by Richard Lord
Encompassing Women
Book Four of the Encompassing Series
By Richard Lord
© Copyright 2016
CHAPTER 1
“They did not speak. They simply thought to each other. But I was there. This is my best attempt to translate their conversations into words.” -- from the Book of Amelia
“Something old is not good just because it worked for a while. Conversely, something new is not good just because it’s new. This is the process we call evolution. The universe finds what is right by process of elimination in every generation.” – from the Book of Brian
“Where are we going?” Destiny asked.
“Your mother traversed time more than even our father. She pretty much covered that and you know all that she knows, but you don’t know space.” Illumna thought back to her.
“You do know Amelia is here too?” Destiny could sense her presence.
“Of course. She is inside me. I know she tried to play the stowaway. She’ll learn too, I suppose. She lost Conan. What does she have left down there?”
Amelia opens the hatch she is under and approaches Destiny. “This is a small area. I don’t know where I would sit.”
“Where you were sitting, I suppose.” Destiny replies without care as to the inconvenience of staying in the hatch.
“It’s dark in there and not very comfortable.” Amelia responds.
“Look out there. It’s dark everywhere.” Destiny comments back without turning around. She is concentrating on other things.
“Is there food?” Amelia asks.
“Most of the time, when you think you are hungry it’s thirst.” She picks up a small ration of water and throws it over her shoulder to Amelia.
“Do you know how hungry I am? I haven’t eaten in days!” Amelia shoots back but drinks down the water.
“Perhaps you should have considered these things before you made the decision to try to stow away.” Destiny looks at the stars as they rush by.
“Did you consider fuel? How long can Illumna last without it?” Amelia points out.
“Yes, I’ve considered that already.” They both hear Illumna comment, but they note the emotion in the thought.
Destiny leans forward. “Explain, Illumna.”
Amelia looks at Destiny, “Does she have to? This is a one way trip.”
Destiny nods.
“You knew?” Amelia screams at Destiny while punching her in the arm.
Destiny ignores the gesture and continues to concentrate on the stars. “You came along to learn, so learn.”
“You’re not teaching me anything. Just how to die. I have to pee.” Amelia responds.
“That is also not my problem.” Destiny responds.
Amelia looks for something to relieve herself in, but the cabin is very tight and she can’t move around well. Then she looks at Destiny and realized she is hooked into something. “Move, I need that right now!”
“I’ve already used it, are you sure?” Destiny looks at her with a wry smile.
“Yes, just move!” Amelia pulls at Destiny to move faster.
Destiny rises and smiles at her. “You are weak Amelia. Why did you come on this journey?”
Because your grandmother was my teacher and I thought I could learn from you, but you’re just a bitch.” She sighs in relief and then looks at Destiny. “You think this is funny?”
“I find no humor in any of this. I think you made a poor decision, but in a moment we’ll find out.” Destiny states.
“What do you mean by that?” Amelia looks at Destiny with a wondering face as she removes herself from the only other seat available on the craft that is Illumna. Then it occurs to her to listen to Illumna.
“Approaching now.” Illumna thinks to them.
Amelia looks at the chair to try to understand how it can be used for her current need. She sits down ignoring the fact that she is in the seat of Destiny. She peers through the front of the craft and sees other ships and some huge object. “What is that?”
“That is your new home.” Illumna thinks back.
Amelia looks up and sees Destiny take a very deep breath. Her face goes slack. If Destiny is not sure, she knows this is not going to be simple.
CHAPTER 2
“To live that life with the two coldest, non-feeling people I have ever met was, exhilarating. I hated them both.” – from the Book of Amelia
“He’ll make the deal, but he wants more psocoritium.” Destiny announces.
Illumna replies, “We already knew that he would ask for that. Amelia?”
“Yeah, I got it. Make the deal Destiny, but offer half of what he requested on top of what we already offered. He’s smart. He’ll take the deal because he has to anyway.” Amelia makes some note sin her ledger.
“He’s shrewd, he’ll hold out. Your concept is illogical.” Destiny states.
“I already told you he’s smart. Don’t let him get you above 65%. He wants 75% of what he’s asking. You need to make a point.” Amelia waves off Destiny.
Illumna thinks to Destiny, “She’s right and I can already hear that you know it. Do what the girl says.”
Destiny fires back a shot so fast she doesn’t aim her thought and Amelia hears it, “She’s an idiot! That is the whole reason I am doing the negotiations!”
Amelia smiles, “You are doing the negotiations because most people just want to be done with you, so they agree so you go away.”
Destiny turns to her, “What would you like to negotiate?”
Illumna thinks to them both, “We are the only survivors of our line, here.”
Both of the women nod.
Destiny’s mind goes out to her grandfather. She can feel that he is about to engage what her mother told him not to.
The hangar door flies open and Illumna seeing the people who’ve breached their home thinks out fast to Amelia, “You remember tandem clicking. Grab Destiny and hold on to me, NOW!”
Amelia grabs at Destiny with her left hand and holds Illumna’s wing with her right and they vanish.
Amelia looks around at the sand and recognizes the cliff. She thinks to Illumna, “:If you could traverse that much space in an instant, why did we have to go for the joy ride?”
Destiny huffs at her, “Are you stupid?”
Amelia shoots her back a look of both inquisitiveness and her deep dislike.
Destiny explains, “She wanted us to see the stars between here and there so we would learn.”
Amelia considers this. It was something Tomorrow said once. Then she looks out and sees her teacher below. Then she looks up and sees her teacher on a cliff adjacent to the one they are on. She notices she looks much younger.
Destiny hears her confusion, in a moment of care, she breaks it down for Amelia. “That is too many whens. Don’t focus on it, that’s my grandmother’s job.”
Amelia hears something in the sky. It looks like Illumna flying by, but Illumna is right next to them. She sees it veer suddenly.
Destiny then says, “Too many whens converging. Stop focusing on that.”
“So what’s next?” Amelia asks.
Illumna responds, “We go back with more strength and this time you focus on the stars more.”
Destiny adds, “If you don’t, you’ll end up like your namesake.” She turns to walk towards a plateau.
Amelia follows her, but she remembers something about where she is headed. Which when is this? She wonders.
Illumna clicks and they see her waiting at the front of the place.
As the girls traverse the porch, Destiny ignores the figure standing there, arms
folded. As Amelia begins to cross into the doorway he holds out a hand and stops her.
“You took on a tough job watching over all of this.” Renfield says to her. “Ignore Destiny’s brusqueness. Do what you are doing. It actually helps the two of them.” He points to Illumna’s body which is a skycrawler and then over his shoulder at the woman walking up the stairs.
“Why does Illumna stay in that form?” Amelia asks.
Renfield shrugs and says, “She’s my daughter. I kind of understand her, but, basically, I don’t.” Renfield grins, “If I were to guess, I’d say that it’s because her body is gone and she finally mastered Solstice’s ability, so she is happy the way she is. Mostly.”
“What do you mean by that?” Amelia pries into the comment.
“She is lonely. She’s alive and yet she doesn’t have her own body. That can’t be easy.” Renfield focuses hard to make sure all that he is saying can only be heard by Amelia. “Destiny and her are alike, so that gives her companionship in one way. While the two of them are calculating, Destiny is very cold. “You are emotional, that reminds her of her sisters and that helps that side of her feel at home. Home is important to her. It’s why she clicked back here.”
“Did she ever live here?” Amelia looks at him wondering.
Renfield replies, “Never for very long, but a lot of times. Time is complicated. She wouldn’t have gone back to the other place.”
“She said we were the last of our line, where we were. I am not of the same line. I’m not a descendant of you.” Amelia makes the point in order to understand what Illumna meant by that.
“Now that is complicated. By the way, Destiny is starting to be able to hear me again, so, let’s end this chat.” Renfield comments.
“Wait, one last question: How do you know where we were?” Amelia had been wondering since the conversation began and definitely wanted an answer.
“Amelia, things have changed. Let’s just say I went to talk to a guy about a horse.” Renfield grins. Then he turns to Amelia, “Tell Illumna that the gravity based slingshot option doesn’t work. It’s magnetism. Gravity is a constant, so that theory is ridiculous. Magnetism can be changed to create the repel effect she is considering. She’ll understand. She’s my daughter.”
“You never answered my question.” Amelia points out.
“Oh and the one thing about her body now. It’s designed to be able to do that. It was something I talked to Stephen about what he was young. For all the bad he did, he actually was a good kid.” Renfield grins.
“Okay, I got it, but you still haven’t…”
Renfield cuts her off, “And tell Illumna not to look for wormholes. There is Harmony in the universe.”
“What does that mean? That’s my daughter’s name.” Amelia looks at Renfield with an eye narrowing as if to pierce into his mind with the one that was open.
“That is correct.” Renfield grins, “Go find Destiny.” Then he clicks.
Appearing next to Illumna he asks, “Remember in S.I.R. labs how Solstice taught you to use your skill to go into physical models?”
“Of course. But that’s not what you want, Dad. You want me to teach you how to traverse to your younger selves.”
“Am I that bad at blocking my thoughts from you?” Renfield smiles.
“It will take a while. I have to learn how I do it before I can teach it to you. I can’t keep doing it while traversing them around the universe. So which is the bigger priority?” Illumna listens for her father’s answer.
“Those two. I got enough from your mind to start practicing. Thank you, Illumna. I love you very much.”
“I love you too, Dad.” Illumna says as Renfield clicks.
Illumna realizes her father is very good at gaining new talents by hearing the underlying way in which minds do what they do. She wonders if he is like Destiny after all.
Then Renfield is back and makes a comment. “Family and friends effect you in subtle ways. It’s what makes us whom and what we are. I suspect there will be a lot of that effect on you and on them.” He points to the house he was born in with a strange look on his face. Then he clicks again and is gone.
Illumna considers the statement. Then she wonders how he heard her thought from wherever he had gone the first time.
CHAPTER 3
“Realizing there are more worlds in the universe than your own changes your perspective forever.” – from the Book of Amelia
“I told you they can click together!” Xaltuth responded in defense.
“But how?” Brandathax looked up from his desk trying to grasp the concept. “None of us has ever been able to do that. Yet here we are, we’ve built all of this for everyone who can do what we do and we’ve never seen that before.”
“I have no idea. Somehow they break the immutable rule of what we do. I’m just telling you, that’s what happened.” Xaltuth responds.
Fumbling his fingers while he stares at the photographs he looks back up again, “Interesting. I suppose that’s why we were paid to take them out?” He finishes with what is more of a question to thin air than a question to Xaltuth.
Either way, Xaltuth answers, “Who cares. We won’t get paid. Now I have to explain that to my men. Do you think they are going to be happy?”
Brandathax opens his desk drawer and reaches in. He pulls out a very small chip and pushes it onto his desk. “They are paid.”
Xaltuth nods and picks up the chip. “Thank you. I suppose you are taking the loss because you just learned something valuable.” He holds up a hand, “I don’t care. That’s not for me to think about. Just tell me what you want me to do next when you’re done ‘thinking it all through’.” Then he vanishes.
Brandathax ponders, “One of the three kept them from clicking directly into the hangar. One of them is something different than she appears.”
Brandathax sits back for a long time and then says to Xaluth, “They fish at night. Put together a small fleet. Maybe three ships. They only have a boat, but they click fast. We want to triangulate them into position. They will constantly click back to their boat because they won’t want to lose it.”
Having been standing near the building they were in, ready to present her proposal, Destiny changes her direction and heads to the market. She buys a fifty pound bag of cooking oil as the merchant smiles at her over her negotiation skills and the fact that he just got rid of a huge part of his inventory. She loads it into the cart she had purchased before the oil and heads to the docks. She places the oil in their boat and then turns to return to the hangar.
“Amelia, tonight we go fishing.” Destiny announces.
“We have food. Illumna do you we have space in the freezer?” Amelia looks at Destiny wondering why she would what brought on the sudden desire to fish.
Illumna thinks back to Amelia, “Not a lot, but I think Destiny has something else in mind.”
Amelia shrugs. Nightfall comes and the two of them head to the docks. Amelia considers that destiny did not bring a net, which is odd considering her father is a fisherman, but she assumes that Destiny left the nets on the boat. She does wonder why Destiny is carrying a bow with a quiver full of arrows, but she assumes Destiny wants to try another method of fishing. As they get into the boat she notices that there are no nets and remembers that Destiny had told her to dry the nets in the sun and they hadn’t been back to the boat since. Then she sees the huge sack of cooking oil.
“Are we going to fry fish as we catch them?” Amelia looks at Destiny being facetious.
“Cast off.” Destiny ignores the quip. As they approach deep waters, Destiny says, “No more rowing.” She withdraws a knife and cuts the bag. Then pulling out an arrow Amelia notices the tip is wrapped in some sort of gauze. Then she looks and sees three ships approaching and using light to search for something.
“That’s what’s going on, get ready! We have to take them out.” Destiny pushes the first arrow into the bag, holds it in her teach while she lights it and fires it into the bow
of the ship who’s light is closest. Then she reaches for the buckets she had put on the boat. “Help me fill these!” When they have them filled she says to Amelia, “You pour this on the deck of that ship, I’ve got the other, click back here as fast as you can.”
Amelia listens to Destiny’s thoughts and realizes what is happening. She clicks and is back in an instant to see that Destiny is also in the boat, already lighting another arrow. She leaps up to dip another one for Destiny who she knows is far more accurate with a bow. As the decks of both ships begin to blaze Amelia begins to prepare another arrow.
“No wait. Let them click away in panic. Those who don’t well, that’s their problem.” Destiny says as she holds her hand out in a gesture of pause.
The two women watch as the wooden shops begin to light the night. Amelia says, it’s getting bright and they can click here now that they know where we are.
Destiny smiles, “Only one of them can. We happen to have a small boat and they know that.” Then she clicks with the third bucket, dumps its contents and clicks back to the boat before anyone can stop her.
Destiny reaches for her bow, but an arm grabs her by the neck. Amelia raises a fillet knife and lunges at the arm, slicing where she knows it will cut the major artery. Destiny turns and kicks the man hard with her knee to his femoral artery, letting Amelia deal with the rest, she reaches for the bow and fires.
Amelia takes out the jugular of the sole person who boarded them. Then Destiny walks over and pushes him into the water. Then she looks at Amelia and says, “And that’s chum. So where are the nets?”
Amelia looks at Destiny and realizes she is truly a Renfield. Very cold. “We didn’t bring them.” Amelia says, “Most of them probably clicked off of those ships.”
Destiny turns and responds, “I know. I wanted to make a point.”
“What’s your overall plan, Destiny? People did die.”
“Amelia, if we hadn’t done this it would be our bodies fished from the sea. That’s only if they had cared enough to try to recover our bodies. I’m keeping us alive. I know my grandmother taught you that anyone who encroaches on your ability to live should be dealt with swiftly.” Destiny turns her head as she rows the vessel back towards port. Then she looks at Amelia and says, “I really don’t care if you help me row, I’m going to get us both back to land, but I would appreciate you at least giving an effort to steer from the bow.”
