AWOL

by Traci Harding

  ‘We do not presume to know the Princess Satomi’s intentions; our concern is for your safety. Which is why I have brought you this.’ Taren pulled out a piece of stone from her pocket and walked forwards to present it to the Qusay.

  This was not a Juju stone, but Satomi would be none the wiser as Taren made the pretty blue stone glow for effect, so it would look unique to anything seen before.

  ‘It is beautiful.’ The queen eyed it over, not keen to touch the illuminated stone. ‘Is it an amulet of some description?’

  ‘It certainly is,’ Taren said with a sincere smile. ‘It will protect your Majesty from sub-etheric evil.’

  ‘How wonderful!’ The Qusay reached for it.

  ‘It will also aid you to tread the path of the righteous.’ Taren stared the Qusay in the eye, and her fingers paused before they touched the stone. ‘What’s the matter?’ Taren whispered, ‘has Satomi got your tongue?’

  The Qusay stood and Taren backed up a few steps. ‘Think you are so clever, don’t you?’ said the queen, and with a wave of her hand, a psychic restraining device appeared and clamped around Taren’s ankle. The device was cast off before Taren even noticed it and rolled across the floor — her Juju had repelled it.

  ‘Two can play that game.’ Taren directed the device towards the Qusay, who turned to smoke and vanished before the item reached her, whereupon the mental restraint fell defunct on the floor once again.

  ‘The true Qusay has many talents but shapeshifting is not one of them. What have you done with the Qusay-Sabah Clarona?’ Taren demanded to know, as she watched the smoke thicken into a form once again.

  ‘She is somewhere you shall never retrieve her.’ The Qusay returned to a physical form but still appeared as the Qusay-Sabah Clarona.

  ‘You sent her to the celestial city!’ Taren knew there was little to no chance of getting her out of there.

  The Qusay came striding towards Taren, and a sword appeared in her hand, which she pointed at Taren in threat. ‘What have you done with the halfling of shadow?’

  Satomi must have decided that if she couldn’t best Taren with psychic force, she’d resort to good old physical threats — but it would serve her no better. Taren teleported herself to the other side of the room.

  ‘He is where you will never find him.’ Taren rested easy in knowing Satomi had not been on board their vessel long enough to learn anything of AMIE’s true mission.

  ‘Oh, the Valoureans will find him, and his allies, and they will kill on sight,’ the Qusay assured, vanishing and reappearing behind Taren with the sword at her throat. ‘Our foremothers were right, all men are perfidious snakes,’ the Qusay hissed into her ear.

  ‘Zeven has not one ounce of treachery in him! His intentions are pure —’ Taren elbowed her assailant in the ribs, whilst batting the hand holding the weapon away from her throat. As she turned about she smacked the same elbow into the impostor’s face, and the Qusay fell to the floor unconscious.

  Taren was rather surprised by her own strength, she hadn’t had to use her secret service combat skills in some time, but she was even more shocked when the body of her mother, lying on the ground, transformed into a Valourean and not Satomi. That would explain how she could lift a hand to the Qusay and her guard did not attack; clearly her aunt was as slippery as a snake. ‘You can hide from me,’ Taren challenged, ‘but I will flush you out eventually.’

  All the Valoureans around the walls remained stone-faced. ‘You will not get away with this.’

  ‘With what?’ One of the guards took Satomi’s form. ‘Taking what is rightfully mine?’

  ‘No.’ Taren approached her. ‘Destroying the peace we’ve worked so hard to establish —’

  ‘Ha!’ Another Valourean assumed Satomi’s appearance. ‘There can be no peace while the halfling of shadow lives!’

  Taren backed up a few paces, back towards the throne, realising that any one of the fifty-strong force of Valoureans could be Satomi — how were they doing this?

  ‘So you run and tell your father what I have done.’ Yet another Valourean assumed Satomi’s form. ‘And save us the trouble of declaring war.’

  ‘This is insane!’ Taren could hardly believe how quickly six years of planning had come undone, and she couldn’t blame Zeven for it as she believed in his agenda. ‘Satomi, if you would only allow us to explain —’

  All the Valoureans present took Satomi’s form to order at once, ‘Kill her!’

  As Valoureans reached for their weapons and came rushing in her direction, Taren could have frozen them all and continued the argument. But the chances were that Satomi was not even present in the room, and there was little point in trying to reason with Valoureans following their Qusay’s orders.

  Taren had learned all she needed to, and so chose to vanish back to AMIE.

  When Taren appeared in Lucian’s office she was cursing and swearing.

  ‘Not good news, I take it?’ The captain stood and came out from behind his desk to see if he could calm her down.

  ‘Satomi has deposed my mother as Qusay and sent her to the celestial city where we cannot reach her … not without reversing the curse of the Phemoray first.’ Taren began to list their woes. ‘She has served her Valoureans a death warrant on Khalid and Zeven —’

  ‘Stop!’ Lucian grabbed hold of his wife, hoping to prevent her from free-falling into a total meltdown. ‘No one can find our crew on Oceane … no one close to Satomi even knows it exists, and we are all protected by the Juju.’

  ‘Satomi’s ghost has been following Mythric around for as long as she has been dead!’ Taren reminded him. ‘She’s probably been to Oceane.’

  ‘Even if she were to teleport there, she is one of our soul-group and being in the presence of her soul source would fill her full of compassion,’ Lucian countered. ‘It is probably the best thing that could happen.’

  ‘And she probably knows that too,’ Taren reasoned, ‘and will avoid going there, but there’s nothing to stop her sending her troops there. All she needs is a good telepath to pass on a visual image to someone with PK and —’

  ‘Besides Satomi, everyone in existence known to have PK is on our side,’ Lucian pointed out. ‘It will take the Valoureans years to reach here with the inter-system gateway to this system out of order.’

  ‘I can see now why Zeven told me to get a big chunk of Juju and place it in the heart of this ship.’ Taren had done as advised. ‘I thought it was to protect us from Khalid! Ha!’ It was amazing how fast causality had spun around.

  ‘But we are safe.’ Lucian brought home the point he was trying to make. ‘And your mother, although unreachable at present, is not beyond salvation and is perfectly safe.’ He felt all the tension rush from her body. ‘The first thing we need to do, the way I see it …’ He let his grip loosen and rubbed her arms in comfort. ‘… is warn your father, so that he is not deceived by Satomi’s disguise.’

  ‘If we tell Father he’ll declare war on Phemoria in defence of my mother.’ Taren was stressing again. ‘That’s exactly what Satomi wants!’

  ‘Then talk him out of it. Anselm has trusted us to handle situations like this before, and will again if you request his cooperation,’ Lucian warranted.

  ‘I don’t know how we’ll fix this.’ Taren was overwhelmed.

  ‘Only because you haven’t given yourself any time to muse the possibilities.’

  ‘So much for the psychic bill of rights being passed by the USS!’ Taren broke free from Lucian to pace. ‘Or dealing with the MSS persecution —’

  ‘Wait.’ She stopped still. ‘Zeven mentioned that Kalayna held the key to that solution. But then —’ Taren gasped.

  ‘What now?’ Lucian queried.

  ‘The crown of Phemoria.’ Taren pointed to the captain’s desk.

  Lucian assumed she’d sent forth a desire for it to manifest there, but it did not. ‘The vault on Phemoria must be psychic-proof, like the prison cells used to contain criminals with Powers … you could get
in, but won’t get out until the vault is opened.’

  ‘Indeed.’ She saw his point. ‘I could die waiting! But I must get my hands on that crown somehow, because if they try to destroy it without reversing the curse they’ll set the Phemoray free to do as they please.’

  ‘That would not be good news for anyone in the USS.’ Lucian shared her urgency on that count.

  ‘I have no idea where such a vault would be located, either.’ Taren crossed off being able to find it with her PK. ‘Or what it looks like. But …’ Her expression lightened. ‘Jalila Lamus would certainly know.’

  ‘The acting prime minister is either in on Satomi’s coup,’ Lucian figured, ‘or she’s been sent to the celestial city along with your mother.’

  The fact didn’t seem to faze Taren at all. ‘I believe I have a very good idea who has been aiding Satomi, and perhaps Chironjivi in the past.’ She outlined how another piece of Zeven’s puzzle was falling into place. ‘I met General Prochazka of the Valoureans today. She is certainly old enough and powerful enough to fit the profile of Zeven’s mystery woman. She’ll know where the Soul Keep and the crown of the Phemoray are hidden, I’ll warrant.’

  ‘I wonder what your father knows of her?’ Lucian posed.

  ‘A very good question,’ Taren agreed. ‘I do know of a means to communicate with the Phemorians in the celestial city, so I can check Satomi’s story in regards to Mother, and she may also know where the crown is hidden. I just need the aid of a good telepath.’

  ‘How fortunate that we have a couple.’ He served her an encouraging smile, and was appeased to receive one in return.

  Lucian’s intercom buzzed and he pressed the touch pad on his desk to respond to the page that was coming from Aurora’s desk. ‘What’s up, Aurora?’

  ‘Can I come in? I have a fairly urgent mission update from Zeven.’

  ‘One moment,’ he waylaid her and looked to Taren.

  ‘I guess there is just no controlling this lot.’ Taren realised that there must have been another breach for Aurora to know anything of what her husband was doing. But she gave a nod. ‘I need to speak with her about Thurraya in any case. As Satomi has now taken the throne of Phemoria —’

  ‘— Thurraya is the heir apparent.’ The fact was startling to Lucian, as the girl would be a sought after commodity now. ‘Permission granted,’ the captain responded to Aurora’s request. ‘Is Ray with you?’

  ‘Yes, Captain, she’s right here.’

  Lucian breathed a sigh of relief on that count. ‘Bring her in, I need to speak with the both of you.’

  Once, many years ago, when Zeven lost his powers, his father delivered them both to Oceane to keep him safe from psychic detection. On this stormy planet that was ninety per cent ocean, Mythric had dreamt up a dwelling for them to inhabit. That stilted hut still stood high above the water level which, on the highest flatlands of the small landmass of Oceane, was still knee-deep. Inside this dwelling was where they chose to land.

  ‘Good to see the old place still standing.’ Zeven left the stasis unit and wandered over to pull up a grass blind that opened the interior to the balcony, to let in light and air. It came as no surprise that it was teeming rain outside as this was always the case here.

  ‘This place is deeply stirring to my blood.’ Ahura followed Zeven out onto the open, covered verandah and breathed deep the atmosphere.

  Huge unfurling reeds sprung out of the wetlands all round, and the only ground to be found above the water level were large mounds of rock, some the size of mountains. But the constant storm that raged here was a multi-coloured spectacular.

  ‘I’m glad you like it.’ Zeven grinned, figuring Ahura was picking up on the high resonance of the celestial architect who was cultivating this little landmass. The timekeepers knew this being as Azazèl-mindoscoomra-dorchi — the entity that all of the timekeepers would some day, on some higher level of existence, merge to become. ‘It’s going to be home for a while.’

  ‘The atmosphere here is saturated with an ethereal yet propagative energy.’ Ahura descended the stairs to stand in the warm rain.

  ‘Yep, it’s spring on steroids!’ Zeven agreed, as a memory of crash-landing here with Taren Lennox not long after they’d first met flashed through his mind and made him grin.

  ‘It is more than that,’ Ahura insisted, basking in the different coloured light bursts exploding inside the storm clouds above. ‘It’s pure spirit!’ He held his arm up towards the sky as if to draw the energy into himself.

  ‘And hopefully that spirit can shield us all from being found.’ Zeven looked to Mythric and Telmo as they stepped out under the protective awning, where they all observed Ahura rejoicing.

  ‘We are found,’ Ahura laughed like a man possessed. ‘You don’t get any closer to found than this!’ He dived off the stairs and into the water.

  ‘Has he forgotten why we are here?’ Mythric thought he’d want to see to Khalid’s safety and wellbeing.

  ‘Ahura is a very live-in-the-moment kind of guy, and a little eccentric,’ Zeven advised. ‘But after fifty years in a Phemorian prison that is to be expected.’

  ‘And Khalid is in a perfect state of stasis at present.’ Telmo had a good look around their new home. ‘So there is no rush. I have a feeling we are going to be here quite some time.’

  ‘Were you telling the truth before, when you spoke of visiting another universe in the future?’ Mythric was finding that part of the tale hard to swallow.

  ‘Of course. I’ve told you about similar missions I’ve run in the past,’ Zeven pointed out. ‘But with any luck we are done traversing universes and can now focus all our efforts on saving this one from its past.’

  ‘And I went with you, to this other universe?’ Mythric was intrigued.

  ‘No.’ Zeven thought it best not to mention that Khalid had killed Mythric before departure and prevented that. ‘But you have a past life incarnation there, who is, of course, an old friend of mine.’

  ‘Of course …’ Mythric emphasised with scepticism, to conclude flatly, ‘… You’re shitting me.’

  ‘I shit you not,’ Zeven insisted. ‘Rhun Gwynedd, Governor of Kila. I’m going to run a mission with him here in a few years’ time —’ Zeven clammed up, as he realised he’d said too much, which of course piqued his father’s curiosity.

  ‘Idiot!’ Telmo did not miss the opportunity to swipe Zeven across the back of the head.

  ‘No, go on.’ Mythric shoved Telmo out of the way.

  ‘But you won’t get to meet him then, as the captain and the timekeeper do a good job of keeping that episode under wraps.’ Zeven was apologetic.

  ‘But you speak as though you’ve already done the mission?’ Mythric was perplexed.

  ‘Well, of course I have,’ Zeven laughed. ‘Or otherwise how would I know it was going to happen?’

  Mythric, having never time-jumped, was frowning as he tried to wrap his head around the paradox.

  Telmo was also frowning, but for an entirely different reason. ‘In case it was unclear, idiot means shut up. You’re showing off, and things never bode well for you when you do.’

  ‘Thank you, Mother,’ Zeven heeded the caution, however ungraciously.

  ‘Daddy!’

  The sound of his daughter’s voice sent a shockwave through his system for a moment, and Zeven was stunned to see Aurora with her, and a suitcase.

  ‘I thought I was clear that you girls were not —’

  ‘Taren sent us.’ Aurora appeared to be putting on a brave face.

  Thurraya, on the other hand, was genuinely thrilled. ‘Captain’s orders!’ Ray ran to him for a hug.

  ‘But you guys just left us. What’s happened?’ Zeven queried, and Mythric and Telmo were also keen to hear.

  Aurora’s sights turned to Mythric, and she had tears in her eyes. ‘Satomi has seized the throne of Phemoria and declared herself Qusay.’

  ‘What?’ Mythric was winded by the news. ‘I don’t believe it,’ he uttered in a to
ne that was completely contrary to the statement.

  ‘Thurraya is now the heir apparent.’ Aurora breathed deeply in order to keep calm.

  Oh shit! Zeven considered Taren’s life to date and had no desire to see his daughter face such trials and deceits.

  ‘Do you think I will make a good Qusay one day?’ Ray asked. ‘I’m a princess now.’

  ‘You always were.’ Zeven forced a smile, kissed her forehead, and set her down lest she notice how his heart was thumping in his chest. He looked into Aurora’s weeping eyes and saw the same concerns there; he did not have to say a word.

  ‘If Thurraya needs guardians,’ Aurora struggled to deliver the ruling, ‘then you are all the men I want on the job.’ She glanced back to include Khalid in the equation. ‘Fortunately the captain, our timekeeper and I, are in agreement on —’

  ‘Ha ha ha!’ Ahura’s cries of joy drew everyone’s attention, as he shot out of the water, did a flip and landed back in the water again.

  ‘Who is that?’ Aurora was rethinking her statement.

  ‘That’s Frank,’ Ray told her mother. ‘He’s a healer.’ ‘Oh,’ Aurora was stunned by how well informed her daughter was. ‘That’s not the first definition that immediately springs to mind.’

  ‘He is one of the Old Ones,’ Zeven advised, hoping to set his wife’s mind at ease.

  ‘He’s an ex-con, who’s been in prison for fifty years.’ Mythric was more cautious, still reeling from the news of his wife’s coup.

  ‘Zeven?’ Aurora was immediately alarmed.

  ‘He was under the influence of a curse that time, and that is not the case any longer,’ Zeven set the record straight, and served his father a look that implied he did not appreciate him scaring the women.

  ‘I have to go to her,’ Mythric concluded.

  ‘Don’t!’ Aurora was quick to grab his arm. ‘The Qusay has issued a death warrant on Khalid, and all those aiding him.’

  ‘Who is Khalid?’ Ray wasn’t following, but everyone else was.

  ‘No one we know,’ Zeven sidestepped the query.

  ‘It’s Top Secret, isn’t it?’ Ray posed and everyone fell quiet.