by Drew Briney
“No,” Dr. Boyd repeated for the third time, his cognitive dissonance intensifying, his disappointment growing, and his frustration furiously mounting.
Unhappy at his misfortune of having to deliver all of this bad news at once, Greydon held back several questions: Will this delay our mission? Will the natives attack before we go? Do you think Blaze and Evelia will survive? How will we find them? The latter question reminded him that he had forgotten to report on his failure to find Blaze’s staff – though the implication of Blaze’s disappearance clearly suggested this result. However, one interminably burning question could not be suppressed: “Sir, do you think Blaze could have taken the missing database?”
“No,” Dr. Boyd instinctively responded without the slightest hesitation or thought. “He knows nothing about this version of the database – and for that matter, he knows nothing about Unit 5. If he left the Order, he undoubtedly took the southernmost exit – it’s the only exit he knows about – and that exit doesn’t even allow a view of Unit 5 without travelling all around the exterior of his Order. No, this is unrelated – and the timing is very unfortunate.” His voice trailed off again. Dr. Boyd was not normally so distracted and disjunct with his thinking so his response showed that he had not anticipated any of these new developments and that he was personally and emotionally distraught over the news. Still half drowned in his own concerns, he almost whispered his last question: “It tends to suggest a traitor does it not?”
The young man shifted nervously. Dr. Boyd’s last sentence unnerved him. Not only did it state the obvious – something he didn’t want to admit outwardly – it came with the more formal grammar that everyone else was required to use – the grammar that Dr. Boyd occasionally slipped out of because of his old age and old habits. Intended or not, the formality of the inquiry left the young recruit feeling that he was being accused – accused of something that he did not do.
“I am afraid so, sir. However, there appears to be little motivation for anyone to take a copy of the completed databases when everyone who knows about them has been promised a complete and clean copy in just a few weeks when we begin our mission …”
“Right!” Dr. Boyd responded with some degree of enthusiasm. “You’ve marked the problem well. Go. Do a search of any correspondence discussing the database in the last couple of months. Sweep the discussions for anything that would give us a clue as to who might have taken that earlier version and what their motive may have been.”
“So you think we can find it?” Greydon asked hopefully.
“We can only hope so,” Dr. Boyd finished, looking distant once again. “But I’m more concerned about finding out who has it,” he added. Then, as an afterthought, he suggested, “Don’t forget to search encrypted messages, misspellings, code words, and the like … and I suppose you had better go back a few months just to be safe.”
“Yes, sir,” the young man responded, quickly turning on his heels.
SHE WAS A SENSUAL BEING. In tune to everything that was happening around her, she made herself an extension of nature itself. It had taken time to attune herself to this new planet but she was becoming one with it and with that endeavor, she was finding a peace she had not known on her home moon – peace she had always intuitively wanted, unconsciously needed, and keenly anticipated.
Sad, she grimaced inwardly, to have been so lost in my own world only to become one with another one so far away. Here, she sensed the energy of every living creature around her. Here, she more keenly noticed when moisture passed into the pores of her skin. Here, she felt more subtle changes in the movement of air around her. Here, she felt how strongly the world buzzed with life. Its people might refer to her moon as a long string of islands encapsulated by vast swaths of desert-like, sandy beaches. Before, her home had seemed full of energy and life: 70% of its surfaced covered with water, its continents were primarily beaches; its mountainous areas boasted tons of foliage and greenery of every sort but most of her people lived along the sandy beaches where plants and trees and flowers were less abundant. Even with all of those factors considered, her home held no amount of life and energy that compared to the area she lived in now. In retrospect, her previous home almost seemed dead – that is, compared to the energy she keenly felt here. It invigorated her; it enlivened her senses; it left her buzzing with excitement.
But she was very lonely.
Visits with Dr. Boyd, the old man who looked decades younger than he was, had been enjoyable. At least, they provided her with some companionship. But lately, even those visits were becoming less fulfilling. Full of questions, the scientist was void of meaningful answers; full of aspirations, he seemed to lack direction; and full of ideas, he seemed to lack purpose. It was clear to the magic woman that Dr. Boyd felt he was doing the right things; however, even without the benefit of reading his mind, he had told her enough of his activities to guarantee banishment from her people were he to live among them. This, she was keenly aware of; this, she knew quite deeply. After all, she had her secrets too.
She sensed energy shifting.
Humans. Two. One injured – badly. Neither was a local native; neither was Dr. Boyd. One was carrying the other; both were deliberately making their way towards the magic woman. Torn between her interminable curiosity, her desire to help anyone in need, and her desire to keep this spot holy and untainted by outside influences, she hesitated. She compromised to allow Dr. Boyd to meet her here – and it was no small compromise – but he had something she desperately needed – something she could get from no one else – something she could not live without. Ultimately, nature itself must decide whether or not to bring people here – it was not her spot after all – she had just found it and recognized it for what it was: a holy place, a place where nature’s energy was magnified far beyond what it was in other places, a place where she could listen to what the earth itself had to say.
And now, it seemed to say that it was allowing these two humans to come here.
She crouched behind some bushes to get a good look at them and to size them up before making a decision as to what she might do next.
“WE ARE NOT FAR EVELIA … hold on … be strong. Those plants should be close by. I cannot remember their name but I will recognize them. They grow by these little ponds of water and I can see the water now. They have jagged red tips and purplish stems – they look so different from anything you have seen before that you cannot miss them. Do not worry. I will get you some.”
Her head flopped helplessly to the side.
“No!” the boy instructed. “Hold on! Just a few more minutes. Do not leave me Evelia. There is too much at stake. We need you. Do you hear me? Stay with me Evelia!”
The boy was frantic.
But he was right.
Those plants were found on each side of the pond and he was only a dozen yards from a small patch if he would quit looking at the petit brunette in his arms and look around for the desired foliage a little harder.
But it might be too late, the magic woman considered.
Despite her loneliness, the magic woman was slow to approach people or to talk to them; she was even loathe to bother spending time analyzing their energies; she was unabashedly antisocial in many ways. After all, this race was, all things considered, intolerably violent.
But she was also a very curious individual.
The large human girl – at least, she was large by the alien woman’s standards – looked delicate and had a pleasant countenance – despite the effects of the poison. Somehow, Evelia (as the boy called her), seemed too pristine, too innocent, and too delicate to be sacrificed to the savageness of these dangerous wetlands. Somehow, it seemed an offense to nature to let her life slip away while numerous beasts and abominations of nature were allowed to freely run around these jungles. It seemed a contradiction to spare the life of these beasts while not sparing this harmless creature’s life.
That is why she did it.
She didn’t even take the time to carefully c
onsider the energy circulating among these two strangers. She intuitively knew that Evelia carried good energy, that she was worthy of help, and that she could receive energy harmonious with the nature around her – even if she had never been here before. Intuitively, the magic woman knew that nature itself yearned to right the wrong of its mutant inhabitants. So, she quickly – but gracefully – leaped out of the foliage and gazelled towards the young couple. She expected that her sudden appearance might surprise the young boy and leave him feeling overly anxious given his companion’s vulnerable condition; she expected that he might even feel frightened.
But she was very wrong.
He almost seemed to smile with relief to see her.
Very strange, she mentally noted, not taking the time to consider the situation more carefully. She had more important things to do. She had reached her destination. Gracefully acknowledging the young boy with a nod and a timid smile, she reached her hands towards Evelia’s face. And he didn’t resist.
Tired, stressed, and trusting without a reasonable choice, Blaze quickly lowered Evelia to the ground where the magic woman could see her better. But the magic woman did not need to see the wound or her patient; she needed to feel her. Placing her hands around the young woman’s face much like a mother grabs the face of a small child to get its attention and to make somber eye contact, the magic woman closed her eyes, placed her cheek next to Evelia’s cheek and whispered in her ears something Blaze was unable to make out. He wasn’t sure if this alien creature was speaking too softly for him to hear well or if she was speaking in a foreign tongue but whatever she was saying soothed his nerves – and he found himself relaxing under the influence of her voice.
“Evelia,” he heard in harmonious tones, as if two people were speaking together in unison. Then, Blaze heard nothing else he could repeat. He immediately understood that she was speaking in her native language and he immediately recognized that her speech resembled the gentle, relaxing purring of a satisfied feline. He noticed that her tail was wrapped around Evelia’s closest wrist and that the magic woman was holding that carved sphere Dr. Boyd described in his journal entry.
It glowed.
The magic woman’s skin glowed ever so slightly – and it glistened as well. Blaze might have tried to resist noticing these interesting details about the alien’s body and focused on the needs of Evelia but he intuitively sensed there was no need for him here and nothing he could do that would help. Beyond intuition, he consciously felt calm and peaceful as the magic woman spoke. He nearly felt entranced by her voice and that glowing sphere.
Evelia was glowing too. Mostly, it seemed her skin was glowing but soon, Blaze could tell that the glow was moving internally. He guessed that the glow might be draining – or pushing – the poison out of Evelia’s leg where she had been bitten by some puny, harmless looking lizard. Had it been a snake, Blaze would have pushed it aside with his staff or shot something at it to make it change its course – but a lizard? It hardly seemed a threat at the time. Like Dr. Boyd, he wouldn’t have believed the tales of the natives. But now, he knew better.
Soon, there was a mass of coagulated liquid slodgily stagnating on the ground underneath the bite, collecting itself together like some sludgy black algae at the edge of a dormant pond. Task complete, Evelia’s skin still seemed to glow a little and Blaze quietly – and quickly – determined that he liked it. Somehow, it made Evelia even more beautiful in his eyes and somehow, it made her seem more innocent and pure as well.
But she still wasn’t moving – and he couldn’t tell if she was breathing either.
BLAZE STOOD AT THE TOP of the outcropping, quietly considering whether or not Evelia was alive, waiting for some sign of breathing to return, furiously rehearsing the daily and massive changes in his life that led him to this moment, and quietly trying not to notice the imposing complex of buildings he could see from this vantage point. It was all there – boasting of its majesty and inviting everyone for miles around to see: Unit 7 – that is us, he mused, digesting the new information that he had been learning. And that must be Unit 5, he guessed, looking at the building behind it where he had obtained a complete copy of the database, and there must be at least five more, he logically deduced, unable to clearly identify where one building may have ended and where another may have begun. But this distraction lasted less than a few seconds – the real focus of his attention was Evelia.
For years now, Blaze had been interested in this young woman. For years he had sought out opportunities to visit with her, to get to know her better, to befriend her. For years, he had considered the day when he might approach her father and Dr. Boyd about the possibility of marrying this young woman. The formality of this archaic system of marriage was intimidating to Blaze – despite the fact that it made a lot of sense under the existing circumstances. And while everyone knew that Blaze could pretty much choose to marry whomever he wished under those same circumstances – there were few young men around, there were few young women available, and there were even fewer of each who could have children. All things considered, Blaze wasn’t interested in pulling rank. He was interested in genuine friendship, a lifelong friendship. And despite many months of concerted effort, he simply felt too shy to approach Evelia most of the time and he secretly worried that she might return his interest for practical purposes only – or worse, out of duty.
The Order environment was simply too stifling, he had thought many times before – and he found himself thinking it again now. But now that I am outside with plenty of time to visit … this happens.
Evelia’s chest started rising as she made guttural, gasping sounds. She breathes, Blaze heard in his mind. It was a woman’s voice, not his own, and it made him quickly look at the magic woman next to him.
The mental intrusion was accidental – and she was sorry for that – but she turned her head upwards at the young human and smiled with unfeigned pleasure. Then, she moved her hand to caress Evelia’s cheek.
“It’s alright dear … everything will be just fine,” she purred with her harmonious voices. “You’re going to be just fine.”
She uses contractions, Blaze silently noted as he beamed at Evelia’s opening eyes.
“WE HAVE NEWS TO SHARE WITH YOU,” he said to the magic woman. Blaze had turned this moment over and over in his mind, unsure of exactly what would be the best way to handle this situation. Not known for being overly logical, he had a tendency to think things through, make a decision, and then follow his gut instinct to do something entirely different from what he had planned.
That is what he found himself doing now.
“Can you read my mind?”
The little woman furrowed her brow slightly, tilting her head and looking deeply into his eyes. “Would you want me to?” she softly queried.
“Okay – let me be honest here. My thoughts are jumbled. I have thought about this situation constantly for days now. We have been looking for you for a number of days as well. I do not understand what is happening around me and I do not know the best way to explain our situation so …” Blaze paused for a moment, feeling like he was simply babbling instead of saying anything helpful. “If you could read minds, it might be easier.”
“I see,” the magic woman responded, still looking carefully into his eyes. Blaze was unaware but she was carefully analyzing whether or not what he was saying to her was truthful, how he was feeling subconsciously about what he was saying, and how much stress he was under this very moment. “I can only read all or nothing,” she warned with such a soothing voice that Blaze failed to consider the intrusiveness of what she might do and failed to consider things that he might not want anyone else to know – those secrets that everyone has and never shares until finally, one forgets those secrets altogether.
“Okay,” he answered blandly.
As she moved a step towards him, Blaze remembered how Dr. Boyd said that she moved gracefully – like a swan or an egret, and determined that he agreed. There was something su
rreal about the way the magic woman moved. He could have wondered whether or not she was even capable of doing anything violent or nefarious at all but such an idea was almost unthinkable when he was in her presence. She represented peace itself – and despite her unfamiliar, alien features, she was enchanting in every way. The magic woman held both of her hands in cupping shape in front of her face and beckoned Blaze to kneel down by twice straightening and contracting her fingers back into cupping position – although her hands were angled somewhat as if pouring contents out of her hand.
While Blaze knelt before her, she remained standing, offering a reassuring smile for the young man and his petite companion. Placing the blades of her hands underneath his ears and her fingertips underneath his skull, she tugged his head very gently upwards as if carefully bearing the weight of his head – and his burdens seemed to lift with the movement. Then, in that mesmerizing, purring voice that was so characteristic of her personality, she instructed Blaze: “This will not hurt at all but you may have many emotions surface while your spirit speaks to mine.” One set of her vocal chords seemed to whisper while the other seemed so mellow and melodious that Blaze instinctively calmed down – his heartbeat slowed, his blood pressure lowered, his mental activity lessened. Passingly, Blaze worried that he might fall asleep. Then, closing her eyes as if concentrating very intently on her own thoughts, the lithe little alien added, “please calm yourself and don’t move while I learn what message you came to give me.”
