingredients had been sliced and diced appropriately, Claire had said she’d watch the pot while everyone else waited in the living room.
An awkward silence fell over Alex and the rest as they tried to think of a conversation point. Finally, Alex remembered the videos she’d recorded of her flight out to space. She pulled up her HUD and transferred the files to the smart TV in the living room.
To say Alex’s father was impressed by the videos would have been an understatement. He was speechless for most of the time he was watching. When the footage of the moon came up, he lost his mind and giggled like a child, almost jumping out of his seat.
Alex was glad she’d remembered to bring this part of her life home to her dad. When dinner was finally served, it took everything in Claire’s power to bring her husband to the table. Once they were all seated, space was the topic of utmost importance.
Anything to keep from talking about what was actually going on. Alex was glad her parents were getting along with Abby and Jim. Both of them avoided intrusive questions, more than happy to try to have a normal night at home.
And for the most part, it was normal. So normal that Alex wondered why she had ever gotten involved with Myrddin and this fight against the Dark One. This would have been more than enough to keep her happy for the rest of her life.
That was what she’d like to tell herself, but deep down, she knew that wasn’t true. Her mind hadn’t left the issue of the shard since she’d set foot in her home.
It was nice to pretend there were things outside of the Dark One and his war, but Alex knew the truth. Even these simple interactions with her family and friends were shaped by her knowledge that there was a force trying to enslave everyone in existence, and there was another that was possibly trying to end them.
All in all, Alex appreciated the break. She didn’t talk much during dinner, choosing instead to listen to the surrounding conversation. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Once dinner was over, her parents cleared the table, leaving Alex, Abby, and Jim alone. Even though the meal and family time had gone surprisingly well, none of the three seemed particularly settled or comfortable. Jim was the one to broach the awkwardness. “Are we going to talk about Vardis?” he asked.
Alex was preparing to say something when Abby interrupted her. “I’m not part of your team, I know, but I don’t trust him. Don’t know if it’s my place to say, but I’m not about this.”
Jim and Alex exchanged glances. Nothing more needed to be said. They were all on the same page. “Hey,” Alex said, “how about we go help out with dishes?”
With that, the three slipped into a visage of normalcy that continued until the dining room and kitchen were clean and Jim and Abby were picked up by members of Earth’s HQ to take them back to the base. The goodbyes were swift, lacking in affection, and sterile.
Alex wished they had headed out on a better note, but she realized they all had something on their minds. After Jim and Abby left, Alex returned to the living room. Her parents were sitting and talking quietly, only stopping for a second when Alex came in. She could read the room. She figured it was best for her to go to bed.
Nostalgia hit Alex like a train when she walked into her bedroom. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in her own room. It seemed like an entirely different dimension, far removed from the Wasps Nest. She felt more alien in here than in her dorm room at the Nest.
Regardless, the room still made her sleep. She slipped into her bed without a second thought and found herself dozing off almost instantly. Her eyes were heavy, and she couldn’t keep them open. Slowly closing…drifting away.
When Alex opened her eyes, she was in a white plane, one that she knew. In the distance, she saw someone working, their back turned to her.
It was Vardis. She recognized the feeling of the place. It was the same plane he had drawn her into before. The only difference this time was that Vardis wasn’t aware she was there. Alex decided to take advantage of the moment. She snuck up behind Vardis, hiding her thoughts and making sure he didn’t notice her.
When Alex reached Vardis’ shoulder and was able to peek over and see what he was working on, she was gripped with a fear she’d never known her entire life. A fear that far surpassed anything the Dark One had ever incurred within her.
She beheld what lay in Vardis’ palms and trembled.
Then Alex was flung into the darkness of her dreams, to try to make sense of what she’d seen upon waking.
Author Notes Ramy Vance
May 2, 2020
So my latest launch was held up in Amazon’s processing center. For days! Eight to be exact. It seems the Dark Gate Angels (a new Middang3ard series) was just too much for Amazon to handle.
That or they were short staffed due to Covid-19 … I like to think it was the book being too epic.
Regardless of the reason (too hot to handle), those eight days were filled with me refreshing my Amazon page a million times, yelling at my computer while I anxiously waited for my latest release to go live.
In my frustration, I made these:
Hey, if you can’t have passive aggressive fun with your frustrations, what else is there to do?
I made a couple others, but Michael – for legal reasons
– forbade me from sharing them!
Author Notes Michael Anderle
May 17, 2020
THANK YOU for reading our story!
We have a few of these planned, but we don’t know if we should continue writing and publishing without your input.
Options include leaving a review, reaching out on Facebook to let us know, and smoke signals.
Frankly, smoke signals might get misconstrued as low hanging clouds, so you might want to nix that idea…
A Radio Interview… How novel!
So, this Sunday, I am going to be interviewed by a local radio station in Savannah, GA for a couple of hours. Frankly, I’m trying to figure out what we are going to talk about.
The host of the show, Adam Messler, promises me we can fill two hours, and I’m going to go with that since I’m not sure. He’s the expert, not me.
One of the interesting aspects of this interview is that we will have it using a phone. After the last couple of months (and frankly, for a few years now), I almost NEVER use the phone for any type of business communication.
Except to call our insurance agent or his team.
I’m scratching my head, thinking about what it will feel like to go old-school and just talk. I won’t have to worry about shaving (YEAH!) or what I’m wearing or anything (Is my office clean? It won’t matter, we aren’t on video.).
I expect to enjoy myself, as long as there isn’t a bunch of dead air space where I don’t know what to say.
Don’t Let Ramy Get Bored…and exasperated.
I don’t want to say too much about Ramy’s frustration with our last book that came out.
It was during a really hard to for Amazon (for some reason—Amazon doesn’t share what happens even if thousands have felt it or seen the problems. It is kinda like the US Government “No, those lights up in the sky we chased with jets? It was swamp gas… Wait, ball lightning!”)
When Ramy goes too far into bored and exasperated, waiting for the book to be released after days and days, he gets feisty.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
Death of the Mind
Dragon Approved™ Book Twelve
Chapter One
Alex was in a place she didn’t understand.
Only a few minutes ago, she’d gone to sleep, expecting to be overcome by dreams.
And while Alex was in a dream, it was unlike anything she’d ever experienced.
She stood behind Vardis, watching him tinkering at a table, the same kind she’d seen in medbays. The sort she vaguely remembered from when she’d had her arm implanted.
There was a coldness in this place, one she was not familiar with. It stretched into her arms, her legs, into every part of her body.
Vardis didn’t seem to notice her. He was working on whatever was in front of him on the table.
Alex wanted to get closer, wanted to see what was in front of Vardis, but if she moved, he would know. She didn’t know how she possessed that knowledge, but she knew it down to her core. Any movement would make Vardis aware of her existence.
Until moving was necessary, Alex would watch. What she saw was enough to make her gasp and hope anything except what she was seeing was true.
Seeing wasn’t quite the word. It didn’t do justice to what was unfolding before her.
The alien was working on a scroll, but the words scrawled on it made no sense to Alex.
Until they did.
Not in the way that words had started to make sense when she was learning braille. There was no clear detailing of ideas, of emotions. Instead, these words called attention to another kind of feeling—one of separation. Each scribble Alex read drew her farther away from the text.
Vardis seemed to be having the same problem, and it was causing him noticeable frustration. The alien slammed his fists on the table, speaking in his own tongue under his breath.
The red shard floated above the texts, the same one Alex and Team Boundless had risked their lives to get. It cast a crimson hue over the scroll and the table.
Frustrated, the alien stood up and tipped the table over as he screamed. The scroll fell, along with everything else, yet the shard remained floating in the air.
Alex jerked away, the sounds of the clattering junk and the scroll hitting the floor ringing in her ear as if a gong had been struck. She yelped in surprise and covered her mouth the moment she heard her own voice.
Vardis turned, his eyes wide and searching.
It was obvious to Alex that he could not see her. Wherever they were, it wasn’t a plane that he had any more control over than she did. That was good. This was not a safe situation. Alex was glad that the alien didn’t have any noticeable edge over her.
Then the scene changed.
The lab vanished, and Alex was standing on a plain of blue-green grass that stretched as far as her eye could see. Huts had been built all over the plane and aliens of the same race as Vardis walked to and from the huts.
Few of the beings made eye contact with each other. They seemed to be working hard on something, although Alex could not tell what it was.
Whatever they were occupied with was all-consuming.
Alex could feel it.
Waves and waves of feeling came off them.
Vardis looked at the sky, staring into the purple glow shining from their moon.
Then Alex was back in the lab again, watching Vardis with another scroll. For some reason, she felt like she was less present than she had been previously, as if she were losing her grip on this place.
With that in mind, Alex walked closer to the alien, trying to look over his shoulder and see more details on the document he was working on.
Much like before, the scribbles were not understandable, but not in a way Alex could wrap her head around. But the moment she’d glanced at a few of the indecipherable pencil scratches, she felt her mind rip itself open.
Each individual mark shredded the core of her existence.
Through the pain, she peered at them, trying to understand how to make sense of them.
But there was no sense to be made.
The writing turned black, and the blackness extended beyond the scribbles, finding its way into Alex’s chest, and crawling down her spine so each vertebra whispered of its effect.
Alex snapped awake. Or at least, what she thought was awake.
She stood at the edge of a lake that was thick and red like blood. The lake lay beneath two red suns, each beaming down its heat on Alex. She felt like she was going to burst into flames. The feeling eased, and the liquid boiled at her feet.
Wherever she was made no sense. It was worse than when she’d been in the Dark One’s mind. At least there had been some kind of focus in that situation. This felt like walking around in the head of a madman.
And if Alex’s assumptions were correct, this was just the beginning. Alex wondered what level of Vardis’ mind this was. In any case, she had to figure out how to get out.
As she stared at the liquid’s surface, she could see images moving back and forth as if they were fish. Some of the images were of Vardis, and others were too blurry for Alex to see.
Curiosity got the better of her and she plunged her hand into the liquid, surprised it didn’t burn her skin. She grasped one of the images of Vardis and tried to pull it out.
The memory resisted moving past the surface of the water as if it had turned solid. “Memories,” Alex muttered to herself. “Those must be memories.”
That made the most sense. Vardis had told Alex they were connected psychically. The extent of the connection hadn’t been explained, but Alex could see it was strong enough to drag her from her dreams into Vardis’ mind.
Which meant the alien, in all likelihood, had no idea she was walking around in his subconscious.
The lab. There had been something important in the lab, something about the scrolls Vardis was working on.
Alex felt like she could make sense of the messages if she were only able to get cl
oser. All she had to do was navigate through Vardis’ dreams.
Maybe there was something in them that would springboard Alex to that particular memory.
Alex plunged her hands back into the red liquid before her as the sky darkened with clouds. All around her, houses began to spring up as if they were flowers, building themselves in a series of ornate circles. The structures were circular and diminutive.
As Alex fished around, she tried to focus on what she’d seen when she’d first entered the dream. Vardis had been standing over some kind of table. The surrounding details were fuzzy, but Alex had the feeling that the room was in a science department or something like that, or maybe a medbay. She was certain the memory was from this planet.
Something bit Alex’s hand, and she quickly pulled it back and held it to her chest. Along with her hand came a memory, which evaporated as soon as it left the water.
As the memory around Alex started to shift and crumble, the red suns cracking down the middle, and the earth trembling, she peered into the lake.
She could see a child’s version of Vardis’ face floating to the top of the water, its eyes black and empty—a curled fetus, tail hugging its body.
As Alex tried to peer more closely, the liquid began to drain from the lake. Walls shot up out of the ground, separating hallway from hallway until Alex found herself in a military base not too different from the Nest, although more technologically advanced.
Aliens who looked like Vardis were running down the corridor, rushing past Alex without noticing her.
Either these memory people couldn’t see her, or they didn’t think there was anything strange about her. Either way, she was free to move about as she liked.
Alex followed the aliens, running to keep up with them and appreciating that stamina didn’t matter in a dream.