Interstellar Ruse

by Gregoire, Cil;

  “I understand what you are trying to do here, but I don’t believe your petition as stated would succeed with the High Council. I will petition the council to invite Ilene back to continue her studies as a healer at the Academy. What happens after that will be out of my hands.”

  “Thank you,” Kaylya said heartily, using the Earth expression they both knew so well.

  “It is my pleasure to serve,” Quaylyn said with a smile, then gave her a little bow before leaving to seek a period of sleep.

  Seaa rose above the eastern mountains, the near star softly illuminating the valley. Ollen and Caleeza left the home cave quietly. Only Theon saw them go. Caleeza felt certain he was awake because of joint pain rather than a wish to say good-bye. Therefore, before they left, she brewed him a strong herbal tea to help him go back to sleep.

  Guided by Seaa’s light, they set out, pushing themselves hard to cross as much familiar territory as they could during the long night, stopping only briefly to rest. Then by the light of the setting star they climbed a small east facing hill, taking turns getting some sleep while waiting for daylight. The darkness gradually lightened, features became recognizable, and color returned to the landscape. Soon dark purple mountains defined the valley’s edges under an azure sky. Just as they had hoped, unexplored valley lay before them bathed in the light of the rising sun.

  “It’s beautiful,” Caleeza whispered in awe. She had seen few places that could compare …the Crystalline Landscape, Alaska on planet Earth, and this wondrous valley. Ollen unfolded the crystal floss map he carried, laying it out on the ground before them. From their vantage point, they could see the eastern mountains, more distant than ever before, the valley broader than they had imagined. The southern end of the valley, from which they came, was veiled in early morning fog to their right. The western mountains rose solidly behind them. In the hazy distance to the north the two mountain ranges, east and west, started curving toward each other. The hill they were on rose out of an immense field of the blue-green grassy grain that supported herds of kurper. The colonists gathered the seed heads and ground them into a coarse flour to make an unleavened bread.

  Beyond the meadow land, to the north and east they could see the distant edge of the forest. The river they knew cut through the valley wasn’t visible from here. “Shall we continue following the western mountains north or head east toward the river?” Ollen asked contemplating options.

  “Where’s the next cave symbol on the map?”

  “More than a day’s journey from here, if I’m pinpointing our position correctly based on our new perspective of how large the valley really is.” The map was obviously not very accurate in regards to scale. “The southern plateau is here,” Ollen said pointing to it on the map. Looking to the south they could barely see the northern tip of the prominent plateau in the distance as the fog began to lift. “We will have to construct our own shelter if we need one whichever direction we choose.” For now the sky above them was clear.

  “What is that?” Caleeza asked staring hard into the distance toward the center of the vista before them where the woods seemed to take on a different texture.

  Ollen followed her gaze. “I don’t know,” he said and studied the map again locating an area of little overlapping squares and rectangles that corresponded with the approximate location of the different texture in the distance. The strange map boasted many markings, each standing for a certain feature, but provided no key to their meanings. “I guess we will have to go there to find out.”

  The long trek across the meadow lands was uneventful except for the startling moments when small unseen herds of the little silver-furred creatures they called kurpers dashed away in panic at their approach. Despite the season, the winter sun soon blazed hotly with barely a breeze disturbing the chest-high ripening wild grain. When they sat down to rest for a while, the grasses closed in around them, shutting off their view, a condition neither Ollen nor Caleeza could abide for long.

  The sun was high in the sky by the time their targeted destination came more sharply into focus. As they approached the edge of the forest of overlapping squares, the grasses grew shorter and the ground became soggier under their feet. Tall reedy trees that grew in sharp angles gradually replaced the grasslands.

  Caleeza assumed the plant life towering before them would be classified as trees, but their growth pattern was unlike anything she had seen before. The smooth blue, green, and white streaked trunks branched out at true right angles. When a lateral branch came close to another tree trunk or branch it changed direction growing out at another forty-five degree angle, the result looking very much like the pattern of overlapping squares depicted on the map. Each growing tip, and they were numerous, sported a thick crown of silvery leaves which gave the forest the appearance of being an army of silver-haired stick figures on the march.

  “Jungle gym,” Caleeza said out loud.

  “What?”

  “A structure made for climbing; I saw a picture of one in a children’s book on Earth. It looked much like this, only smaller.”

  The growth became thicker as they wove their way deeper among the trees. The ground beneath the jungle gym trees became increasingly soggy with water seeping into the depressions their feet left behind.

  “Well, do you want to climb through the trees or backtrack and find a way around this? It looks like it’s going to be too marshy to walk through.”

  Caleeza gave it a moment’s thought before answering. “Let’s climb. I want to see what this leads to.”

  Climbing was easy with the growth of trees and branches so thick there were always numerous branches in easy reach for grasping and stepping on. And they could go high too, but not high enough to get a view beyond the forest before the branches became too flimsy to support their weight. As they climbed their way through the trees, the water deepened beneath them. Eventually they could hear what sounded like a stream. As the water deepened, the jungle gym growth thinned noticeably, indicating a limit to the amount of water the trees could tolerate. This slowed them down considerably, making it necessary to find suitable footing and hand holds to achieve continued forward progress. Although there were no longer tree trunks growing up from the flooded marsh, the branches continued to grow out across the rushing water, reaching for the trees on the other side.

  “The water is flowing in the wrong direction,” Ollen said, staring down at it in puzzlement. The only river they knew of flowed from north to south where it disappeared underground at the southern end of the valley. A smaller stream fed by a waterfall coming out of the western mountains, not far from their home cave, flowed from west to east into it. This water was flowing from east to west toward the western mountains.

  “Do you think we can make it across?” Caleeza asked with some concern. She didn’t relish the thought of climbing down into the water.

  “I don’t know; we can try.” They moved cautiously at a distance twice their own height above the water with Ollen leading the way.

  “Why are there little holes in these branches?” Caleeza asked following him.

  Ollen had also noticed the little holes that had started appearing on the trunks and branches as they approached the stream. The holes were too small to stick a finger in, so Ollen reached into his pack and pulled out a stylus. He poked the writing implement into the hole and wriggled it around. “It’s hollow,” he announced with surprise, but the bigger surprise came when he pulled the stylus back out and a multi-legged creature as long as his thumb crawled rapidly up the stylus to Ollen’s hand. Startled by the appearance of the unexpected lifeform, Ollen yelped and flicked his hand to dislodge the creature, his jerky involuntary movements causing him to lose his footing in the process. Instantly he was in the water.

  “Ollen!” Caleeza screamed in alarm as she watched him tumble into the rushing stream, disappearing for a moment and then bobbing back up as the swift current carried him away. He quickly vanished from her sight, the large shaggy silver foliage of t
he jungle gym trees screening him from view.

  Aaia’s sun arched high in the planet’s white gold sky even during what was referred to as the winter season; for Aaia’s seasons aren’t determined by the planet’s tilt, which is nearly imperceptible, but rather the planet’s distance from the sun. As the planet’s path around the sun passes between the sun and the nearest star Seaa, Aaia’s orbit bulges away from the sun in answer to Seaa’s call, bringing welcoming cooler temperatures to an excessively warm planet.

  Deep in the interior of the island continent of Lynnara lay the Crystalline Landscape. The sun beamed down the monolithic crystals charging them with energy. The mental remains of Sarus’ crystal-generated brain could see the larger picture. No longer in possession of a corporeal form, his firing synapses were one with the massive landscape of jumbled towering crystals stretching beyond horizons and sparking softly with color in the brilliant sunlight. The sun-charged crystals crackled like the soft whisper of snowfall through tree branches or the faint tinkle of very distant bells. Even ears made merely of flesh may perceive the crystals charging with the sun’s energy, storing the excess in invisible fields.

  Accessing this energy, Sarus delved deeply into the structure of matter itself, isolating a single quartz molecule, exploring the bond between silicon and oxygen with each oxygen atom sharing a part of itself to form another molecule. Delving even deeper, he entered a single silicon atom. He flew among the speeding electrons, marveling at their performance, and then spiraled down toward the atom’s center to float among the protons and neutrons. He was about to dive into the nearest proton to explore the world of quarks when a rare random thought broke into his concentration.

  Caleeza.

  Where that thought came from he wasn’t quite sure, but he “felt” it held some significance, although he had forgotten the meaning.

  He concentrated hard and for a moment an image almost came to him …before fading out of reach.

  He would have to give it some more thought…

  …later

  …after he explored the quarks.

  CHAPTER 5

  Earth

  Melinda let the officers take command of the situation; she didn’t really know what to do and she feared any action on her part may make things worse. Her aunt quickly came out of her swoon. After Adele was helped to a chair and given a glass of water she called her son Tony, a supervisor at the cannery, who promised to come as soon as he could get away. And the questions kept coming. Adele couldn’t claim with certainty the young woman was Melinda, her dead sister’s daughter, but she gasped and murmured repeatedly, “She looks just like her,” clasping her pudgy hands to her face, yet avoiding physical contact with Melinda in fear of what may be her niece’s unearthly spirit. DNA testing was ordered as well as a medical checkup.

  More officers were called in and many more questions were asked. Melinda willingly wrote down answers to all their questions up to the time of her and her father’s disappearance as truthfully as she could remember, but revealed nothing about their encounter with Droclum or her life up in the Susitna Valley. Adele answered all questions directed her way, but had little imagination to apply to speculating on where Melinda may have been for the past six and a half years. Melinda didn’t help them out, which resulted in a mental exam as well.

  When the onslaught of interrogation finally subsided, Adele realized, with some dismay, she was expected to take the strangely quiet spirit girl home with her.

  The relationship between Melinda and her aunt started out strained at best. Melinda avoided any further use of telepathy for fear of causing her aunt to go into another swoon. She tried smiling instead and answered questions she was willing to answer with pen and paper. Aunt Adele’s home was located along one of the few roads that ventured inland away from the coast. It was a modest clapboard house in a modest neighborhood. Used to hard work, Melinda helped around the house as much as she could …washing dishes, sweeping the floor, and taking out the trash. Slowly Aunt Adele relaxed a little and opened up, becoming talkative once again and letting Melinda help with the cooking.

  Melinda learned a great deal about her aunt’s life during the intervening years. Aunt Adele was now a widow; her Uncle Howard had died just a few years ago in a logging accident. As for her cousins, most of them were still here if not exactly still living at home, although their rooms were always ready for them. Jim, the eldest of the four brothers, was a logger following in his father’s footsteps. “He’s now foreman of his own crew,” Adele said with pride. Melinda could barely remember her cousin Jim or her Uncle Howard; most of the time they had been off somewhere working.

  Adele’s second son, Tony, had a private bunkroom at the cannery and spent most nights there. This was a busy time at the cannery with fishing gearing up. He was usually the most accessible when she needed something, but he never made it to the State Troopers’ office when his mother called. Still, he had rushed home as soon as he could. Of course Aunt Adele made a big issue, as she saw it, over his neglect. Tony patiently, and as good-naturedly as possible, pleaded his case. Melinda recalled her Cousin Tony’s friendly playful nature and could remember him teasing her as a little girl.

  The third brother, Greg, was a fisherman with his own boat, which also served as his living quarters except when he needed to wash clothes and take a shower. Adele gladly did his laundry for him; it was a small price to pay for her son’s visit. Sometimes he even let her cook him a big dinner and then spent the night. This is the cousin she remembered the best for he had often accompanied her and her father on their fishing boat to help them out, especially right after her mother died, until Melinda was able to help her father herself. When he showed up for the first time, she recognized him immediately. Apparently his recognition of her was just as definitive, for he grabbed her up into his powerful arms and swung her around with joy.

  Joey, the youngest of the brothers, was the closest to her own age, but the one she liked the least. She remembered him as a bully always wanting to pick a fight. As Aunt Adele’s baby he was the most spoiled and tended to get his way. She was not disappointed to learn that he left the area all together a couple of years ago, seeking something different. Aunt Adele heard from him occasionally …always from a different location. Not one of her four sons had married or fathered any grandchildren she knew of, a fact she lamented grievously.

  News of Melinda’s reappearance spread rapidly through the greater Ketchikan area. Many longtime residents had known Pete Poponof and even more remembered the incident of the disappearance of the Taku, and the subsequent search for the missing vessel with Pete Poponof and his daughter Melinda onboard. Nothing was ever found. That is until Melinda turned up at a State Trooper’s office.

  The local TV filming crew showed up at their front door wanting an interview. Aunt Adele, excited over the grand attention, invited them in. Melinda wanted to flee, but her aunt kept her firmly planted beside her in front of the camera …and gladly did all the talking. The actual broadcast that evening on the local TV station was too painful for Melinda to watch. Out of sheer embarrassment, she hoped her friends and true family in the northern Susitna Valley wouldn’t be exposed to the broadcast. Overnight Melinda and Aunt Adele were neighborhood celebrities.

  The very next day a news crew arrived from Anchorage. Again Melinda was subjected to the horror of being filmed and the humiliation of her aunt’s vociferous joy in the broadening attention. There were pictures and articles about Melinda in the paper every day. Then Aunt Adele received a phone call; a nationally syndicated news crew was expected to arrive in Ketchikan in the morning.

  That night, Greg came ashore for a meal and shower, giving Melinda an idea for an escape plan. When Aunt Adele wasn’t looking, she secretly handed Greg a note. Please, she telepathed after he had a chance to read it. Greg could hear her plea, or thought he did, and gave her a reassuring nod and wink. He would do what he could to help her. That night, Greg and Melinda snuck out the house and onto his fi
shing vessel The Bounty. The Bounty left the docks before daylight, before Adele woke to greet the morning, and before any more reporters and camera crews could accost her. This time Melinda would manage to escape and Aunt Adele would have the spotlight all to herself.

  It was a rare beautifully sunny day, the water of the sound flowed smoothly, silky in texture and radiance, reflecting mid-night blue and silver in the light. The salty fishy aura of the sea and air, the steady rumble of the boat’s engine, and the subtle vibration of the deck under her feet thrilled her soul. She was back in her element; finally she was truly home.

  There was little in the way of conversation. Writing paper notes was an impractical method of communication while working alongside Greg and his hired deckhand cleaning fish and icing them down. Throughout the day Melinda worked on the deck of The Bounty, her muscles recalling skills she learned long ago, while her mind considered options for her future.

  This worked out well for Melinda since she wasn’t interested in chatter and she certainly didn’t want to be asked any more questions. She wished only to communicate with the sea and her surroundings. When the deckhand attempted a few questions to appease his own curiosity, Greg quickly made it clear that Melinda was not to be bothered. This gave Melinda plenty of time to think, and she had plenty to think about.

  How long had it been since Rahlys brought her back to southeast …four days? It seemed incredulous that so little time had actually passed. She did not want to stay at her Aunt’s home forever …not for a year, not even for a month. She did have some resources of her own. With her newly issued state ID and the deckhand license she now possessed, she could claim the money she and her father had stashed for her future, in an account under her name, during the years she fished with him. And then there was still the barely perceptible but persistent tug of the mysterious key she carried in her pocket.