“Ohmigod. One of us. Who?”
Daniel bowed his head. Lara recognized this look of frustration. “I don't know. I have tried very hard to see this person, but because I am myself a part of the Nya-phur’um, I look out upon the rest of the universe through the eyes of both the spiritual entity and the physical traveler. But I cannot tell one from the other.”
Lara grimaced, and Daniel smiled knowingly. “The Nya-phur’um sees within, without and beyond, but it does not follow the linear existence of a corporeal lifeform. For example, I was able to come to you without the physical traveler actually bringing me to your door. But if I did not have a traveler, I would be adrift forever and I would not be able to reach out to you. Do you understand?”
Lara wasn't so sure it really mattered whether she did. That she was in neither a dream nor her own reality was convoluted enough, so she accepted Daniel's explanation, such as it was. They walked another 50 meters along this passage before Daniel stopped.
“It's important we change our position relative to Sh'hun. Come with me, Lara.”
The man she loved as much as her own life leaped up, grabbed hold of the dark, rocky ceiling with one hand and pressed the other hand deep into the rock. As he began to climb, he looked down at Lara and smiled.
“Wish it, and you will do it,” he told her.
“Wish it?” She whispered.
“Remember, this is not your reality.”
It made stupid, logical sense to Lara, and she launched herself upward and found that with essentially no effort, one arm flung up and grabbed hold of something within the rock face. The other arm followed. She felt no resistance, no gravity pulling her back, and as her right arm reached farther upward, she realized the rock ceiling itself was a mirage. She climbed into the ceiling.
She lunged into pitch darkness, but she was not frightened, and the light soon returned, Daniel at her side. They emerged …
Somewhere else.
This was also a tunnel, but the walls were quite different. They were aglow, but with a hue of green that Lara knew she should have been familiar with. The rocks seemed alive. They were sliding over each other. The tunnel had an end within sight, and brilliant yellow light splashed into the exit.
“He's farther away now, still very distracted, panicked,” Daniel said. “Before we leave the tunnel, there is more you must know.”
Lara raised a finger. “Why did we have to climb here?”
“By moving about, I've simply made it more of a task for Sh'hun to find me, because he will come looking very soon, once he realizes how much I threaten him.”
“Can he hurt you?”
“I don't believe so. We are a part of each other in a sense. But he can rein me in, and he can banish you.”
“I don't understand how you came to be a part of this, Daniel. You're human. He's a Fyal. How is all of this possible?” Lara felt guilty for asking. She did not want Daniel to think she was skeptical.
Daniel snapped a finger and cracked a knowing smile. “Our merger was accidental. When the crew returned from the surface of Centauri III, and we were forced to kill the two Fyal onboard, we thought we were successful. One was released through an airlock, and the other, Sh'hun, fell hard over a catwalk. But it did not actually die until later.
“In the time between its fall and its placement in stasis, Sh'hun chose a destiny for its Nya-phur’um. Everything became clear to Sh'hun, and it set a plan into motion.”
Daniel began to trail off, then regained his composure. “With the Nya-phur’um safe within the new traveler, it could sustain the body of Sh'hun indefinitely. It was Sh'hun's goal that this illusion remain until Andorran arrived at Earth and both the traveler and Sh'hun's body were down on the planet."
“But for what possible reason?”
“Lara, the Nya-phur’um within a physical traveler can speak to the Nya-phur’um of any other traveler, anywhere in this universe. Collectively, they can communicate to each other all at once. Even if separated by hundreds of light years, they can reach out to each other.” He stepped closer to her, and his face was ashen. “They can literally come to each other by way of their physical travelers. All that is required is point A and point B.”
“Ohmigod,” she whispered. “Are you saying that all this time, Sh'hun has been speaking with other Fyal on Centauri III?”
“In a sense, yes. Communicating with them in a manner that only the Nya-phur’um can. Feeling, sensing, believing. But things began to change toward the end of our journey home. Perhaps it was the sheer distance, but the strain on Sh'hun's ability to remain in contact with its people and also maintain the illusion of its physical traveler became quite heavy. When it realized the hydrothermic regulators on the stasis unit were going to fail, it knew this could pose a problem, and so it focused part of its energy on willing the regulators to work properly. On Centauri III, this would have been an easy task because of the symbiotic relationship between the Fyal and all their organic technology. But on Andorran, our technology is much more difficult for a Nya-phur’um to control by sheer force of mind. So Sh'hun made mistakes. Instead of controlling the regulators, Sh'hun managed to stop the flow of refrigerants into the unit. Remember how Fran told you she had found the permastat valves to be dry, as if they had not been used for months? That was the product of Sh'hun's mistake.
“And so, I came down to fix the regulators. Sh'hun panicked when it realized what I was about to discover. In a moment of sheer desperation, afraid that everything would be lost, Sh'hun willed the unit to explode. All the power of the Nya-phur’um was focused upon that desire, and it succeeded. The unit exploded. But Sh'hun made a horrible mistake: By willing the explosion, it was willing my simultaneous death. It made me a part of its very destiny.”
Lara realized what Daniel was going to say next.
“When you died,” she said softly, “your soul became one with the Nya-phur’um.” And then the words popped into the forefront of her mind: The union. Do you believe in the union?
“Yes,” Daniel answered, “and the Nya-phur’um was weakened, at least for a short while. Its focus became completely skewed, and its energy splintered.”
“Ohmigod,” Lara realized. “So it was like an echo? That's what the captain called it. All those lifeforms we were detecting. They're actually one lifeform splintered?”
“Exactly, Lara. The echo began just before the explosion, when the Nya-phur’um overextended its energy. That is what Fran first saw on the heat sensor array. And that is what caused the moment of paralysis among everyone on the crew.”
Lara stepped back. “Paralysis? What are you ... wait a minute! The captain! I saw him paralyzed in the SlipTube. But why do you say everyone?”
“Because Miguel Navarro was not the only one who was frozen in time. All of us were, including you and me. Don't worry, Lara. You can't remember it any more than Miguel. But what is important is why it happened.”
Daniel took her by the hand, and they started for the end of the tunnel and the yellow light. He was silent for a few seconds, looking straight ahead, and Lara tried to follow his eyes. He remained silent until they were within a few feet of the exit. Lara tried to look through the light, but it was glaring. He turned to her.
“We were all affected when the Nya-phur’um splintered, because we were all connected to the Nya-phur’um by the one thing common to all the Fyal: Ku-ccha. The water of Centauri III.
“Once we first drank it 15 years ago, we became at least in some small way connected to the Fyal. You see, ku-ccha is much more powerful than we realized. Remember the hormone in ku-ccha that Olivia could not break down but determined to be latent?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not latent. It has controlled the course of the Fyal's evolution. They cannot survive without ku-ccha, and they derive their mental powers solely from it. Millennia of drinking ku-ccha brought about the birth of the Nya-phur’um and will take the Fyal to the final stage of evolution
unless they find a way to prevent it.”
Lara thought she understood. “We must have been affected by the Nya-phur’um’s energy because all of us have ku-ccha within us. Could it have stayed with us for 15 years?”
“No, not what we consumed on Centauri III. Do you remember the last thing Olivia said? She discovered Susan was injected with ku-ccha.”
Lara felt lightheaded. “Ohmigod. You mean the physical traveler injected everyone, don't you?”
“Yes, Lara. At different times during the return voyage. And with a very highly concentrated dosage.”
“But for what reason?”
“The Nya-phur’um wanted to be inside everyone's thoughts, to always know what was happening and be able to predict any outcome. But it didn't work. The high dosage of ku-ccha only produced varying degrees of irrational behavior in some of us.”
One part of the puzzle became clear. “Susan?”
“Indeed. Everything Susan thought happened to her was merely an irrational illusion brought on by the ku-ccha. But Miguel Navarro suffered the worst. His mind broke down almost beyond repair.”
Lara shook her head. “This is incredible, Daniel.”
“I tell you this so you will understand that what I am about to show you may happen very soon. Perhaps within the hour.” He turned to face the brilliantly lit exit. “Follow me through. Lift your arms and stretch them forward, Lara.”
Slowly, awkwardly, she did as he said. As she walked toward the heart of the light, Lara kept her arms high and forward, as if she were trying to push something away. She was frightened.
When the light enveloped her, it was excruciatingly bright, and yet she did not feel the need to shield her eyes. Instead, she continued forward. Although Daniel entered right at her side, she could not see him now, but she heard his voice. It sounded distant.
“You know this place, Lara, because you have been here before. All of us have. This is Centauri III.”
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he opened her mouth to respond with incredulity, but the light began to flicker, and other colors and shapes emerged in front of her. But before the picture became clear, her hands became stuck.
This wall felt at first like rubber, and she jerked back her hands.
“Continue,” Daniel told her.
Lara turned the palms of her hands toward her. She saw nothing on them, but they seemed glazed.
“Continue,” Daniel insisted. “Wish it, and you will be through.”
The breath she took was long and deep, and she extended her hands again. They fell into the rubber barrier, but this time she pushed forward. The wall began to give. She stepped forward and struggled against the elasticity, and it stretched out and around her, and she walked farther into it. Gradually, it consumed her, falling back over her body as if it were a mold. The wall was completely translucent, and Lara could see greens and browns beyond the fading light.
She felt the rubber tight against her skin, and Lara was not certain she could breathe against it. Go through. Go through.
And she did.
She thought the ground was vibrating around her. There was a low hum, and both the yellow light and the rubber barrier were gone.
I don't want to be here.
She knew what Daniel had said was true: This was indeed the planet Centauri III. It had been 15 years since the crew of Andorran visited, but there was no denying what she saw. Spectacular hues of green all around. A strong mist. Soft, soggy moss beneath her feet.
“Ohmigod. The city.”
She knew it well. M’moc-yon, where they made first contact with the Fyal. She recognized the organic structures that lined the high, long mound before her.
“This is an illusion, Daniel. We're not really here.”
He reached down and grabbed hold of her right hand and gripped it firmly. “No, Lara. This is real. You are seeing this world as it actually is at this moment in time. Do not forget, you are within the Nya-phur’um. All that is and all that ever was in space and time.”
“How could I have been brought so far so fast?”
“We have traveled in the same fashion the Fyal will use to come to Earth. Through the sheer will of billions of Nya-phur’um and the common bond of ku-ccha.”
She breathed deeply, mist expiring with each exhalation. She smelled methane. Daniel's eyes turned upward, and he pointed toward the sky.
“They're ready. All of them. They'll move across space soon.”
When she gazed upon the bleached blue sky devoid of clouds, pain streaked across her chest.
Four enormous objects blotted out parts of the sky. At first, they as resembled huge moons in close orbit. But Lara knew better.
These were ships. Bright chartreuse, ovoid ships with few discernible markings, the outer shell of each reflecting a smooth metallic sheen off the sunlight. These craft were hovering, and she senses a low distant hum. A vibration.
Each ship was kilometers wide and perhaps no more than a thousand meters above the surface.
“They're enormous,” she whispered. “Please don't tell me ...”
“They're coming, Lara. For the moment, they're merely waiting. Almost all the Fyal are onboard those ships.”
“What? There are two billion Fyal!”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at the ships in silence for a few seconds, then continued: “I told you my merger with the Nya-phur’um caused a splinter in Sh'hun's focus. Since that time, it has been struggling to regain its focus. The increased frequency of those echoes on Andorran is part of that struggle. And now Sh'hun's effort is nearly complete. When the Nya-phur’um is fully rejoined with itself and the echoes are gone, it will bring these ships to Earth. And they are ready to act swiftly and decisively.”
Her heart ached. “But how? These are ships. On Earth, they'll ...”
“On Earth, they'll overwhelm any resistance that stands before them. Lara, the reason the Fyal have waited for this moment, to come to Earth this way, is because it is the only way they could travel. The amount of time it would take even at light speed would be potentially deadly for them. This is why they have not gone out to the stars before now. They are as much a part of this world as are these plants, these rocks, those buildings, the ku-ccha. All of them are forever tied to this world. Everything here is essentially one thing.
“Everything they create must have a symbiotic relationship with them and with the planet itself. That's why they could not build a ship like Andorran with Andorran's technology. It is incompatible. But Fyal technology is so foreign to our own and impervious to any weapon we send it against …”
She didn't need to hear anymore. This picture was complete.
This is how they'll come.
“Is there any way to stop this?”
He kept his eyes skyward as he replied. “There's only one way. You must kill the physical traveler.”
“But you said the traveler is one of the crew. I can't do that.”
He pivoted to her. “If the traveler is killed, then the Nya-phur’um will be set adrift in space and time. With the Nya-phur’um adrift, focus will be lost and the Fyal will not be able to travel to Earth. There really is no other way.”
“But I don't even know who the traveler is.”
“You'll have to figure it out. Quickly, Lara.”
“Does the traveler know about the Nya-phur’um?”
“It is latent within the conscious mind. But once focus is regained, it should overwhelm the traveler's mind, and identity will become obvious. You can't afford to wait that long. There should be sufficient evidence in the computer's logs to make a logical deduction.”
She looked up again at the giant ships, then at Daniel. He was hurting, she could tell. Water streamed from his eyes.
You know I can't kill.
“I don't think I'd need to review the computer logs,” she said. “I'm pretty certain it must be Miguel. He's said and done too many things. To
o suspicious, contradictory …”
Daniel grabbed hold of his side as if in stark pain then frowned. “No,” he said gently. “Although I can't see the traveler, I am positive it cannot be Miguel Navarro. Not any longer.”
“What? How do you …”
Daniel took a long, deep breath, and he winced in dire pain.
“What's wrong, Daniel?”
“Listen to me, Lara. He's searching for us now. Listen to me, Lara.” He grabbed hold of her by an arm and gripped tightly. “Death is sometimes a necessity for life. If I had not died, we would all have died. You are the only barrier between billions of souls. Please, Lara. Take one life to preserve all the others.”
She saw the desperation in his eyes, and she knew he was saying so much more.
I can't leave you. Don't ...
The vibration so distant moments ago seemed much closer, and her footing became unsteady. She felt a breeze against her back.
“But if I kill the traveler, I'll kill you,” she said meekly.
“You know that's not possible, not ever.” He pressed his lips against her as hard as he could.
Lara felt a warmth and a loving softness not present earlier. This was real.
Daniel groaned as he fell back, wrapped his hands across his abdomen. “Not possible, not ever,” he said through the pain, and the breeze became a devastating wind.
Lara struggled to maintain her balance.
“Remember, Lara. Remember. There is always destiny!”
In a chaotic moment, as the blue sky turned gray and the sunlight dimmed, Lara wanted him to explain. But in an instant, he vanished into the receding light. Lara sensed her mind leaving this body, her senses splintered into many pieces. With what little energy she had left, she turned.
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