Being of the Field (46 page)

There, Taren spied her missing home planet, minus its many satellites, but from all appearances it was otherwise perfect. But on the far side of the sun, directly opposing Maladaan, there was another planet in the same orbit. This was a breathtaking aquamarine-green globe of immense natural beauty. There was but one city on the entire globe and it was grand in the sense she had of magnificent cities only known in her universe through ancient myth and archaeological ruins.

Taren’s consciousness honed in on one building, one room, one individual in particular. He was youthful, dark-haired, dark-eyed and handsome, and he smiled broadly at her and said:
‘Welcome back to Kila…Goddess knows, I really need you.’

Taren did not recognise this man and yet she felt as if she had known him forever and was compelled to help him. As she felt her consciousness threatening to shift once again, her heart began beating rapidly in protest—she didn’t want to leave this place, this mysterious person with whom she felt such an affinity.

She was hurled backwards along the time stream, kicking and screaming, through the universal crossing, the remnants of the Maladaan system, the shattered entry of the inter-system gateway, and back to Sermetica.

‘I am her father! I’ve been dealing with Taren’s psychic episodes far longer than you,’ Anselm was saying to try and get his way. ‘And I say we move now.’

Taren’s consciousness landed with a huge body slam and she awoke in a panic. ‘Thank heavens,’ she gasped as she took in her surroundings. ‘You’re still here.’ Taren turned to her parents. ‘There are snipers waiting for you to disembark.’

‘What?’ Anselm had expected to be confronted by an embarrassing incident, not an assassin!

‘Check that Swithin Gervaise is still in custody,’ Taren suggested.

‘What? Why?’ Anselm was perplexed. ‘Is he the sniper?’

‘No!’ Taren groaned, as she needed to be more succinct about what she said. ‘Khalid is about to conscript him to his cause,’ Taren said quickly, stressed at being questioned. She had too much to address at once, and more to remember. ‘Swithin knows AMIE’s systems,’ she explained, as her eyes turned to Lucian. ‘AMIE’s changed course. She’s heading for the inter-system gateway.’

A chime from the door announced a visitor, and an agent entered to inform everyone that the inter-system gateway had had a malfunction and was closed until further notice.

‘What kind of malfunction?’ Lucian was alarmed.

‘I don’t know, they didn’t say,’ the agent shrugged.

‘Check on Swithin Gervaise for me,’ Anselm requested as the guard departed, ‘and abort the docking in Heavensgate. We’re to remain where we are until further notice.’

‘Yes, sir,’ the agent confirmed and as soon as the doors closed Taren spoke up.

‘Khalid has locked the exit passage of the gateway to the Maladaan system.’

‘But there is no exit passage in the Maladaan system!’ Lucian stressed. ‘Where is Leal?’

‘I saw him bound and gagged along with the rest of the crew,’ Taren said, holding back tears, until she saw their saving grace materialise before her. ‘Zeven!’

‘I thought you’d be seeking revenge on Khalid.’ Lucian was greatly relieved to see him.

‘I would be, if I could find the sonofa—’ When Zeven spotted the Queen of Phemoria, he refrained from finishing the sentence.

‘Khalid has an amulet protecting him, but not even his lover has seen it on his person,’ the queen said. ‘It’s possible he might have had it implanted in his body.’

‘It’s in his right hand,’ Anselm said, finally realising that the evil charm would explain the dark blockage he had perceived in that area of Khalid’s light-body. The charm would have hindered Anselm’s psychic sight and shielded Khalid’s full aura, but because the amulet was a physical object, Anselm had detected it.

Anselm’s agent returned to let them know that Swithin Gervaise had indeed escaped.

‘Then Khalid is already on board AMIE,’ Taren concluded regretfully. ‘He’ll kill Swithin as soon as he has finished reprogramming AMIE’s systems to respond only to a private password.’

Swithin was not presently Lucian’s favourite person, but he did not wish him dead.

‘But I just left AMIE and everyone was
fine
,’ Zeven complained, becoming agitated when he realised he might be in the wrong place at the wrong time yet again! ‘You’ve taken another little trip into the future, haven’t you?’ he demanded, confronting Taren. ‘What about Aurora?’

‘Khalid knows you’ll only go after live bait,’ Taren replied.

‘So it’s a trap, is it?’ Zeven was livid, but with a deep breath, he managed to keep his emotions under control and think rationally. ‘This amulet of his is made from metal?’ he asked the queen, who nodded. Zeven looked thoughtfully at a sculpture sitting on a table that featured several metallic balls. He held out his hand towards the piece and issued the intention of
magnetism
. The balls tore away from the sculpture to land in his hand, and he grinned at Lucian. ‘I think I have an idea how we can take Mansur out, but…it’s risky.’

Lucian, who’d been with Zeven at Dead Man Downs, was having the same idea. ‘What other option do we have?’

‘Well, do share with the other children,’ Anselm requested, eager to bring this situation under his control. ‘I know we’ve given you grief in the past, captain, but if you allow us to assist you in this, you won’t regret it. I have a few old scores to settle with Khalid myself.’

Lucian nodded in agreement. ‘Actually, your cooperation, and the queen’s, will be essential.’

Qusay-Sabah Clarona stepped forward, honoured to be included. ‘Whatever you need, captain, just ask.’

‘You had better hope your boyfriend notices this ship’s change of course before you pass back through the inter-system gateway. Our sub-station is having a little meltdown today. It seems the exit passage has mysteriously jammed on the Maladaan system.’

Aurora’s eyes parted wide in fear, as did the eyes of her friends and colleagues alongside.

Khalid laughed at their distress as he vanished into thin air.

Leal and Kassa backed up to each other in an attempt to loosen the other’s bonds. It was agony for the doctor to sit by and watch whilst a human being was dying in front of her.
Swithin won’t last much longer.

Leal wasn’t getting anywhere with their restraints and it frustrated him.
Neither will we if don’t get off this vessel.

Do you think that lunatic is still here?

I can’t sense him,
Leal bethought her,
but then I didn’t sense him the first time he snuck up on me.

He must have a shield
, Kassa concluded. Then her eyes caught sight of the captain, Taren and Zeven as they crept into the bridge from the direction of the holding bay. Taren was holding her FFRD and observing the readout. She nodded to Lucian and handed the device to him.

‘
Arman!
’ Aurora tried to call to Zeven through her gag.

He snuck over and hugged her briefly before he began to untie her bonds.

‘Don’t go anywhere,’ Aurora said, and Zeven gripped her hand tight.

‘I’m not going anywhere without you,’ he swore and she immediately calmed.

Lucian headed straight to Swithin who’d collapsed onto the floor. ‘Quick, release Kassa and Ringbalin,’ he directed Taren.

‘You really do have a fucking death wish…’ Swithin forced out the words, amused and touched that his brother still cared enough to want to save his life. ‘Forget me…’

‘Don’t talk,’ Lucian urged him, surprised by how much he did not want to lose his only sibling.

Swithin grinned, bound to have the last say in the matter. ‘The…system…password…’ Swithin choked up completely and fell limp as Kassa was freed from her restraints.

‘Swithin!’ she called ahead of reaching him and checking his vital signs. ‘He’s still alive, thank heavens. He’s the only one who knows the password to AMIE’s systems,’ she explained. ‘I’ll need equipment to keep him alive though.’

‘I’ll get a trolley and your bag.’ Leal raced from the flight deck.

Both Kassa and Lucian were breathing a sigh of relief when Taren gasped and vanished from their midst.

‘He’s got her.’ Lucian paused and pulled Kalayna’s psychic neutraliser from his equipment belt as well as Taren’s handheld FFRD.

‘You knew he was still here,’ Kassa could tell by his tone and the fact incensed her.

‘He may be able to escape the psychic sensors of human beings, but you cannot hide a negative charge, such as Khalid carries, from the quantum world.’ The captain thought this would explain their reasoning, but it was not nearly enough detail to pacify the doctor.

Now that Kassa’s suspicion—that the FFRD had let him know Khalid was still here—was confirmed, she was even more aggravated. ‘Why expose Taren to such danger?’ she demanded of Lucian.

‘They’ll be back,’ Lucian said. Or so he was hoping with all the willpower he could muster.

‘Why would Khalid come back?’ Kassa wanted to know. ‘He has what he came for.’

‘Khalid doesn’t know that Taren has PK,’ Lucian whispered into her ear. Kassa grinned and then gasped as she noticed the needle begin to move to the negative on the FFRD.

‘Here they come,’ Lucian warned Starman, who nodded to confirm he was ready.

When Taren reappeared she was alone, yet she appeared to be tightly gripping something. ‘Stage left.’ Taren motioned to that side with her eyes, and Lucian fired his weapon. Although Khalid was not rendered visible, Taren lost her grip on him as he was sent reeling backwards from the strike.

Zeven stood to make his move and, focusing on the amulet in Khalid’s hand, he attracted it into his possession.

The weapon in Lucian’s hand suddenly shot off in the direction of Khalid.

Khalid fired upon Taren, who was knocked down by the pulse. A pain in the palm of his right hand drew Khalid’s attention, and he watched with horror as the amulet tore through his skin and sped into Zeven’s outstretched hand. Khalid materialised and was furious at the loss of his psychic shield, but he still had his PK ability and a weapon, which he fired at Zeven.

Zeven pushed Aurora aside as he was knocked down by the force of the blast. He gripped the amulet tight, even when it began to burrow through the skin of his hand as Khalid willed his amulet back to himself.

Leal came screaming towards the flight deck with his trolley and medical supplies, but upon seeing the chaos before him he drew to a halt.

‘Now,’ Lucian advised into his communicator.

‘You!’ Khalid pointed to the captain. ‘Time to die!’ He desired for Lucian to join Swithin and was baffled when the man only smiled and motioned to the viceroy’s lower leg.

Whilst Khalid had been distracted with Zeven, Taren had clamped a standard secret service restraining band around their foe’s ankle and scurried back towards Lucian, beyond Khalid’s reach.

Zeven held high the small metal amulet with his bloodied hand, pleased that Taren had restrained Khalid before he’d lost any fingers. ‘I order the phantoms of this amulet back to their source.’

A disturbance whipped through the bridge, streamed into the amulet Zeven was holding up and was gone.

‘Deserters!’ Khalid cried in the wake of being abandoned, an ordinary mortal once more.

‘It seems you are now as vulnerable as the rest of us,’ Lucian concluded.

‘Ha!’ Khalid was clearly shaken in the wake of his unexpected defeat. ‘None of you have the stomach for killing.’

‘No,’ Lucian replied, agreeing that this was quite true, ‘not us.’

Upon the captain’s cue, Qusay-Sabah Clarona moved to confront her past with Anselm at her side.

‘Even if they kill us, we’ll be together,’ Jabez assured her with a squeeze of her hand.

The queen was gladdened by his sentiment, but summoned all her strength and determination—she would ensure it did not come to that. ‘They have no power beyond that which we give them.’ Clarona opened the crown’s containment case and the seething red mass rose up above her. ‘Ladies of the Phemoray,’ she acknowledged.

‘You lost the crown of Phemoria,’
the thought-form hissed.
‘You are no longer our queen.’

‘That is correct, I am no longer your queen, nor shall I ever be again. Your rule of Phemoria is at an end. You have no power over me, nor will you cast your spell and influence over any of my descendants.’

The mass of feminine energy seethed away quietly. For thousands of years their crown had been passed on without question, their ultimate authority assured. The crown had never been removed from the head of the ruling monarch, not since the first queen had willingly placed the crown upon her head, where it resided until the day she died. The crown was then immediately placed upon the head of the next Queen of Phemoria, so no monarch could ever warn the next ruler of the crown’s dark enchantment. The Phemoray had had the power to prevent their patron taking the crown off, but they did not have, nor had ever needed, the power to make her put it on. ‘
We serve Phemoria!’
The thought-form cast an appeal for its continued existence.

‘
No
, Phemoria has served
you
and your agenda, which should have been ancient history long ago.’ The queen dictated the terms of their future service. ‘But I shall award you an opportunity to truly serve Phemoria and exact your revenge upon he who held you to ransom at
Dead Man Downs…but harm another living soul in the process and it will be the last thing you ever do.’ The queen still held the lid of the crown case in her hand and threatened to close it.

Your majesty is most gracious. Thy will be done.
The angry thought-form split into many and all soared quickly through the roof of their transport.

AMIE’s infrastructure shook and the power flickered on and off, causing all in the bridge to hold their breath in expectation of what was coming.

‘What is that?’ Aurora scurried over to Starman’s side.

‘The sound of retribution,’ Lucian forewarned Khalid, who was unaccustomed to feeling vulnerable.

‘No!’ He guessed at what was coming, but could scarcely believe it to be his fate. ‘You justice types believe in a fair trial and so forth…you wouldn’t condemn an untried man.’

The seething red spectres quietly seeped through the ceiling behind their target.

‘You slit Kalayna’s throat before our eyes.’ Taren’s patience had come to an end. ‘You ordered the death of Amie Gervaise, tried to rape me, dethrone my mother, disgrace my father, murder my closest friends
and
you were largely responsible for the displacement of my home planet! I cannot imagine how justice will ever be done. I’ve not got the stomach for torture, nor the time and energy to waste on extracting revenge…but my foremothers do.’

Bury us at Dead Man Downs, would you?

At the sound of the harsh voices of the Phemoray, Khalid was startled to about-face, and upon sighting the angry spirits he attempted to flee. The thought-form gave hot pursuit and to the screamed protests of their target, they swooped Khalid Mansur up and vanished with him.

An immense wave of relief swept over the crew of AMIE, but there was no time for celebration. Leal rushed to Kassa with the equipment she needed to try to save and revive Swithin. Zeven rushed to the helm, hoping, against all odds, to crack the system code and save their vessel. Warning lights were flashing on the communications console.

‘That will be the gate-station telling us to abort our course,’ Leal commented as he left Kassa and joined Zeven, who was feeling aggravated with himself.

‘Why did I have to get hit?’ He knew his PK was going to be useless for hours. ‘I could have pulled us back from this.’

‘Time to abandon ship, lads,’ Lucian advised. ‘We’ll use the recon transport to get everyone out.’

But nobody wanted to abandon AMIE.

‘My greenhouse,’ Ringbalin pined.

‘Our home,’ Kassa added.

‘Your dream,’ Taren put in, sorry that all Lucian’s hard work had come to this.

‘
Your lives
,’ the captain said emphatically, ‘are far more important. Let’s get Swithin on this trolley, then everyone to the loading bay…that’s an order.’

Leal healped Lucian load his brother’s stretcher on board their recon vessel, next to the enclosed stretcher that carried the body of Kalayna, and another containing the body of Dr Portus. As Kassa climbed in alongside, Lucian put his hand on her arm. ‘Will he live?’

‘If he does, it will be of precious little good to anyone,’ Kassa said, feeling bitter and wondering why Lucian still gave a damn.

‘Promise you’ll do your best,’ Lucian begged her.

‘That’s my job, captain,’ she replied to reassure him.

Zeven fired up the recon vessel as Leal strapped into the co-pilot’s seat—there was plenty of room in the rear cabin for the rest of the crew. Ringbalin and Aurora joined Kassa aboard, but when it came time for Lucian and Taren to embark they looked at each other to say, ‘I’m staying…what? No!’

‘This is exactly what I’ve wanted,’ Taren said, breaking their stalemate. ‘I’ve glimpsed what lies beyond this gateway and it’s not a black hole. It’s a tear, and it’s closing! I know in my soul that Maladaan is still alive and well in that universe, parallel to ours, but if I wait and argue this out with my parents I fear the tear will mend before I get clearance to go…I don’t have time for a committee. I won’t ask anyone to trust my vision—’

‘The captain goes with the ship. I’ve worked my whole life to experience something like this and even if I don’t live to tell of it, I’ll have accomplished a little of what I set out to do,’ Lucian retorted.

Taren realised he was telling her she didn’t have a say in him staying behind or going, and clearly he was not trying to talk her out of it either.

‘No wonder I adore you.’ Taren had never thought she’d meet anyone as bent on exploration and discovery as she was, and they kissed to seal their deal.

‘Go, Starman.’ Lucian stepped away from the smaller transport with Taren under his arm.

‘No way.’ Zeven was out of the recon vessel and on the launch pad. ‘I’m staying with you. Leal can fly the others out.’

‘Starman, you promised!’ Aurora appealed from her seat in the back of the recon vessel. ‘I’m not ready to cross into another universe! I just want a safe, sane existence where I don’t have to fear for our lives every couple of hours.’

‘We don’t have time for this,’ Leal interrupted, eager to lock and leave.

Zeven was torn between Aurora, and Taren and Lucian.

‘You can find us with a thought, remember.’ Taren encouraged him to go with his lover.

‘Even in the next universe?’ Zeven doubted that.

Taren shrugged. ‘Let’s experiment, shall we?’

Zeven gave a reluctant nod and then hugged Taren tight. ‘See you in the next one then.’ He squeezed out the words with difficulty—Zeven had never felt this strongly about a woman he hadn’t slept with. ‘I really loved the way it was. I’m going to miss it
a lot
.’ As he couldn’t prevent a tear from escaping, Taren brushed it quickly away.

‘Take care,’ she said and kissed him. She urged him back towards the transport, but Zeven couldn’t leave without shaking Lucian’s hand.

‘It’s been an honour and an education,’ he told the captain, but it was only now, as they said goodbye, that they both realised how much they’d come to rely on one another.

‘You exceeded my expectations…’ Lucian embraced the young pilot, and Zeven returned the sentiment. ‘…and never faltered in your loyalty.’ Lucian held him at arm’s length. ‘I’m greatly indebted.’

‘Starman!’ Leal called urgently as the inter-system gateway was drawing closer and Zeven hauled arse to strap himself back into the pilot’s seat.

‘I always said you two were the perfect couple,’ Kassa called. ‘Take care of each other!’