Ascension Discovery

by Amy Proebstel

  “Let’s get to the gate, Amanda,” she said suddenly, startling Amanda out of her amazed reverie.

  “Right,” Amanda replied automatically. “That was miraculous, Shemalla. Does it always feel that way?”

  “No,” she said and thought about the difference before she continued, “The extra energy from the multiple ley lines gave it a touch of primal excitement not typically felt.” She looked around and then noticed the building she had researched. “There’s the ruin which contains the gate,” she said as she pointed with her finger. She began heading toward it, confident Amanda would follow her lead.

  They walked up to the structure and began climbing the giant steps. Shemalla had told her they were looking for the opening on one of the sides, which they found when they rounded the corner. They both paused at the entry to see what was inside. Looking up, Amanda could see bats hanging upside down in the darkened interior.

  Shemalla took out a flashlight and shined it around the opening. Amanda followed Shemalla as they took two steps through the entrance and then turned to the right and followed a narrow corridor for about fifteen paces. They turned left at the end of the first passageway and saw an area which was one step lower than everywhere else. Shemalla shined her flashlight on the wall about chest high and saw the symbol for which she was searching, a swirling circle, indicating the gate. She sighed inwardly that this really was a passageway used by the ancients.

  “See this swirling circle design?” Glancing back toward Amanda, Shemalla waited for a nod of confirmation.

  “Yes, does that mean this is the gate?”

  “It does. When you’re ready to come home, make sure any location you pick to return to Earth has this symbol. Otherwise, you can’t be sure the gate will return you back here,” she cautioned.

  “Okay, I have the map we made of potential gates still in my carry sack.” She could feel her palms starting to sweat. Somehow, this leg of the journey was even scarier since she was going by herself.

  “Why don’t you get that map out right now and write a notation on it so you’ll still remember it after you’ve passed through,” Shemalla offered.

  “Good idea,” Amanda said as she shrugged her arms out of the straps for her carry sack. She dug her hand through until she felt the map and again a pencil. She knelt down on the ground, drew the symbol, and wrote, Make sure the gate contains this symbol before trying to go through.

  “While you have that out, write the phrase ‘Outside Ascension.’ This is the phrase you will have to say to get back. Say nothing more and nothing less if you want to successfully arrive on Earth. Since you are traveling with a proper talisman and key phrase you should enter into Tuala on this same date or maybe a couple of days earlier. It won’t be like when you came back to Earth, and you had lost months of time. Preparation will make it easier,” Shemalla instructed.

  Amanda nodded agreement and wrote the new instructions next to her other notation. She had wondered about the time change. She hoped Shemalla’s guess would be correct, and she would not lose any more time with her children. Satisfied, she refolded the map and returned both items to the sack. As she stood, she swung the bag around onto her back and adjusted the straps until they were moderately comfortable again.

  “Since you aren’t supposed to know how to get into Tuala, I didn’t want to tell you the phrase for entering Tuala through the gate until after you were done writing. Once you go through, you won’t have access to the memory of the words anymore, leaving Tualans ‘safe’ from further ‘invasions’ as they are called. This is the only way I can justify breaking the rules by helping you,” Shemalla looked at her with a pleading expression. “I hope you don’t mind my saying this.”

  “I totally understand your position, Shemalla.” Amanda touched Shemalla’s arm to add sincerity to her words. “You’ve done more than I ever expected. Don’t worry about trying to keep your people safe, it’s understandable.”

  Shemalla nodded and then continued her final instructions, “Once you step down to the gate, clear your mind at once. With your mind, focus the energy you feel from the gate and place it into your diamond ring. Then say the words ‘Inside Ascension.’ The transfer should be almost immediate. You won’t have to worry about coordinates because the gate is already set to open and close at this same location. This building, however, will not be on the other side.”

  Amanda immediately repeated the instructions aloud to fix them firmly in her mind. She nodded and asked, “Is there anything else I need to know?”

  “Can you feel the energy from the gate from where you are?”

  She took a moment to assess what she could feel around her before she replied, “I can.”

  “Good, start to gather the elemy before you step down in there. It can happen fast, and I want you as prepared as possible,” she instructed. She could feel her heart racing as she could see Amanda start to process the gate’s energy field. “Don’t step in there until I go around the corner. I don’t want to be accidentally caught in the transfer.” She started to back away, wishing she could stay and watch.

  “Are you ready?” Shemalla asked once she reached the corner.

  “I am.”

  “Go ahead and step down. Remember to say ‘Inside Ascension’ as soon as both feet touch the ground. Concentrate on the elemy!” Shemalla was yelling from around the corner now.

  Amanda took a deep breath, focused the gate’s energy into her ring, and lowered first her left foot down the ten inches. As soon as her right foot hit the ground, she cried out, “Inside Ascension!” Bright light filled the dark room.

  Shemalla raced back around the corner just as the flash of light blinked out. Shemalla turned on her flashlight and hastily moved the beam around the room. Amanda was gone. Now she had the task of telling Amanda’s parents that she had used the gate, but her fate was still unknown.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Frasnia rubbed her eyes again. She had never had to stare at her patil screen for so long in her life. True to her promise to herself, she had not taken a break from searching for the missing personal telepod since she had arrived at work more than five hours before. While she may have been getting frustrated, she was not giving up hope. Unless the telepod had crashed into the ocean and sunk more than five thousand feet nothing would keep the beacon from staying operational.

  Starting with the areas nearest to Kirma, Frasnia had loaded one map after another and scanned each one for the unique beacon code for telepod number thirteen. Each time she opened a new map it seemed to take longer and longer to load. She was becoming concerned that the system would crash again before she was able to make the final identification. Widening her search to the next nearest set of maps, Frasnia began to wonder if maybe she had missed the code on any of the previous maps. Now that she doubted her ability to maintain her usual standards of perfection, it was easier to start losing hope. More than once she wished the authorities were able to help in this aspect of the search, but the company’s proprietary system made that impossible.

  Realizing she was more prone to miss the code than to see it with the way her eyes were so dry and scratchy she closed her eyes and rubbed her aching temples with her index fingers. This was so important to her since she felt responsible for her part in talking about Bryon’s personal business with Ninan; she started to feel tears of frustration form in her eyes. “I will not start crying,” she said out loud, startling herself out of her self-pity. She wiped the moisture from her eyes with angry swipes of the backs of her hands. After wiping the tears onto her pants, she again resumed her scanning for the missing telepod.

  She had just started the search again when her screen blanked out, and the patil registered an incoming call. More than a little bit frustrated, Frasnia answered the call with less than her typical good cheer, “Kirma Shipping and Receiving. What do you want?” she barked out the question. Immediately realizing how unprofessional she sounded she was instantly sorry she had not taken a second to compose herself befo
re answering the call. Too late now, she thought contritely and tried to make up for it by saying, “I’m sorry. How may I help you?”

  “I’m looking for someone named Frasnia. I was told she would be at this code,” the female voice inquired politely.

  “This is Frasnia,” she replied. “May I ask your name please?”

  “My name is Copa. I’m the wise-woman for the district of Desio. I have a patient who has been insisting that you be reached immediately.”

  With piqued interest, Frasnia smiled and asked, “And who might your patient be, Copa?”

  “His name is Ninan. Do you know anybody by that name?”

  “Ninan!” She yelled at Copa through the patil, “Let me talk to him immediately!”

  “One moment, please. He needs to be moved carefully because of his head injury,” she said as she stepped out of the view of the patil.

  Frasnia could hear shuffling sounds and a couple of grunts coming from the patil before she saw the bruised and bloodied face of her friend and co-worker. Frasnia could not contain the gasp of astonishment at how horrible Ninan looked. She was not sure how Ninan could even be conscious let alone talking with the huge lump which was protruding out from the side of his head. She looked past the dried blood on the side of his face and caked in his hair and asked the first question which came to mind, “What happened to you, Ninan?”

  “The best I can remember,” Ninan began with some effort, “was I had picked up the shipment in Cerid. I went to lunch with my friend, Fordin, and then I returned to the shipping yard to take the cargo to Beewa. When I was back on the freighter, I thought I heard footsteps behind me, and when I went to turn around I got bashed in the head. I didn’t see who hit me, but whoever it was, they tied my hands and feet and dumped me out in the middle of nowhere outside of Desio.”

  “Ninan, that’s terrible! How come that wise-woman hasn’t looked to your injury yet?” Frasnia could not keep the tone of disgust for lack of professionalism out of her voice. She knew people could die from injuries not even as severe as Ninan’s looked.

  “Don’t blame her, Frasnia. I refused any help until I was able to talk to you. She said her healing would put me to sleep for several days, and I needed to talk to you first.” With a look of pain on his face, he continued with, “The shipment bound for Beewa was stolen, Frasnia. I’m really sorry. I’m pretty sure Bryon will fire me now, and I would completely understand. Do you think you can track the locator beacon? I’m hoping the cargo can still be salvaged!”

  “Don’t worry, Ninan, we’ve already located the freighter telepod. We notified the authorities this morning, and they are sending troops out to investigate. When you didn’t show up for work yesterday, we knew something had gone wrong.”

  “Yesterday?” Ninan asked plaintively. “How long have I been gone?”

  “You went to make that delivery five days ago. We’ve been very anxious. At least one missing person has been found today!” Frasnia exclaimed with a little bit of satisfaction.

  “One person?” Ninan repeated. “Who else is missing?”

  “Bryon’s newly adopted daughter, Jena, was abducted yesterday. We think Petre MacVeen took her. The personal telepod from your freighter was seen leaving from your house yesterday. At first, we thought you might have had some involvement, but when they investigated the house, they found it had been broken into. We still aren’t sure why Petre would want to take Jena, but I’m certain we’ll find out soon. I’ve spent all day searching for the missing personal ‘pod, but so far, I’ve come up empty-handed.”

  “Petre MacVeen,” Ninan said thoughtfully, “I seem to recall something about him.” He squinted his eyes as he tried to remember something important. He shook his head slowly to reduce the pain from the lump and said, “Ow! I can’t remember right now.” His hand covered one of his eyes to decrease the pain shooting through his eye socket.

  Suddenly the patil was turned to frame the face of Copa again, and she said, “I really must insist on treating Ninan now. He’s in a lot of pain, and I can see he’s getting confused.”

  “I’m sorry for keeping him so long. It’s just he’s a vital part of our investigation of an abducted six-mesan-old girl. If he should remember anything about Jena, please contact me right away, okay?” Frasnia spoke hurriedly.

  “If you need to contact me, feel free to use my code through the patil. I’ll obviously be busy for the next several hours while I treat Ninan. I’ll give you an update once he’s resting from the healing. I just hope I’m not too late,” she said with a sorrowful shake of her head. “He was injured several days ago, and this should have been treated immediately. There’s no telling how much permanent damage has been done with all the swelling in his brain.”

  “Oh, I’ll let you get back to it then,” Frasnia replied with a little fear in her voice. “Goodbye, Copa.” Frasnia disconnected promptly before Copa could scare her any more with her dire prognosis. She closed her eyes and silently prayed that Ninan would make a full recovery.

  While the conversation with Ninan was fresh in her memory, Frasnia contacted Bryon on his patil at home. After a few anxious moments, Bryon connected the call, and his face filled the screen of the patil.

  “Did you find the ‘pod?” Bryon blurted as his first statement of greeting.

  “Sorry, Bryon, not yet,” Frasnia replied with a grimace. “I have other news about Ninan however. He just called from Desio where he’s being treated by their local wise-woman named Copa. He’s been hurt badly on the head. From what he told me, he was inside the freighter at the shipping yard when his attacker blitzed him on the head, he never saw it coming.”

  “Did you happen to ask him about Petre?”

  “I did mention Petre, but he couldn’t remember. He did say he ate lunch with someone named Fordin. I guess I was wrong when I said I thought he was going to meet with Petre at lunch. I’m sorry, Bryon. I keep saying the wrong things. You must just hate me!”

  “I don’t hate you, Frasnia. You’re a genius!” Bryon replied earnestly. “Did Ninan happen to mention Fordin’s last name? Maybe he knows something about what happened.”

  “I’m sorry, Bryon, he didn’t say. Would you like me to call his previous employer to see if anyone working there is named Fordin. I don’t think that’s a very common name,” Frasnia offered helpfully.

  “That’s a very good idea, Frasnia, but I’ll do that myself. You need to keep searching for that missing ‘pod,” Bryon told her with a little desperation in his tone.

  “I’m on it!” She was feeling even more optimistic now that Ninan had been found. She did not like either loose ends or unsolved mysteries. She liked her simple, small-town life, ordinary and predictable every day! Frasnia disconnected the call and resumed her ever-widening search of the maps with renewed vigor.

  She decided to check the area surrounding Desio next. She had not yet reached that far, but with Ninan being discovered there, she thought it might be the most logical place to resume her search. As the map was slowly loading onto her patil, she had a few moments to think about the changes in circumstances surrounding Ninan.

  Frasnia smiled at herself because she realized Ninan was no longer considered a contributor to Jena’s abduction. She had hated to think she could have been so wrong about the friendly new employee. After seeing the injuries Ninan had sustained, she felt confident he could not have been a willing participant in the cargo theft either.

  Chapter Sixteen

  BRYON MADE SEVERAL calls regarding his newly acquired information. What had seemed like a promising lead was rapidly turning into another dead end. Nobody had ever heard of Fordin. How did Ninan know him? He kept asking himself with frustration. With no further leads, he decided he would write down Frasnia’s conversation with Ninan on the list of clues they had begun gathering the previous night. He did not know how it would fit into the whole scheme, but he felt it was valuable information nonetheless.

  Having nothing further to do, Bryon decided to tr
y to check on Jena. He took several deep breaths to center his concentration. Using the techniques for locating he had learned the day before he began to feel the energy from Jena’s birth crystal. Instead of the clear picture he had seen yesterday, everything was blurry and shifting like shimmering water. He ended the connection abruptly as his head felt like it was going to explode.

  Bryon knew something was wrong with Jena. Not having as much experience with the crystals, Bryon ran out of his office yelling, “Alena!”

  “What is it, Bryon?” Alena rushed around the corner from the kitchen. “Did you locate Jena?”

  “Have you checked her crystal lately?”

  “No. Have you?”

  “Try it right now,” he spoke without answering her question again.

  “Okay, give me a moment,” she replied as she walked toward the living room. “This is usually easier to do when a person is sitting,” she said as she sat down.

  Bryon sat beside Alena on the couch and watched her breathe deeply, composing herself for the connection. He could tell immediately when she had looked through the crystal. She had the same reaction as he had.

  “Something’s wrong!” Alena cried out.

  “I’d hoped it was just me. What can we do now?”

  “Nothing! We can do nothing, Bryon! If anything has happened to Jena, I’m going to kill Petre MacVeen with my bare hands!” Alena burst into tears of despair that she was unable to care for her daughter when she so obviously needed her mother.

  “We can take turns checking on Jena to see when the blurriness subsides. I don’t know about you, but my head is killing me.” He stood up and offered, “I’ll go get us some pika juice. I think we’re going to need some sugar in our systems if we’re going to keep monitoring that crazy feeling birth crystal.”