Passage

by Thorby Rudbek

  Some things are just too alien for a warrior-Narlav to understand. He threw his hands downward in a gesture of negation as strong as his own fantastic physique could manage, then turned away from the console and walked back to the incredibly ugly yet also trimly functional body of his blood-sister. He stood there, like a gothic statue of some beast from mythology, to await Kirrina’s return to consciousness, his mind still whirling from the enforced broadening which she had given it.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Life-supporting atmosphere is of prime importance – Kut, Arshonnan Terraforming Engineer

  Leroy touched his hands briefly to the hard-packed snow on each side of his toboggan, to reduce his velocity somewhat as he slid down the gentle slope, and Aaron Morton pulled slowly ahead, his cast like a trophy in front of him, coming to rest in the long grass at the end of the field a few seconds before his ‘uncle’.

  “Way to go!” The seven year-old shouted as he jumped up. “This is the fastest sled around here!”

  Leroy just smiled as he got up and brushed the fine layer of snow off his jacket sleeves. He walked back to the top of the slope and watched as Miyoko went down with her two youngest daughters on her lap. Brittney started just after them and tried to catch up by bouncing up and down on her bright pink sled.

  “Well, Harold,” Leroy started, after he parked the borrowed sled sideways across the top of the slope. “I think I can honestly state that being with your kids is the most fun I’ve had for months. They sure are the best thing about being ‘up North’.”

  Harold shook his new friend by the shoulder. “Just one of the benefits of married life, old pal.”

  “I know; you keep telling me.”

  Harold grinned. “I’ve got another girl you should meet; she just transferred to the base from out east. She’s about your age, from Jamaica originally, I think. Not quite as dark as you, of course, but she’s quite a beauty.”

  “You never give up, do you?”

  Harold looked at him and raised one eyebrow. “I have to convince you to check out your options; it’s my military duty.”

  Leroy grinned. Somehow his new friend always managed to make a joke out of his most serious suggestions. “So, what is her next most interesting feature, after her looks?”

  “Ah, I see you are a man of true discernment,” Harold muttered. “I don’t know really, I only spoke to her for a minute yesterday as we passed in the corridor.”

  “There must be something special about her; you’re not just picking the first girl you see, are you?”

  Harold looked shocked. “Leroy, it’s only the best for you. I thought you knew that!”

  Leroy grinned again. “Why do I get the feeling you’re playing with me?”

  “Well, if you must know, Vince was the one who told me.” Harold paused tantalisingly and watched his family.

  “What?”

  Harold looked blankly at Leroy.

  “What did Vince tell you?”

  “Oh! He said: ‘Boy, can she fly!’”

  Leroy shook his head. “So, where’s the picture?” he asked politely, not really interested, but trying to keep his friend happy.

  “I’ll get you one in the next few days,” Harold promised.

  Leroy stood beside his friend and watched Miyoko and the kids engaging in an impromptu recreation of a major military battle as they moved further into the long grass, where the snow was still soft. White lumps flew in all directions as Aaron tried to quite literally single-handedly out-gun his sisters and his mother. Sounds of excitement drifted up the slope, but at the top, no words were spoken. Finally, Leroy cleared his throat.

  “So, have you been accepted as our test pilot?”

  Harold nodded.

  “It’s going to be pretty dangerous out there, if these Narlavs do come.”

  “I know,” Harold admitted freely. “Miyoko and I have talked about it several times now. A battle against evil is one battle I cannot watch from the sidelines. She feels the same – it’s how we met… No, not in a battle,” (the two men exchanged brief grins at this). “But because we believe the same things about justice, helping the innocent, and about God. We both think that we have to be willing to get involved, we have to show we will risk everything to protect our kids.”

  He who loses his life for my sake, will find it.

  He sat down on the battered old wooden toboggan that had rested at his feet throughout the conversation and turned it towards the steeper slope to the left. “Come on, Leroy. You’d do the same in my position.”

  “You think?” Leroy sat down on his sled and adjusted it so that it was parallel to the older one. “I guess so.” He answered his own question and then pushed off simultaneously with Harold, and they progressed rapidly down the hill, neck and neck. I don’t know though, he thought as he glanced to the right and watched the diminutive Miyoko playing with the kids he had come to love so easily. I wouldn’t want to lose what you have.

  Seconds later he was brought back to reality as the left runner on his sled rode up on one of the bumps which had been built into the hill, and he found himself being flipped out on the snow. The sound of laughter from just ahead caught his attention, and he looked up from his sprawl to see Harold, the little pale bald patch showing clearly in the morning light, flying over the double moguls he had aimed at, and landing precisely on the flat area below.

  “Besides, I can’t resist the challenge,” Harold called back, as he slid to a halt in the long grass.

  ***

  Terry sighed as he sat down in his ‘inner sanctum’, as he liked to call it. The lines of worry around his face were even more pronounced now, but he no longer had the time to concern himself about his own feelings. He had been struggling for some months to restructure his holdings, but the moment for brutal reality had come at last. Terrance Stadt, survivor of the most bizarre hostage-taking event in the history of the world and owner of seven once-thriving companies, looked over the details of the sale he had just made which brought his total down to six.

  “Even with the sale of the Getaway, and the Lamborghini, this will only keep things solvent for about nine more months, a year at the best.” He spoke aloud as he leaned back and looked over his shoulder at the view across the river. No one could hear him, but sometimes he felt that talking to himself made things clearer, more defined.

  “Will the government finally step in, when they see the finished product?” He shook his head wistfully. “Probably not,” he answered his own question. “Not while I am still in business to carry the load for them.” Terry knew that Ed Baynes had been as helpful as he could be. No one else would have put their cosy federal career on the line on the strength of someone else’s word, and the unique scar tissue at the end of that same someone’s pitifully short stump of an arm.

  Stadt knew that his own financial future did not matter, if it meant that he remained a free man, and kept the rest of the world in that same, highly prized state. He flexed his artificial arm and watched the fingers move. To him it still seemed obviously false. He had been forced to learn to write with his left hand, as the artificial system was not capable of the required dexterity.

  He let his steely blue eyes go out of focus as the sunlight reflected off the water and formed dazzling patterns. “Maybe they will come before we are ready.” He continued to stare without really seeing. Finally he shook his head as if to shake the idea out of his brain. “Isaac got us back when we were at our darkest hour. He’s got to be the only man who can pull us through. I’ll just have to play the silent partner a bit longer.” Terry sighed again, then turned back to his desk and brought up the next item of electronic mail on his computer. It was the pre-paid hotel and airplane bill for Latt’s first trip to Niagara. “I hope Ruth is right about Judy; I’d do anything to make Latt happy.” He smiled, which had the effect of knocking several years off his apparent age. “Of course, she’s always right!”

  ***

  The thundering of the water filled L
att’s ears, and the sight of the illuminated foam and sparkling mists captivated him completely. Judy leaned over and spoke in his ear.

  “I’ve never been here before, either!”

  Latt felt her shiver beside him as the damp penetrated her jacket. Without thinking, he put his arm around her shoulders. Nothing happened for a couple of minutes, then Judy put her head on his shoulder. Latt looked down, and could see her eyes were closed.

  “Do you want to move away? Are you getting cold?”

  Judy moved her head sideways very slightly. “Just give me a hug, will you?” She lifted her head and turned towards him.

  Latt found he had moved to face her, too. He looked into her blue eyes, and saw the reflection of the waterfall sparkling in them. He hesitated, then put his arms around her waist. “Thiss is what I have sseen others do. I did not realise it was sso pleasant.”

  Judy smiled, something Latt had not seen her do very often in the laboratory. She put her hands on his sleeves, just above his elbows. She looked at his dark brown hair, cut now in the short fashion she had always preferred for men. “All the grey has gone. I can’t even remember how it looked.”

  “I could find a photo.”

  “No,” Judy smiled again and shook her head, making her light brown hair bob from side to side. “I prefer you like you are now. You seem so much more alive, so much less haunted by your past.”

  “But it is still here.” Latt took one hand away for a moment and tapped his head. “Rhaal seems like a dream, or more correctly, a nightmare.”

  “Let me help you.” Judy slid her hands up to his shoulders and moved closer, until her face was only inches from his.

  Latt looked from her blue eyes to her strangely attractive little nose.

  “There is something very strange about this place,” he began, as he drank in her features. “I have worked with you for many days, but never before have I held you like this.”

  Judy moved closer still, her hands interlocking behind his head.

  “That’s why Isaac, Terry and the others wanted us to come here,” she murmured. “They knew something about us that you would never have guessed.” She paused to let Latt respond, but he just stared back at her, almost as if he were in a trance. She moved closer still, and tilted her head slightly (the height difference was only a couple of inches, but it was she that was the taller).

  Latt felt her lips touch his, so very gently, then she pulled back a little and rubbed her nose against his. He reached up and stroked her hair.

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Didn’t you like it?”

  “I’m not sure.” Latt’s eyes sparkled as he smiled back at her, putting the lie to his words.

  She kissed him again, a little longer and harder this time.

  “How about that?”

  Latt shook his head.

  “I feel… so different. Somehow it’s like we are somewhere else, where no one else has ever been.”

  “I’ve heard it described like that.” She kissed him some more, and her heart started to beat faster as she felt him respond; his lips moving at last to meet hers. She pulled back nervously. Latt just looked at her, his expression so much softer than she had ever seen him look before.

  He stroked her hair again.

  “It is much longer now. I am glad.”

  Judy smiled again, realising that he would not presume to kiss her, unless she made the first move.

  “I haven’t got around to getting it cut. Would you like me to keep it like this?”

  Latt looked at her, deeply puzzled as they continued to stand so very close together.

  “Why would you grow longer hair, if you did not like it that way?”

  “I kept it short because I…” She could not bring herself to say the real reason she had maintained her hair that way since she had left high school. “I would do it to please you. To say… how important you are to me.”

  Latt touched her lips with the fingertips of his left hand.

  “Since the day I left my family… if you could call it that, I never had a human friend, until I met Isaac and Ruth and Terry. They made me feel so different about myself.” He slipped his arm around her waist again. “Being with you was always special, because you seemed to understand me sso well, even when my words got mixed up. Now I feel almost a stranger to my old self. Now I cannot imagine being a slave to the Narlavs.” He became silent, seemingly engrossed in the wonderfully attractive face before him. “Would you do that again? Please?”

  Judy smiled, then kissed him once more. This time her hands slipped down his back a little, pulling him even closer – she found it hard to stop, until suddenly she pulled back as she felt the tears begin.

  Latt hugged her as she sobbed.

  “I should not have asked you. It makes you sad. I am ssorry.”

  Judy leaned her cheek against his and moved her head from side to side, very slightly.

  “No, I am not sad. It’s just my old fears returning.”

  Latt remembered their conversation at West Edmonton Mall, and his mind became more confused than ever.

  “This is what your stepfather’s friend did?”

  “Latt, no!” Judy paused, trying to find a simple way to explain the difference. “When that happened with him, it was nothing like this. It was for him. He used me. I kissed you because I wanted to. Because I hoped you wanted me to, too.”

  Latt nodded and seemed to contradict her, initially.

  “I did not want it – that is, I did not even know it. Not until you started, that iss.”

  Judy leaned her head down a little and kissed him again, letting her fears drift away as she felt him respond to her emotion. As they clung to each other, the chill she had first mentioned faded away, replaced by a rosy glow inside. More than that, a tenseness she never realised she possessed seemed to loosen inside her, until it dissolved away to nothingness.

  It was several ‘somethings’ later, probably several minutes, before she ended the kiss, and again Latt backed away when he noticed her movement. They looked into each other’s eyes until she became aware of her surroundings once more. She stepped back and looked deep into his eyes again as she expressed her innermost desire.

  “I think it will be wonderful to see the world with you. I hope you think so. Everything will seem so new.”

  “It will be as you say.” Latt nodded and smiled. “Only one thing is needed to make it perfect.”

  Judy looked worried.

  “What?”

  “For you to kiss me, every day, as you just did.”

  Judy’s fears evaporated as she recognised at last that ‘her man’ would never conceive of anything – could never conceive of anything – that might hurt her.

  “I promise,” she said with her biggest and brightest smile yet. “But not just once a day!” And then she demonstrated how much she meant it.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  With friends like that…

  Marvellous worker – is Paranak. Kirrina thought, as she walked into the hangar across from the high-rise that contained her penthouse suite, after enjoying her brief breakfast, and went to do her customary check on Richard’s progress. And his grasp of Arshonnan technology is amazing; why, I wouldn’t have believed it possible that we could have come this far with the repairs on Scout Craft Seven in just two weeks. If only we didn’t have so much work to do with the Star Drive still, we– She ran the last few feet as she saw that the monitors on the console next to Richard’s life-support canister were flashing red and orange in rapid succession.

  “Emergency mode?” she read in confusion. “Vital signs… erratic! Nutrients… one hundred seventy percent concentration!” She scanned down the display, carefully ascertaining the status of the equipment, and more importantly, her fiancé locked inside it. “Paranak!” she concluded finally, as she found that the whole repair process had been accelerated so as to induce a partial re-growth in approximately two-thirds the time normally required. “He’d better
not have caused any harm to Richard because of this,” Kirrina growled through clenched teeth. A few more seconds of study convinced her that it would be even more hazardous to Richard to try to reverse the process and return the equipment to its slower and safer, standard mode.

  Kirrina ran from the medic room and charged down the corridor to the hangar, where Seagull was parked near the smaller, less useful Woodpecker at the end of each working day. Seagull was missing.

  “What is he up to?” She said savagely, her mind racing and her stomach starting to churn with fear. She jumped into the smaller Woodpecker and activated the systems feverishly in quick succession, then grabbed the chequered navigation control ball, shoving it forwards and upwards, almost before it had materialised in front of her.

  The smaller craft reached maximum speed soon after she cleared the landing area, and Kirrina found herself still pushing the black and yellow sphere forwards in a vain attempt to get more from what now seemed to be a very under-powered Drive. The time to the Scout Craft Maintenance Facility seemed interminable, but once there the Aircar flashed inside and thumped into the stack of rejected equipment as she overestimated the braking power of the Drive.

  Hopping out, Kirrina saw that the dent in the nose of the Aircar was slightly larger than it had previously been, but this fact was soon wiped from her thoughts as she looked around and noticed the sickening, hideous blankness left in the space where Citadel had once stood.