Encompassing Women: Book Four of the Encompassing Series

by Richard Lord

  Renfield considers how fast his daughter can put together the small things that bleed out past his mental blocks. “That thing causing the sun to shift colors is Solstice.”

  “Oh. Well that’s interesting. Why didn’t you lead with that?” Joy stands up, grabs the plate and walks to the sink to rinse it. “Do you want more water?”

  “Sure.” He hands her his glass.

  “It was a rhetorical question, Dad. You look like hell. Are you going to tell me what happened?” Joy finishes rinsing the plate and walks to the refrigerator to grab the pitcher.

  “You’ll find out anyway. I saved Harmony. You know what that does to me. Now the others know too.” Renfield throws the fork. It wizzes past Joy and lands in the sink.

  “Do they know you are still bent on finding that man?” Joy looks down in the sink and smiles. She wonders if she is the only one who knows how fast he really is with weapons.

  “Yup. It’s become a point of contention to say the least. Your daughter being the most contentious.” Renfield looks at her having heard her thought, “You are the second worst. At least your mother understands.”

  “She doesn’t understand. She follows you because she loves you and thinks she can keep you safe. She can’t.” Joy throws down the towel she was using to wipe her hands. “You’re my Dad. I don’t get another one!”

  Renfield leaps to his feet as he sees a tear form in his daughter’s eye and he takes her in his arms. “I get it. Joy. But I have to know.”

  “Is it more important that what is happening to the sun that keeps all of us alive?” Joy hugs him back and then pushes her fist into his chest.

  “I don’t know.” Renfield pulls her back into the hug.

  CHAPTER 22

  “I’ve read the other journals. They are strange species, but I will keep their words alive.” – from the Book of Brutus.

  “How is our daughter?” Tomorrow thinks to Renfield.

  “The one we had when you were Sara is right there, go ask her.” Realizing he was being curt he adds, “Joy is fine. She’s opinionated, as usual.”

  “What’s your plan?” Tomorrow asks.

  “For once, I don’t have much of one. We will have to wait for Joy.” He takes his wife’s hand, kisses it and looks into her eyes. “I love you.”

  “I know, Adam. I love you too, but all of this.” Tomorrow sweeps her arm out at the sun and stops her hand at his chest. “You can take all of this back, Adam. Why don’t you?”

  Renfield looks at his wife and considers her words before he answers, “We have to trust them. We either made them or were responsible for their upbringing. So doesn’t that mean we have to have faith in ourselves? If we don’t how can we trust any decisions we make?”

  Tomorrow thinks over his words, but she knows he knows more about her life than she has experienced yet. It makes her uneasy when dealing with her husband. She remembers marrying him. How happy she was that day. She remembers raising his grandchildren later or before she isn’t sure. Time is confusing, but being two people in time is more confusing and she wonders how much more he knows about her fate than he tells her.

  “Stop ruminating, my dear.” Renfield holds out his hand to her. Tomorrow takes his hand and they turn to walk towards Illumna.

  “You’re not one to talk about not ruminating, Adam. She’s alive. We have that!” Tomorrow knows her husband is getting maudlin about Illumna being a ship with no body to return to.

  “She’s got a beautiful mind. She’s still our daughter and I love her.” Renfield stares up into the sky.

  “They’re both fine, Adam. They chose their destinies.” Tomorrow squeezes his hand. Then she stops and looks at him. “Adam when did you realize I was Sara?”

  Renfield stops with her and turns to her and makes a grimacing face. “Not sure. Of course, I realized you had an eerie similarity to you.” He then grins and says, “But when you refused my offer to go back down into that place, I suspected. I’m not sure at which point I was sure.”

  “You know Adam, you don’t lie to me, but for some reason I never believe that answer whenever you give it.” Tomorrow patted his hand and pulled him towards Illumna. The couple looks at Harmony slow dancing with her clothes off again. They see Destiny grab a blanket and walk towards her.

  Tomorrow says, “Are they going to, umm?”

  “Eventually, I assume, but right now Destiny is about to scold her for being crazy, yet again.” He rolls his eyes as he looks at his wife.

  Tomorrow looks over at the two and watches as the argument begins. “How do they even put up with each other?”

  “They learned to. For them, it was years inside Illumna. They both lost the same person they loved. They both learned to survive on another world that is foreign to all of us. That builds a bond.” Renfield explains.

  Tomorrow considers his point and the irony she knows he caught. “I want more great grandchildren.”

  “Hmm.” Renfield put his hand on Illumna. “Hey, girl, what are your plans now?”

  “Dad, you already figured it out.” Illumna thinks back.

  “I don’t agree with what you are considering, but I won’t stop you from being with your sister.” Renfield wishes he could see her eyes.

  Tomorrow’s eyes go wide as she panics. “What are you talking about? What is this about going to be with your sister?”

  “Mom, Solstice needs another mind. She can’t keep this up forever.” Illumna thinks back to her mother.

  Tomorrow yells out, “No! Absolutely not! You stay here!”

  “Mom, right now you are younger than I am. I don’t think you are in a position to tell me what to do.” Illumna points out as she fires her jets to clear them.

  “Illumna, you listen to me! I remember everything. So you are not older! You are my little girl!” Tomorrow begins to cry and grab at Illumna while simultaneously knowing she can’t hold her.

  “Mother, I’ve done all this for the plan that the universe created. We all did. We have to follow through.” Illumna thinks to her mother how much she loves her. She floods her mother’s mind with her memories and then she shuts down the jets. “Joy knows how to fly this craft. I have to get out of orbit. I’ll take Joy with me and she can click it back here for Harmony and Destiny. They aren’t done yet.”

  Renfield’s face twists a bit, “Illumna, how does Joy know how to fly a skycrawler?” Then he rolls his eyes for the second time that day and says, “Never mind. I get it. Joy didn’t mention any of this, but that’s not surprising.” Renfield feels a familiar presence and turns.

  “Hi, Mom.” Tomorrow hears the voice from behind her and turns to see Joy. She lunges to hug her daughter. Adam clicks.

  Tomorrow forms a look on her face wondering why her husband would leave the moment their daughter showed up.

  She invites Joy to sit on the ground with her and they talk for a long time about many things. Then Adam returns with a basket in hand.

  “Okay Joy, don’t eat them all too quickly.” Adam displays the contents of the basket and both Joy and Tomorrow laugh. It’s full of grapes.

  Joy reaches her hand in and throws one in the air as Destiny clicks under it and catches it in her mouth. “Hi, Mom.”

  Joy shakes her head and pushes Destiny lightly. “Hey, grape thief!”

  Adam smiles at the fact that all of the girls are together and clicks.

  CHAPTER 23

  “One would think blood had rained from the sky. I’ve never seen so much blood and I’ve seen a lot of death and destruction.” – from the Book of Brian.

  Adam moved fast. He knew he was close. He knew Brian has been there because he saw the shirt his grandson had “borrowed” the last time they talked. He listened. Brian wasn’t near. Renfield knew he was getting closer to the man, given the carnage he could see all around him. He wondered why Brian would have bene there or how Brian even knew of the man’s existence. Renfield looks down at the bodies and sees the large footprints that only one thing he knew of woul
d have left behind. “Elephants. Lots of them. He is a formidable man and he’s clearly getting stronger.” Renfield thinks to himself. He notes the direction and clicks forward to the next vantage point. He looks over the horizon and sees a city with its walls destroyed and people moving about. He hears the thoughts of a squad of people doing sweeps near him. He clicks.

  “Destiny, what do you know about the elephants?” Adam asks his granddaughter.

  “One of his titles is ‘Leader of the Grey Horde’. You’re not going to give up on this are you?” Destiny swats at the air.

  “I’ve heard some of the things Destiny has thought about this man. Dad, leave it alone.” Illumna thinks at him.

  Renfield turns and thinks back to his daughter. “You are going to become a force and I will never see you again. How can you of all people tell me to ignore what I feel I have to do?”

  Joy jumps in, “She’s doing what she thinks is right for the universe. You are acting out of curiosity. There is a big difference, Dad.”

  Tomorrow looks at her husband. “You know where he is now, but you are back here. Something has you spooked and I’ve never seen you afraid of anything.”

  “No. I’m not spooked. I just wanted to do some reconnaissance while you all caught up with each other.” Renfield looks at Illumna.

  Tomorrow looks at him disapprovingly, “I told you I’m coming with you, so why didn’t you take me?”

  “Like I said, I wanted you to catch up with your daughters and talk all that womany stuff. I don’t need to be around while you women prattle on about womany things.” Renfield starts to grin at her, but sees she is holding fast to her disapproving look.

  “You don’t play a chauvinist well, Adam. Nice try.” Tomorrow stands up and looks at Illumna wishing she could feel the hugs she wants to give her. She hears Adam sigh deeply at the same time she does as Joy climbs into the pilot seat.

  Renfield thinks to his daughter. “I love you. Take care of your sister.”

  “Take care of my mother. Not that I have to ask.” Illumna’s thoughts clearly resonate with sorrow. Then she adds, “I don’t know how to talk you out of going after this guy. I wish I did. Destiny knows how it turns out and she is trying to stop you.”

  Harmony speaks up, “Destiny doesn’t know everything. Some things are changed by our actions. Nothing is predetermined. She didn’t know my mother was going to die.”

  Everyone remains silent. Joy waves at them as the hatch closes. They backed up knowing that it would take a lot of thrust for them to break the gravity barrier. Tomorrow begins to cry with every fiber in her body. At the last moment Renfield runs over and knocks on the hatch. “I love you! Make sure you don’t forget what love is! Make sure your sister knows I love her!” He gets caught in the blast as the already rising engines create a huge blast zone in the ground leaving glass pebbles from the places where silicon melts into the strange thing that is glass. Renfield clicks away, but not fast enough. He is severely burned, but he thinks to his daughter, “Keep going, I’m fine!”

  Renfield hears Illumna’s voice in his head, “You always are, Dad.”

  Renfield tries to laugh, but realizes he can’t, so he sheds a tear for his daughters instead.

  As she gains velocity, she thinks back to her father, “You are everything. Why do you remain separate when even your own daughters are trying to attain the whole?”

  “We haven’t answered the final question of the universe yet. Isn’t that what you planed out with Solstice, Joy, Destiny and Harmony?” Renfield thinks to his daughter.

  “Dad, you planned it out. We are just cogs in your machine.” Illumna adds the second thrust and is suddenly free of gravity. “Joy, take care. Get your daughter and Harmony back to the world they are meant to be on. Earth is no longer for them.”

  “I understand.” Joy says that as she brushes away her tears and then steers the clicks then turns the skycrawler back into Earth’s gravity. The pull seems immediate as she begins to click, wondering if she can really click things external to her that she is touching. She calms her mind and considers her clothes and other objects that touch her go with her, but she wonders at why floors she stands on don’t go with her. Then she thinks of something her father always says. “Just to run up and down stairs takes an amazing amount of calculations per second, but we don’t notice it because we are focused on the task.” Then she clicks and sees her father writhing in agony while Tomorrow, Destiny and Harmony try hard to sooth him. She jumps out of the cockpit quickly and runs to his side. “Dad, you’re not healing!” Joy’s heartrate begins to match those of the others.

  Renfield looks up at Joy, “TNSTAAFL. Unless it’s grapes, I won’t charge you for them.” He tries again to grin, but cannot.

  “That’s it! I saved your ass once before for you to die here like this and all you have to say is there’s no such thing as a free lunch?”

  Tomorrow grabs Joy, “Give him time, he’ll heal, he always does.”

  “No, Mom, he can’t and you know it as well as I do!” Joy looks back at her father, “What a stupid way to die!” She reaches down to him. Destiny hears her thought and grabs him first and clicks.

  Destiny looks out at the destruction and the troops moving around. “He’s in there. I’ll bring him to you. Better you die by his hand than the way you are going to now.” Then she hears his thought and kicks him. “Grandfather, how many plans do you keep in your head at once?”

  “Only the best.” Renfield’s face begins to reform. He grins at his granddaughter.

  “Why didn’t I hear your thoughts?” She looks around and realizes no one is paying any attention to them, despite her suit.

  “You were a little girl when I Joy told me you could hear everything. Since, I have become a lot older and wiser, my dear Destiny.” Renfield begins to move his arm. “Get out of here. This is not a safe place for you to be. Go to Harmony.”

  Destiny doesn’t argue the point. She accepts she has been bested. “One last adventure, huh?”

  Renfield tilts his head and grins, “Maybe.”

  Destiny looks at her grandfather and clicks. Then she is back with Tomorrow. “Take your wife with you. She would never forgive me if I didn’t bring her to your side.” She clicks again.

  Tomorrow scans their surroundings. She takes in the damage to the huge walls. “Well, Adam, this doesn’t seem promising.”

  “I lived to see Tomorrow again.” Renfield jokes.

  She rolls her eyes at him. “Yeah, and I have to look at your ugly face.” She kicks him and then says, “Get up if you can, there are people all around.”

  “See, that’s the thing. I’ve been here for a while looking like toast that didn’t pop in time and no one has even given me a second glance. What does that tell you?” Renfield asks.

  “That they’ve seen a lot of shit.” Tomorrow looks up at the sun to note the time then back down at Renfield. “You can’t get up can you?”

  “It’s not instant, but whatever that nasty stuff Phillip considered food was, is helping.” He moans at the pain of the injury and at the pain of his body rebuilding itself. “Click us somewhere, at least.”

  “You can’t click?” Tomorrow kneels to her husband and puts her hand to his chest. He immediately screams in pain. “I’m sorry. Anyway, after that, just lay there. People are certainly looking now. I can’t click us away without people noticing. Why would Joy choose to leave you here?”

  CHAPTER 24

  “There is a strange fact about women. We begin to cycle together when around each other for some time. It was once believed this effect was because of the dark side of the moon. We were not near our moon.” – from the Book of Harmony.

  “There is nothing we can do. They can click too. Eventually they’ll be faster than us.” Harmony says to Destiny as she strokes her hair.

  Joy pops in, “No. As my mother would say, lo we shall rise up and then we shall make the bugger’s eyes water.”

  Harmony turns to her, “We’
re not animals!”

  Destiny comments, “Would you prefer being sheep lead to slaughter?”

  Joy adds in, “Face it Harmony, we are the dogs of war, but instead of trying to take out the sheep, we’re going directly at the pigs.”

  “Fearlessly the idiot faces the crowd?” Harmony looks at Joy and then as Destiny.

  “Mother is correct. I know what we have to do next.” Destiny stands and walks to the sink to shine the diamond her husband has given her.

  “Fine, point me at the sky and I’ll fly.” Harmony responds having heard parts of their plan from their minds.

  Both Joy and Destiny look at her. Joy begins to speak but decides she should not and blocks her mind instantly. Destiny turns from the sink and says, “You don’t know how to fly that thing. My mother is the only one who can, so let’s be realistic.”

  “I’ve watched, like you told me to, Destiny, and I’ve learned.” Harmony clicks to the pilot seat of the craft.

  Destiny thinks out to her with a very harsh “End your fantasies, they’re going to merge with harsh realities.”

  Harmony thinks back, “Their prophecy is that it will be a Renfield who ends them. The only way to change this is if I do! Leave me alone!” The craft starts up and then vanishes.

  Joy and Destiny look at each other. Suddenly there is an extremely loud explosion and they see Harmony land the craft in front of them. She had clicked it back only feet from its position.

  Destiny and Joy run to the craft and Destiny yells out, “Are you mad?”

  “It’s what you are always thinking anyway. Get in! We have to go and present are manifesto so everyone understands we control this planet now.”

  “You are crazy!” Destiny shouts at Harmony.

  “Maybe, but I’m effective!” Harmony smiles back at her.

  Joy and Destiny look at each other and climb in. Joy asks, “What Manifesto do you propose?”