“That’s right,” Behn beamed. “You two are so close with your mother that I keep forgetting you’ve spent your entire lives apart. Was it hard to get into a rhythm?”
“No, we had a unique situation when we were living on Acaim. Jehoban allowed us to have dreams at night where we interacted with our mom. She had the same dreams, so we have shared memories.”
“But none of it was real,” Behn said with a confused expression.
“It didn’t have to be real for us to love her. Reality is what you make it, Behn.”
Behn tilted his head and raised his eyebrows as he considered her statement. “I guess that’s true.”
Juila was about to make another comment about their upbringing when she was interrupted by Jon entering the living room. She could tell he was excited about something and wondered what had happened during his initial training with Jena in the library. “What’s going on, Jon?”
“I’d like to see where we used to live in the Roanoke Colony,” Jon said to Juila. “Val said you had taken her and Behn there where they regained a lot of memories. I’d like to see if it brings anything back for me as well. Val said she recalled all of the initial crystal training sessions with our mother and it’d be a heck of a lot easier just to know it again.”
“I think we can probably arrange something for you,” Juila answered as she looked over to her father to see if he would offer to take them.
“You should see if Valentina or Behn want to go with you,” Riccan suggested without committing himself to the journey.
“Do you mind if I take them, Dad?” Juila asked hardly breathing until she got an answer.
Riccan smiled at her thinly veiled excitement at the prospect of getting to fly on her own. He had few reservations about her piloting skills since they had flown together on many occasions and she had always performed flawlessly. In any event, his own telepod was much more advanced technologically than anything she had ever trained on so it practically flew itself. “Go ahead and take my ‘pod, Juila. It still has the coordinates in its history from the first time we went there as a group.”
“Really? You mean it, you’ll let me take them alone? Cool!” she flew across the living room and practically smothered him with her gratitude as she hugged him tight around the neck. “I love you, Dad! You are the best!”
“I would have offered a long time ago if I knew this was the reaction I’d get!” He laughed and hugged her back, liking the feel of her cuddling with him.
Juila rushed into the library where Jena was giving Behn and Valentina more birth crystal lessons. She had their immediate attention as she came to a breathless halt in front of them. “Dad said I could take you guys back to the Roanoke Colony if you want to go. He even said I could take his ‘pod since the coordinates are already in it. Who wants to go?”
Jena and Behn both looked at one another conspiratorially and then turned back to Juila. Jena shook her head as Behn answered, “I think I’ll skip it this time. Jena has agreed to teach me some new things with healing. What about you, Val?”
“I’ve been wanting to get back there, but I didn’t know how to ask you; I figured your parents would have to take us and they’re always so busy. When do you want to go?”
“Right now!” Juila practically shouted.
Valentina jumped up from the wing chair and straightened her clothing as she looked down at her brother and asked, “If we stay out late, can you run blocker with our parents?”
“Sure thing, Val. Have fun,” Behn answered as he grinned up at his sister. He was grateful his brother would finally get to see the home they had been born in and grew up in for the first seven years of their lives. He hoped it would spur as many memories for Jon as it had for himself and Valentina.
Valentina’s excitement was evident as she grinned over at Juila as they left the library side-by-side to get Jon from the living room and then be on their way. As soon as she saw her brother Valentina announced, “I’m coming with you. Let’s go!”
Jon joined them on their way through the kitchen and out to the garage. He still marveled at the sight of the bright red telepod. It still seemed amazing that the aircraft actually existed even though he had only been speaking in anger when he suggested the mode of transportation between the two dimensions. This would be his first flight in Riccan’s telepod since he’d gone to Tuala with Mrs. Stel in her older telepod.
The first thing he noticed was how classy and sharp the interior was with two glass panels for the controls and polished surfaces everywhere. Even the covering of the seats was a tanned foxl hide left natural in an ivory tone which was silky soft to the touch. This telepod would definitely be categorized as first-class accommodations.
He chose one of the back seats where he would be able to see out of all of the windows. Valentina took the right co-pilot seat whereas Juila sat in the left front seat. He watched as Juila activated the telepod and he could see out the still-open door that they had risen a couple of inches off of the cement floor. His view outside was diminished as the side door rose up until it sealed completely.
Juila maneuvered through the screens until she came to the travel history so she could scroll through previous trips until she came to the Roanoke coordinates. She did not have to look very far into the list as her father seldom went anywhere other than work or home. Juila raised her eyebrows when she saw the Port of Cresdon come up, and she briefly wondered what her father had been doing there. She would ask him when they got back home.
Focusing her attention to the task at hand, she selected the Roanoke trip and waited until the proper map showed on the screen to display their intended destination. She took a few seconds to memorize the surrounding area, as she had been taught with lesser telepods, so she would have an emergency plan of action should anything go amiss.
Before doing anything further, Juila turned and asked, “Jon, is your seatbelt fastened?”
“Buckled and ready,” he announced with a broad grin of excitement.
“Val, are you secure?”
“Yep,” she answered as she tugged on the shoulder harnesses to demonstrate its proper tension.
Juila nodded approval and double-checked her own before she tapped on the activation button. Her hand was resting comfortably on the manual control when the transfer took them into the darkness between the two locations. Several seconds more than she was used to traveling, they arrived over the beach in the bright sunshine.
Immediately, Juila knew they were in trouble. The wind was blowing over the water in fits as the waves came crashing to the shore with more force than normal. She held tighter to the manual control and tried to keep the craft level and steady as she moved over the place on the shore she wanted to set the telepod down. They were within two feet of the ground when another rogue gust of wind blast from the front of the telepod and instantly dropped them to the sand in a jolting strike.
All of the occupants felt the whiplash of the sudden landing. Juila powered down the telepod and noticed her hands were shaking with fear. She asked in a quavering voice, “Is everyone okay?”
Jon laughed nervously from the back as he replied, “I’m glad it was only sand under us and not concrete. I’m fine.”
“I’m fine, too, Juila. We were really lucky just then, weren’t we?” Valentina asked as she waited to do anything with her seat harness until she saw Juila do something with hers.
“That was the worst landing I’ve ever had; the wind just came out of nowhere. Jon’s right, we were lucky it was sand underneath us. Come on; let’s get out of here and thank Jehoban for keeping us safe!” Juila flipped the buckle to release it. She pressed the button on the control panel to open the side door and moved through the cabin to go outside.
Expecting to be blasted by the wind, Juila simply stood on the edge of the ramp and stared in wonder at how completely still the air had become. She squinted her eyes and looked along the shoreline to see if there had been any clouds to indicate a squall had passed. Nothing. Th
e sky was clear blue as far as she could see. “That was really weird,” she muttered as she stepped into the sand and waited for her two passengers to join her.
Juila remembered her father’s caution about maintaining the safety of the telepod, so she made sure the door was securely shut and that she used the cloaking feature to prevent anyone from finding their aircraft. She looked around the location to make sure she would know where to come back, and then she set off over the sand dune to get to the brushy trail leading to the village.
Chapter Seventeen
VALENTINA STAYED RIGHT by Juila’s side as she recalled the way as well. This second trip seemed so much more familiar, and she began remembering different landmarks from when she was a small child. It had only been about fourteen months Tualan time since she had last been here, but in Earth time she had been away for eight years. She still wondered why the community had abandoned the village they had inhabited for two hundred years. On this trip, she hoped to find some answers to her questions.
Jon followed behind the two girls and frequently stopped to look around him. He had absolutely no memory of this place, and he hoped when they got to the house itself that maybe something would come back to him. He jogged to catch back up with the girls as they had started down another smaller trail where they had to go single file.
The walk from the beach to the middle of the town took about ten minutes at the pace Juila had set. Jon felt a small tingle of familiarity at the look of the buildings, yet he had no idea where their home had been located in relation to the others. He now walked beside his sister as they were out in the open space of the town center.
Valentina pointed out their old home and said, “That’s where we used to live. Go ahead and check it out, I’m going to look around a bit. I’d like to see if anyone left anything behind which might say why they all left.” She took off in the opposite direction and turned down a side street out of Jon’s view.
Jon shrugged his shoulders at his sister’s curiosity and moved forward to go inside the home Valentina had said was theirs. He pushed open the wooden door and waited outside while the door swung on creaky hinges. The house appeared to be empty, and he moved closer to see inside without actually stepping over the threshold.
The first thing he noticed was the amount of dust covering everything. He could see a crude wooden table in the middle of the room with benches on either side of it. His eyes roamed to the far side, and he saw the kitchen. Further over, he saw a cot which no longer had any coverings other than a mat of moldy straw. About four feet away he saw two other cots in similar condition to the first.
He had no recollection of ever stepping into the house, yet the next thing he knew, he was kneeling down next to the furthest cot from the door. This had been where he had spent so many winters drowning in his own sweat and phlegm from the pneumonia which almost killed him. As he looked around now, he could see the fire softly lighting the room with its wavering flickers and his mother sitting at the table with Behn and Val teaching them to use their birth crystals.
His hand came up to touch his own pendant in reverence of the memory. He had learned the same lessons, although he seldom had the strength to practice using them. Tears of forgotten pain began to fall down his cheeks as he realized how much his mother had given up to keep them safe. He felt terrible for ever believing she had been selfish in sending them away. She had done her best for them out of love.
Jon could feel his lungs tightening up, and he started to gasp for air. He had to get out of this house and breathe the fresh air outside. He stumbled out of the small house and held onto the doorframe as he heaved oxygen into his painful lungs. Knowing it had to be a psychosomatic reaction to the memories he had to shake his head at himself as he tried to relax and breathe normally again.
Without any concept of how much time had passed, Jon began walking through the village to find either Juila or Valentina. Even as he walked along, memories were coming back to him about places they had played or where other children had lived. He also remembered they seldom were allowed to play with the other kids since their parents told them to stay away from the strange triplets who did not belong in their colony.
Jon could not recall why they had been outcasts in the community. He would have to ask his sister about it when he found her. Looking away from a dilapidated cabin, Jon spotted Juila moving from one house to another. He quickened his pace to catch up to her before she decided to move again.
“Hey, Juila,” he called from the doorway. His eyes could not see into the dim interior as the sunlight outside had blinded him. His nose told him there was something rather unpleasant inside.
“I’m right here,” she called from several feet away. “Wait there; I’m coming back out.”
Jon stepped back as she suddenly appeared in front of him. “What was in there?”
“Nothing but a lot of trash and a dead animal of some sort,” she replied as she snorted a couple of times while trying to dislodge the terrible smell from her nose. “Val is across the way; let’s see if she’s found anything.”
They found her inside the largest building in the entire community. Kneeling down on the floor, Valentina was rummaging through a wooden crate. Dust was flying up around her, and they had to laugh as she pulled her torso out of the mess and turned around to face them. All of her hair was covered in cobwebs and dust, and she had dark smears of dirt on both of her cheeks as she had used her filthy hands to brush her hair out of her eyes.
“Did you find anything useful?” Jon asked as he tried to contain his laughter.
“Not much,” she answered with disgust. “I did find this one piece of paper which might be interesting to look into further. It looks like a page out of a diary or something. The writing’s pretty faded, so I’m going to take it home to investigate it further in front of a lightbulb or something.” She handed the paper over to her brother as she needed both hands on the edge of the crate to assist her up from her cramped position on the ground.
Jon looked at the almost blank sheet of paper dubiously. If his sister could resurrect anything intelligible from this page, she had more skill than the average person. He brought it closer to his face as he angled himself into the light, he could just barely make out scrawling script on the page.
Valentina walked over to the kitchen sink and turned on the faucet hoping the water still worked. She almost cheered as the gurgle of clean water began to fall into the basin of the sink. She rubbed her hands together and watched as layers of dirt began to flow in muddy puddles into the sink before swirling into the drain. Without soap, she managed to clean herself reasonably well, including her face.
She rubbed her hands on her pant legs to dry them off. She flipped her head down and vigorously shook her hair to try to dislodge as much filth as possible before using her hands to pull cobwebs and brambles from the ends. One more quick rinse in the sink and Valentina declared, “I’ve seen enough here. What about you, Jon? Did seeing everything help your memory?”
“It did. I’m glad we came. I don’t think I’d want to come back, though. This place’s really depressing.”
“I agree. Let’s go home where everything is clean and has pleasant memories,” Valentina agreed as she slung her arm around her brother’s waist. She tipped her head against his shoulder as he put his arm around her shoulders. She was glad Jon was being friendly with her again. It had been a rough couple of months when they had had to keep him in the dark about their mother. Now everything seemed back to normal, or as normal as their lives would ever get considering from where they actually came.
The three of them trooped back to the shoreline and decided to play in the ocean water for a bit before they headed back. It felt good to giggle and play after the tenseness they had experienced while they were in the town. The sun was starting to get low on the horizon when the three teenagers, wet, sandy, and tired, decided they should head home.
Juila pressed the cloaking button on the remote as they walked in the ge
neral direction of where they had landed. The telepod appeared, and they boarded the aircraft. They sat in their same locations as before, and Juila closed the side door before activating the aircraft. She had a strange feeling of being watched and wanted the security of being enclosed as soon as possible.
She activated the telepod and issued all of the commands of the start-up procedure. She scrolled through the destination history and tapped down one to get to the home coordinates. “Everyone ready?” she asked and waited for the replies before she pressed the selection which would send them back home to Earth.
Several seconds ticked by, then several more. The lights of the garage did not appear as they should have. Instead, she saw pinpricks of light all around them. The telepod’s system turned on several red lights on the glass panel as the emergency systems kicked on. Juila began resolving the issued one by one until all of the warning lights were gone. They had stable pressure in the cabin as they appeared to be floating in space rather than several inches above the concrete in the garage at home.
Juila tapped the mapping section of the glass panel and groaned as she realized what had gone wrong.
“What’s going on, Juila?” Valentina asked as she stared out the windows with sheer terror evident even in her tone of voice.
“Juila, I don’t think this is home,” Jon stated the obvious as he turned and saw the round ball of Earth circling slowly beneath them.
“We are exactly above home, actually,” Juila said as she continued to study the coordinates of their intended destination. “It seems as though the Z coordinate did not compute when the transfer occurred. We are approximately 50,000 miles above our intended target.”
“What? How did that happen?” Valentina could feel herself starting to come unhinged at the idea of floating helplessly out into space to die.
“I’m not sure yet, give me a few minutes to check some things out,” Juila answered even as her mind was going over every possible scenario.
Ascension Vision- The Levels of Ascension Box Set Page 10