Ascension Discovery

by Amy Proebstel

  As soon as everyone was once again secured in the telepod, Riccan initiated the process to transfer them to Florida. Amanda hoped her parents would be able to shed some light on Shemalla’s whereabouts, or at least be able to pinpoint a time when they had last spoken with her. Obviously, her parents would first have to get over the shock of seeing Amanda and Juila for the first time. She smiled in anticipation of the happy reunion. The emptiness of the transfer resumed indicating they were on their way.

  There were more lights even on the outskirts of Amanda’s home town in Florida. It was a little bit trickier for Riccan to navigate to a safe landing location. Amanda was certain at least some people would have spotted the telepod but hoped it would not make the news. Their landing ended up being in a brushy field west of her home town. She soon recognized her surroundings and instantly felt optimistic that her journey would soon be over.

  Again, Riccan carried Juila and Amanda did not protest. She found her strides getting longer the closer they came to civilization. Eventually, they came to a main road where Riccan stepped forward to hail a cab. At first, she was alarmed since she did not have any money, but Riccan leaned toward her as he opened the door and said, “I brought money. Don’t worry!”

  Naturally, Riccan would think of everything, Amanda thought to herself. He had been to Earth often enough to know how things worked. She was so glad he had offered to assist and accompany her on this investigative trip. She was certain this journey would have been quite perilous had she had to make it on her own.

  “Where to?”

  Amanda leaned forward, eagerly speaking her home address to the driver.

  The cab sped through the streets toward her childhood home. She could feel her heart begin to race as she realized she was about to see her parents again. It felt as though several lifetimes had passed since she had last been with them. The car stopped in front of her house, and she felt her hand shake as she clumsily reached for the door latch. Riccan squeezed her knee knowingly as he handed a wad of cash to the driver.

  They exited the cab and shut the door. The cab sped away for his next fare as they stood looking toward her parents’ home. It was late, yet the lights were still on in the living room. Without waiting for another instant, Amanda approached the front door and knocked three times fast. She expected to see her mother or father’s stunned reaction when they saw who was calling.

  Amanda was the one who found herself in open-mouthed shock as her mother answered the door holding Jena in her arms…

  Jasmine was exhausted because their session had lasted all afternoon and well into the night. She had not dared to take a break since her time was so short to discover Amanda’s truths before Dr. Gascon medicated her again. She wrote down Riccan’s name and decided to check on whether or not he was a real person who lived in Florida. Amanda had seemed convinced he was from both Earth and Tuala. He might be the key to unraveling this whole mystery.

  She left Amanda sleeping on her office couch and stiffly rose from her chair. As she straightened up, she could both feel and hear her joints cracking as they shifted back to their normal positions. Jasmine walked around her desk, opened her laptop computer, and turned it on. She sat wearily in her chair as she waited for the programs to boot up.

  Finally, the internet search box showed on the screen where she typed in ‘Riccan Stel, Florida.’ Within seconds she was elated to see several articles pop up as well as a few photos of a man in his late twenties posing next to a Cessna 182S Skylane. She clicked on the first article to begin reading. Riccan appeared to live part-time in Florida as an engineer and a private pilot who volunteered for search and rescue missions. Oddly enough, no mention was made of where he lived when he was not in Florida.

  Jasmine hit the back button and scrolled down through the search results to see if she could obtain any contact information for Riccan. Nothing. She struck her fists on the desk beside the computer and wondered how she would get in touch with him. He had to be the key for which she had been searching.

  Ascension’s Call

  Book Four

  of

  The Levels of Ascension

  Preface

  TIME IS CONSIDERED a precious commodity since it is believed to be of a finite nature. However, when you are the creator of the universe, time has little meaning. There are innumerable possibilities for replaying a portion, if not all, of a lifetime.

  The Ascension Gates are portals through both time and space. The responsible Elders are also adept at controlling the time aspect of the Gates. They can move a person forward or backward in time. They can manipulate time as it is spent in either Earth or Tuala. Because of this power, the Elders are held to strict rules to maintain a balance between the dimensions.

  There have been cases of time travel outside of the Ascension Gates. This travel is not governed by strict rules; on the contrary, the energy is considered wild and unpredictable. While it is not impossible to control the time shift, it is highly unlikely to produce the intended results.

  There are other means of falling through time. These ‘accidents,’ as they are called, are not always what they seem. Sometimes, things happen in the manner in which they are intended even if the person who is in the midst of it is left unaware.

  Some people are more susceptible to the time dynamic between the dimensions. I have a certain affinity for those unique people; they are considered elite and special in my eyes.

  Excerpt from the Elder’s Instructional Guide

  Chapter One

  AMANDA STARED IN disbelief at the daughter she had not seen for almost two years. How her mother came to have her was something she was definitely going to find out as soon as possible. She could restrain herself no longer as she leaped forward, hugging her mother with some restraint since Jena remained sandwiched between them. She pulled back and spoke softly to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, little girl clinging to her own mother’s side. “You probably don’t remember me, Jena, but I’m your mother.”

  Diane recovered sufficiently to yell over her shoulder, “Chris, come quick! You won’t believe who’s at the front door!”

  Shuffling noises sounded from the adjacent room followed by footsteps hurrying forward. He rounded the partition wall, spotted his youngest daughter, and ran the rest of the way. “Amanda? Is it really you?” Chris stepped onto the porch to embrace Amanda tightly in his arms to know he was not dreaming. His daughter had been gone for so long, he and Diane determined she had planned on remaining in Tuala. He released her from his hug to hold her at arm’s length to see for himself that she was truly alright.

  Amanda grinned at her father’s exuberance and answered, “It’s really me, Dad. I came home when I found out Shemalla had found a safe home for Jena on Earth. We stopped first in Roswell, but couldn’t find her, so we came here hoping you would know something. Imagine my surprise when Mom answered the door holding Jena!”

  “I told you she was our granddaughter, Chris!” Diane had a smug expression on her face as she gently hugged Jena closer to her side. “Come inside, come inside!” She ushered everyone into the house to swiftly shut the front door. The last thing they needed was for the neighbors to witness the strange reunion.

  They all filed into the living room where everyone could be seen in the light. Amanda took the lead by starting introductions, gesturing to each individual in turn. “This is my friend and boss, Riccan, and he is holding Juila. Riccan, this is my father, Chris, my mother, Diane, and she is holding Jena.”

  Chris moved to the side of the couch to reveal a dark-haired boy who was around the age of five, to make one more introduction, “And this is Willian who is supposedly Jena’s brother. Can anyone explain to us how that’s possible?”

  Amanda nodded toward the young boy in acknowledgement even as her brain tried to come up with a plausible explanation for her parents. She definitely did not want to tell her parents how the little boy they had been fostering was actually betrothed to Jena. They did not understand Tualan cu
lture, and she knew unequivocally they would not approve of an arranged marriage at so young an age. She swallowed and replied with only a partial truth. “Elder Debbon and his wife, Chelesa, adopted Jena into their family when she was six months old. They already had Willian, so they became brother and sister.”

  Chris nodded slowly and Diane smiled at Amanda’s simple explanation. Chris stepped forward and held out his hand to his daughter’s new friend. “Riccan, I’m pleased to meet you. I assume you are responsible for making sure Amanda arrived here safely?”

  “I did have the honor, sir. It’s nice to meet both of you as well; your daughter has often spoken fondly of you.”

  Diane looked admiringly at the handsome, dark-haired, dark-eyed, man standing in her living room who held the identical twin to the little girl she carried. “I think we should put Jena and Juila down on the floor together to play and get reacquainted. They’ve been apart for so long I doubt they remember one another.”

  Amanda was pleased her mother wanted them to play together; however, she had to say, “Actually, Mom, I believe they’ve probably talked just about every day through their twin connection. They really know one another quite well.”

  Chris raised his eyebrows in surprise at Amanda’s statement even as he gestured for everyone to take a seat. The twins sat facing each other on the floor, clearly communicating, yet not with anything spoken aloud.

  Amanda could just imagine the stories they were sharing with one another using their unique mental way since it was the only method they remembered ever doing with each other.

  Diane played the hostess and asked, “Can I get anyone anything to eat or drink?”

  “We’re fine, Mom. Sit down and let me tell you both what’s been going on.”

  Diane was pleased to know she would not miss a single thing which was going to be shared. She would have gratefully prepared food and drinks for everyone; however, she desperately wanted to know what had happened to keep Amanda away for so long. Just the idea of Jena being adopted into another family certainly raised quite a few questions in her mind.

  “Let me start from the beginning. Shemalla took me to the Gate in Campeche, and it worked perfectly. I was really glad I had everybody’s notes with me to help me remember why I was there in the first place since I lost my memory again in the transfer. Oh! That reminded me of something!”

  She turned to Riccan and added, “When I was resting after my transfer into Tuala I had the weirdest dream about a swarm of beetlesnatch attacking me before you came to my rescue, Riccan.”

  Riccan wore the oddest expression on his face as he stammered to reply, “Amanda, you won’t believe this, but I had the exact same dream! I knew I’d seen you before you came to the job interview, I just didn’t remember about it until just now as you described it.”

  “How strange. Another coincidence we’ll have to think about later.” She reluctantly turned away from Riccan to continue her story. “Anyway, I made it to Bryon and Alena’s house before it got dark that night and they were just as shocked to see me on their doorstep as you were tonight.” She smiled at her recollection of her host family in Tuala.

  “I found out immediately Jena had been kidnapped just a couple of days before I returned and they were in the process of trying to locate her. The three of us took turns attempting to use the link with Jena’s birth crystal until one day Jena had her adoption ceremony with Debbon and Chelesa which dissolved our connection with her. We spent almost the next two years following up on leads for locating Petre MacVeen, who was the person responsible for abducting her, and all of the wise-women who could possibly perform the ritual. Am I going too fast?”

  She took a deep breath and looked from her mother to her father. They shook their heads, and her mother gestured impatiently for her to continue. “Okay, well we finally got a lead from Captain Ahn. Mom, you remember he’s the husband of your sister. Oh! I have a letter from Barla.” She stood up, removed the tattered letter from her pants pocket, and handed it to her mother.

  Amanda resumed her seat next to Riccan to continue her summation of events. “Bryon and I ended up going over to Ahn and Barla’s house the next day. However, when they saw Juila with me, they were stunned at how much she looked like their daughter, Rasa, at the same age.

  “When I told Barla about her being my aunt and gave her the letter you had written for her, she was so happy to finally have her family again. I don’t know if you remember me telling you how their daughter had been selected to train with Jehoban, but Barla had the brilliant idea that Rasa might be able to help me track down Jena.

  “Since we had exhausted all of our other leads, I ended up moving to Durseni where Rasa was training with Elder Debbon to become a wise-woman. Since I had Juila with me, I needed to have a house and a job to support myself until Jena was located. Captain Ahn sent a letter of recommendation with Bryon when he helped me move to the island which allowed me to get a job working for Riccan at the Telepod Engineering Company.” Amanda turned and grinned at Riccan before she continued.

  “Rasa confirmed our idea about the connection between Juila and Jena. She also attempted to get a message to you through Shemalla. Did you ever get it?”

  “We did, and I knew something was wrong when you only talked about yourself and not your daughters. Now I know I was right about that as well since Jena ended up here with us.” Once again, Diane felt vindicated since her instincts had been accurate.

  “Rasa will be very pleased to hear the message got through. She’d never tried to use the technique across the veil into Earth before so she wasn’t entirely sure it had worked. She also determined, because of the messaging experiment, that Jena had been sent to Earth. The link between the twins felt like the same distance as the letter she had sent for both of you.

  “When we saw Petre on Durseni, after he had been missing for two years, I called Bryon. He and Alena came over to the island immediately where Bryon located Petre and turned him into the authorities on the same night. Petre admitted to having taken Jena, and he bragged to Bryon about selling Jena to Elder Debbon.

  “Alena made arrangements for me to meet with the Elder since he had been her teacher while I was pregnant with the twins. It was while we were talking everything over with him that we discovered Jena and Willian had been sent to Earth. Elder Vargen was unable to tell Elder Debbon where the children had ended up since Shemalla had failed to report back to work at the museum.

  “Do either of you know where she is? She wasn’t at home. Should we be concerned?”

  Diane showed a puzzled expression as she replied, “I tried calling her the next day after she dropped off the children, but she never answered. She hasn’t returned my call even though I left her a message. I figured she was busy with work, but now you’re saying something may have happened to her. What can we do?”

  Amanda was now officially worried since Shemalla was a good friend and an ally on Earth. She certainly did not want to report her missing to the police. Shemalla was a person from Tuala who did not want to be brought to the attention of any governmental entity. She looked anxiously over at Riccan and asked, “Is there anything we can do to locate her? I’ve used her birth crystal before, so maybe I’ve made a link with Shemalla. What do you think?”

  “We can certainly try. Even though she may work for Elder Vargen, she’s your friend, and she deserves our help after everything she’s risked to help you.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement at Riccan’s statement. The room remained silent as everybody absorbed all of the events Amanda had described. Turning to face her on the couch, Riccan held Amanda’s hands, and linked his mind to hers to feel if any connection still existed with Shemalla. After several minutes of exhausting every known avenue, Riccan withdrew his energy and had to admit defeat.

  “I’m sorry, Amanda, there’s just nothing to be found. We’ll have to discover another way to locate her. I’ll hire some people to check out her financial trail.”

  Seeing Amanda rem
ained quite upset, Chris wanted to change the subject and finally asked, “So what kind of a job did you end up getting?”

  Diane rolled her eyes at her husband’s absurd inquiry. She always knew she could count on him to ask a trivial question during a stressful moment.

  Amanda smiled at her parents’ interaction and answered, “I’m an Engineering Resources Analyst.”

  Riccan placed his hand on her shoulder with pride as he added, “She’s very good at her job. I’m glad I was able to give her the opportunity.”

  Diane wondered if that were the only reason Riccan had in mind where her daughter was concerned. What boss would put himself at such risk for a new employee?

  Chris thought of another detail which had not been covered. “How did the three of you get here? You said you first went to Roswell. How long have you been back on Earth?”

  “We came in Riccan’s telepod.” Amanda knew this announcement would derail any other conversations since her father was intensely curious about any new technology.

  “Really? Where is it? Can we go see it right now?”

  “Chris, for Pete’s sake, they just got here. Don’t you think they’re probably tired? For goodness sake, there’ll be plenty of time for that nonsense later.”

  “It’s not nonsense, Diane. Riccan may have to leave immediately for all I know. I don’t want to miss a chance to see a real telepod. The replica at the Roswell museum was interesting, but this telepod is real!”

  “It’s okay, Diane,” Riccan interrupted before the argument could get any more heated. “We don’t have any plans on leaving soon, but I’d be more than happy to show anyone in the family who wants to see my telepod.”