* * * *
Jessie helplessly watched the monitor. “Tell her to be good.” She heard one of the aliens tell Leland as he undid his gag. Leland, looking pretty beat up, gave the alien a confused look, then quickly turned to Sofie. “Just do what they want. Our goal right now is to survive, and if we don't fight them, they won’t hurt us.”
The gagged Sofie sniffed back her tears and nodded.
“Just hang in there, we'll be OK...” was all he could add before the alien forced the gag back over his mouth.
“Notify Lieutenant Donel.” Jessie listened. Startled, she realized they were speaking an alien language... and she could understand!
Another thought came to her. “The tubes, I've got to shut down the transport tubes!” She looked helplessly at the controls. Again, her body acted on its own as it began working the controls. This time, she somehow understood what she was doing and by the time she finished she knew she had just shut down all the mechanics on this side of the ship section. More than that… memories of the ship… every detail, every corridor, every elevator, and every control panel, flooded into her mind. She now knew that since her friend’s capturers wouldn’t be able to use anything on this side of the ship section, that they would be forced to retrace their steps for the opposite wall. Confidence coerced through her as she now knew she could help her friends. She knew the route they would need to take and also knew about the hidden access corridors running through the ship’s section. Energized and feeling in full control of the situation, she turned to start preparations for their rescue.
“Going somewhere?” Standing in front of her, was another Kan-ji. This one wasn't pretty like the ones outside. He was crooked; with a crooked nose, a bald head and a crooked smile showing yellow crooked teeth… the source of some awfully bad breath.
“It looks like we have our Earthling.” He said to his two robed companions as they roughly grabbed her arms. The two goons weren't near as crooked looking as their leader, but were well on their way.
With her hands bound to a long rope, they half dragged, half lead her through the control rooms other ‘secret’ entrance leading to the ships maintenance corridors. The very same corridors she had planned on using to rescue her friends. “We have served Chayoth-Ha-Qadesh well today.” Yellow Teeth, as Jessie now called of him, said to his two companions. “Today his thirst for knowledge will be quenched, he will smile on us.” He turned to Jessie. “You will soon be with our Maker. You should be proud.” He showed his yellow teeth.
Jessie gave a confused look pretending not to understand.
“Ah, you will soon understand, my child.” He mumbled handing the rope back to his two henchmen.
The following hours were a nightmare. Besides binding her hands, the guards tethered her ankles with a 2 foot leather strap that shortened her stride. She didn’t know why they did it, maybe it was to keep her from running, but she soon decided it must have been for their entertainment. Not only did the strap shorten her stride, it caught on everything, constantly snagging on any protrusion, bump or step that almost always resulted in her falling. Once fallen, the guards cursed and kicked her until she climbed back to her feet. This was repeated time and time again. Her only solace was they wore sandals. She quickly learned to keep from sobbing as it seemed to make them put more zeal into their kicks.
As their journey progressed, she eventually learned how to keep her feet. The pain from the falls and kicks were eventually replaced by the growing ache in her legs caused by walking in half steps. She decided that the throbbing pain was worse. They walked for what seemed like miles. Her thoughts drifted, gratefully dulling the pain. She wondered how it was that she knew exactly where they were within the ships labyrinth of maintenance corridors, stairs and ladders. How did she get to know everything about the ship, about their language and their writing or how to work the controls? It must have been that chair. The chair wasn’t a dream, it was real! She realized she even knew about the giant pumps pumping water out of that lake in the cavern that fed the rivers at the top of the cliff. That must have been the purpose of that rock ball... but who would have thought of giving it to her... 300 years ago?
A harsh tug at her bonds made her stumble and fall at the base of a narrow metal ladder. She lay on her back enjoying the small reprieve from the pain. Looking up, she saw Yellow Teeth climbing up, disappearing into a dark passageway above. Her rest didn’t last long. A kick in her side forced out a small whimper, giving her guards reason to pull her to her feet with more force than usual. The one holding her rope climbed up, pulling her roughly behind.
The ladder ended in a small dark room. Before she stepped off the top rung, the guard pulled her to the side, making her fall on a stone floor as she concluded again they really enjoyed causing her pain. The guard behind closed the floor hatch. Yellow Teeth opened a small wooden door leading outside. Bright sunlight poured in. Holding her hands up to shield her eyes, they stepped out into a desert, a real desert with sand, heat and sun… well, not the real sun, but that fake sun. Looking up at it, she now knew exactly what it was and could hardly wait to tell someone, especially her dad. Thoughts of her dad made her choke up; making her sorely aware of the mess she was in. It took an extreme amount of effort to keep from breaking down and crying again… she was really getting sick of crying.
She now knew that the inside of this ship section was one big hill; starting at the top of the cliff sloping down around the inside of the barrel shaped section to the cliff’s bottom. The rivers and streams supplied water throughout. Jessie’s newly learned knowledge of the ship let her understand that their nearness to the sun at the top of the cliff, plus the lack of water this close to the cliffs edge, created this small strip of desert.
They walked parallel to the cliffs edge, angling only slightly down slope. Jessie curiously examined strange arrays of stone circles and monuments; some shaped like pyramids, others like stone animals. Looking further down slope, she could see where the water spread out from the pumps by the line of green vegetation.
They stopped outside a small stone building. Jessie took the opportunity to sit and rest. Her legs throbbed with pain, her wrists and ankles were chaffed from the ropes and straps. The guard holding the rope pulled her to back to her feet with a growl. Yellow Teeth reached under his robes to pull out a metal ring of old keys and stepped to the buildings old weathered wooden door. A short moment later the door squeaked open and Yellow Teeth went in. Her two guards grabbed her roughly by her arms and carried her in.
Inside was a single room. A stone table 3 feet high and 6 feet around stood in its center. Thick metal rings were attached to it’s the sides and on the floor. Suspended above it was a cone shaped device, its large open end faced her. Its deep black interior made her feel queasy… the same feel of the blackness she had fallen into in GraviTych’s storeroom a long time ago. She turned away from it.
At a signal from Yellow Teeth, the guards forced her to her knees next to the table. They pulled apart her arms, stretching them around the stone tying them tight to the heavy metal rings. Her chest pressed tight against the stone with her chin resting on the table-top. They then pulled her legs back, tying her ankles to the rings on the floor leaving her suspended in the prone position, supported solely by her outstretched arms. The pain in her back was unbearable; she could barely breathe. In tears she pleaded. “Please...” Yellow Teeth kicked her in the side.
“Keep silent heathen!” he growled. Jessie decided she hated him. He reached for the cone and pulled it toward her and forced her face into its sickening blackness. She tried turning away but couldn’t as he grabbed her hair while sliding the cone forward until she had no choice but to stare into its blackness. The feeling of dread returned; it flowed through her like water. It was stronger, much stronger than she remembered, making her forget the pain. She felt as though she was being sucked through the cone then dragged, like a flag flapping behind an airplane; buffeting, spinning and flipping.
&nb
sp; Terrified and crying and just as she felt she couldn’t take anymore, the gyrations ceased and the darkness faded. She was now flying through space, towards a dark ominous planet glowing with jagged red lines of lava filled rivers. Entering its atmosphere, she flew low over its tortured landscape until a dark stone castle grew out of the dark landscape to her front. She slowed, but didn’t stop as she reached it. Instead, she passed like a ghost through its monstrous wooden doors drifting down corridors and stairs until coming to a stop in a dark, eerie doorless and windowless room buried deep inside the stronghold.
She screamed, or tried to, as the devil approached. It had to be the devil; it was dark red with flaming hair. Wings stretched outward, almost filling the room. As it grew near, Jessie watched it transform into something no longer imposing or frightening. Its red body and wings turned into white robes, the flames on its head became long blond hair hanging over his shoulders. His gentle face looked down at her.
Placing his hands on the sides of her head he said “Now little one, let's find out who you are and where you came from.” His sweet voice had a menacing tinge to it.
“I'm from Earth.” Jessie replied defiantly. The devil, or angel, was momentarily taken aback by her response.
“So, you understand our language. Very curious, yes, yes... we will need to get to the bottom of this.” his voice chilled her to the bone. Pain emanated from his hands and burned through her head. “Where did you come from little one?” His voice echoed in her mind. She realized he wasn’t talking.
“Earth.” She could barely reply, she screamed as the pain exploded in her head.
“I know you are from Earth. Who made you! What is your origin.” the voice inside her head dripped with evil.
“My parents are Alec and Jodi McCoughe.” she cried hoping this is what he wanted. The pain got worse. “What do mean?” she moaned through the crippling agony.
“Who was the first?” she could barely hear him growling through the pain.
“First what? First who? What do you mean? Like Adam and Eve?” The pain disappeared.
“Yes.... tell me more about them.” she whimpered as the pain returned. “Just a few more answers and all the pain will be gone.” She felt herself grow weak as his power grew. “Just a couple more questions and you and your family will no longer feel any pain at all.” his gloating evil voice droned.
“NO!” Anger exploded at hearing his threat to her parents. She was getting sooo sick of crying and whimpering... and decided to stop it... right now! “WHO THE HECK ARE YOU? YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!” The surprised creature mentally pulled back at her intensity. Anger fueled her as she drove into its mind. It was filled with horrible, hateful, dreadful things; thoughts of death, hideous events she wished she had never seen. Her anger kept her diving deeper and deeper. As her strength and anger faded, she became lost and indecisive. Not knowing what else to do, she continued forward… finally reaching the 'end' of his mind. What she saw perplexed her. There was light, pure and clean. She sensed memories of wholesome and noble deeds. She even thought there were memories of God.
Floating in the middle of the beautiful light, she looked around and asked “What are you?” Instead of an answer, the light swirled. then faded into streaky darkness. Without warning a flood of his horrible and evil memories and images poured into her. Screaming, she held her hands over her ears in a futile attempt to keep back the torrent. She knew that it wasn’t just the creature’s memories flooding into her mind, it was the creature itself. No matter where she looked, all she could see was the darkness of his thoughts. She pushed back, but they continued to converge from all sides until she felt she was no more than a small spec of light in a sea of black. She was overwhelmed; losing her memories of her parents, Sofie and Leland. Everyone was disappearing from her consciousness until only one small piece of her mind remained uselessly pushing back at the unyielding psyche of the creature. Fading and exhausted, there was nothing left to do but give in and let the blackness take her.
As her last shred of consciousness was about to blink out of existence, she felt herself burst out of the darkness, as though shot from a canon. Her memories and thoughts followed, instantly coalescing, making her whole again. She became aware she was speeding away from the tortured planet, back to where her body was still tied to the stone.
She lay on the stone floor, her eyes closed. The feel of the cold stone against her face made her realize with a start she was no longer bound to the table. She slowly opened her eyes half expecting to see Yellow Teeth standing there ready to give another kick. Instead she found herself surrounded by a swirling whiteness.
“Oh no…” She moaned, thinking she was still inside the creature’s dream world. She stood and saw she had returned… but something was not quite right. It was as though she was standing on a 3 dimensional painting of the room. Slowly turning, she realized the floor was not a painting, nor was she floating above it. The scene below was almost magical as she could see behind and inside objects all at once if she concentrated hard enough.
“Jessie?” The voice came from behind. By the time she turned she found herself wrapped in a bear hug. So tight she almost couldn’t breathe.
“Dad!” she said breaking the promise to herself as she began to cry.
Chapter 17 ~ Reunion
Alec's Dream Page 38