The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy)

by Traci Harding

  ‘And that one’s the control panel?’ I assumed.

  He nodded, and placed his hands on the two metal inset plates. Light shot up through the mesh plate to fill the space between it and the tube above with a holographic picture of the Klieo; the illumined vessel slowly turning circles in the 3-D space so it could be seen from all angles.

  Welcome aboard, Levi, said the Klieo’s control station as it identified him. It brought a tear to my eye to discover that Polaris had programmed his ship to speak to him in Solarian’s voice.

  ‘How lovely,’ I said, clasping my hands in front of my heart, truly moved by the sentiment.

  ‘For the captain, maybe,’ Levi grinned, ‘but in my last incarnation, Solarian was my mother!’

  I had to laugh. ‘So how did you merit the esteemed honour of being the captain’s crew mate?’ I asked.

  ‘The term is first mate,’ he said, giving me a cheeky glance. ‘After I’d served my hundred years beneath the Blue Flame of Amenti, I went undercover into the Montauk Project to become one of their timewalkers and so I became familiar with the wormhole system that resulted.’

  ‘Didn’t that project employ horrible brainwashing techniques?’ I asked, then became distracted as all the exterior doors on the holographic ship lit up.

  Exterior doors secure, the Klieo announced in response to Levi’s telepathic order.

  ‘The techniques Montauk employed had no effect on me,’ Levi said, but his grin looked forced. I could see in his eyes that it had been a traumatic experience and one he’d rather not discuss.

  Setting course for Signet Station Eight, the Klieo confirmed, and I returned my attention to its brilliant graphic display.

  The holograph of the ship transformed into a full-colour map of the world, with our current location in Nova Scotia and our destination in the Central Desert region of Australia pinpointed. Then the map folded in on itself until the two points aligned and lit up.

  Initiating command, the Klieo warned, and the holograph morphed back into the form of our vessel, her sails now lit up. Blue Flame Energy Function initiated.

  I turned my sights to the Blue Flame energy funnel: a beam of blue-green light burst downward into the base mound and continued to flow in a steady stream. I was drawn to the pure energy; this was my colour frequency and it resonated perfectly with me.

  Within moments streams of the blue-green light began to engulf the walls, ceiling and every feature of the ship. I was mesmerised by the liquid-light plasma that spread across all surfaces like sunlight reflected off a disturbed body of water. A deep peace filled me; only to be broken moments later by a very anxious feeling.

  I heard Tamar crying out to me, wishing to transmit a thought transference, only her voice sounded strained and drawn out, as if she were speaking through a thick layer of water; or, as was more likely the case, through a thick layer of frequency. Whatever the source of the interference, it caused her transmission to fade in and out in places.

  When you retur—2003, you—orced to land! It is Castor they seek and the Ro—tauk started 1923—the Black Sun. Beware the Montauk Boys. If they obtain—permanently extend their wormhole system all the way back in history to th—

  When the Blue Flame energy of our passage subsided, I was left feeling shaken rather than relaxed. My first thought was to wonder if Tamar’s warning to ‘beware of the Montauk Boys’ was somehow a warning against Levi, who had just admitted to being involved with the project.

  ‘Meridan? Are you all right?’ Levi queried. I must have been as pale as a sheet.

  ‘I’ve just had word from Tamar,’ I said, struggling to remember the broken transmission. ‘There was a lot of interference so I can’t be sure I have her message straight.’

  ‘What did she say?’ he asked, but the captain entered before I could answer. He looked surprised to find us standing around talking.

  ‘We’re on the Nefilim’s scope for this short leg of our journey,’ he said. ‘Why aren’t we already in contact with KOALA?’

  ‘Meridan has had word from Kali,’ Levi advised, and turned back to the ship’s control panel. The holograph of the ship morphed into a symbol of three interlocking golden rings atop a winged staff. In the centre of the rings was a beautiful sapphire sphere of light, and inside that a number sequence appeared: 44, 44, 2, 5, 9.

  ‘A contact number?’ I commented to Polaris, who grinned in response.

  Contact with KOALA established, the Klieo informed us.

  ‘You’ve got to see this,’ Levi said aside to me, as the holograph transformed into our vessel again and the front shields on the floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding us lit up.

  Front shield window screens deactivated.

  The shields vanished, and suddenly we were standing miles above a vast, sun-soaked panorama of the Central Australian Desert. ‘Oh my.’ It took my breath away. ‘I could never hope to create something so awe-inspiring.’

  ‘Don’t be modest, Meridan,’ Polaris said. ‘We’ve all contributed to the creation that is our Earth. Besides, this is nothing in comparison to your garden back on Tara.’

  I was completely taken aback by the comment, and enchanted too. ‘You remember life on Tara?’ I asked. I remembered very little myself and had wondered how much my fellow staff members recollected.

  Polaris shook his head. ‘Just the tiniest bits and pieces really…and yet I recall your garden.’ He gave a half-laugh. ‘It was so very exquisite.’

  I thought this a great compliment, and would have said so had I not spotted a funnel of spinning white cloud erupting in the otherwise clear blue sky right in front of us. ‘Captain?’ I pointed to the anomaly, and was stunned to see one end of the funnel opening as it came towards us.

  Alignment with KOALA funnel confirmed.

  The funnel hollowed further to form a tunnel with luminous clouds swirling around its interior. I could see the electrical activity sparking inside.

  ‘We’re going in there?’ I asked meekly.

  I saw Polaris wink at me and then everything inside the ship, including my own physical form, was reduced to a fine-particle state and sucked into the funnel.

  At the other end of the tunnel, time and matter slowed and reconstituted.

  ‘What a rush!’ I gasped, and held my forehead and stomach to steady myself. I fixed my gaze on the floor; I confess, I was hesitant to see how the Earth appeared in the year AD8885.

  The lush wilderness I beheld when I finally looked up was so massive and hardy that it seemed prehistoric. ‘The Earth’s future is bright indeed,’ I remarked, overjoyed that humanity had overcome its own selfish needs to achieve such perfect beauty and harmony with nature.

  Levi shattered my illusions. ‘This is not the Earth; it’s a terraform island that floats above the planet.’

  ‘So we’re no longer in the physical world?’ I wasn’t really surprised as everything here appeared hyper-real.

  Levi shook his head. ‘But these thriving islands are all connected to the Earth via hypercords, which are anchored in the great oceans of the planet at prominent ley line crossings. Through such hypercords this terraform, and others like it, are able to nourish the Earth and replenish her.’ Levi’s voice was hoarse with pain suddenly.

  ‘Ocean?’ I wondered if we were still in Australia. ‘But this was a desert!’

  ‘The Earth is somewhat topographically challenged at this time,’ the captain answered, as Levi was finding it difficult to discuss the subject.

  Topographically challenged? ‘There’s been a flood then?’ I said.

  Their looks weren’t encouraging. ‘Only the deep-sea creatures survive…those that no longer need sunlight,’ Polaris explained. ‘The Earth has been blanketed by thick dark cloud for aeons. All that remains of humanity are the light-workers, who were evacuated at the eleventh hour into the bases that exist beneath these terraforms, and those human tribes that dwelled in the cities of Inner Earth.’

  ‘If nothing survived then how was all this created?
’ I asked.

  ‘It was grown from prima matra,’ Polaris explained.

  ‘Unviolated first matter,’ I translated. I was familiar with the substance from Meridan’s work: this was nature’s blueprint as it was before the Kali rift; the way it was always intended to evolve within the Ranna flow of time.

  I looked out at the terraform landscape: it was teeming with life and I recognised many species from Earth’s past and present. Still, there were a few animals I suspected might have developed here in Earth’s future. I switched to third-eye vision and realised I hadn’t seen the half of it. On an etheric level the terraform was also teeming with light-beings, from the tiniest of nature spirits to the huge deva being that oversaw the work of the elemental minions. ‘Fairyland,’ I said, entranced.

  ‘Dreamtime,’ Polaris corrected. ‘Terraforms were the brainchild of the Ennead, but the construction and running of the Earth’s life support system is a cooperative venture between the Anu and the Inner Earth tribes.’

  I understood from Meridan’s experience that the Ennead were a multi-dimensional cell comprised of nine units of intelligence, who hailed from the harmonic universe to which Aramatena belonged—which, in the cosmic scheme of things, was three harmonic universes closer to the Sovereign Integral than Earth. On Tara, the Ennead hailed from an ascended race known as the Elohim, who were even more advanced than my tribe, the Ceres. Here on Earth they were known as the Seraphim, the architects of light and order in this universe.

  ‘This was their last-resort plan to ensure humanity’s evolution should we fail to open Amenti before the current SAC alignment ends,’ Polaris explained. Then added confidently, ‘But our current mission is going to change the plight of surface Earth.’ And, with a clap of his hands, he snapped us out of our melancholy.

  Levi gave Klieo the command to land and unlock her exterior doors. ‘I’ll see you at Blue Fire Command,’ he told us as he disembarked.

  ‘You’re meeting us on Orion…are you Sirius?’ I jested.

  Both he and Polaris rolled their eyes at my attempt at humour. Levi gave us a wave and departed.

  ‘So what did Kali have to say?’ Polaris asked as he took the helm, seeming to sense my concern about my daughter’s missive.

  ‘Well,’ I began, perplexed, ‘as I was explaining to Levi, there was a lot of interference—’

  ‘No problem,’ Polaris said and, taking hold of my shoulders, he guided me into place behind the helm in his stead. ‘Just place your hands on the command plates and mentally convey what you heard to the Klieo.’

  ‘But I—’

  ‘Pushed for time,’ he said, indicating I just do as instructed. Exasperated, I complied.

  Meridan? Why are you here? the Klieo asked as she verified me.

  ‘Be nice, my lover,’ Polaris instructed. ‘This could be important.’

  Very well. The computer still sounded perturbed. Commencing download.

  I closed my eyes to focus and was startled when the Klieo announced almost instantly: Transmission downloaded.

  ‘Can you clean that up a bit?’ Polaris asked.

  Anything for you, Captain.

  I looked at Polaris, surprised. ‘Is your ship’s computer flirting with you?’

  Polaris grinned. ‘She’s the ultimate vessel.’

  I had to laugh. ‘Solarian would never say, “Anything for you, Captain.”’ I mimicked the computer’s flirtatious tone.

  Would she not? the computer asked curiously.

  ‘No,’ I assured it. ‘She would say—’

  Polaris slapped a hand over my mouth to prevent me spoiling his little piece of paradise. ‘I confess the voice is Solarian’s but Klieo has her own character entirely,’ he said, and released me to find me grinning with mischief.

  ‘No wonder you don’t want to bring Solarian up here,’ I remarked.

  Transmission restored, advised the computer. Two per cent inaudible.

  Polaris was grateful for the distraction. ‘Run transmission, thank you, Klieo.’

  When you return to 2003 you are ambushed and forced to land. It is Castor they seek and the Rod of Power. Montauk started in 1923 with the Order of the Black Sun. Beware the Montauk Boys. If they obtain the Rod of Power they can permanently extend their wormhole system all the way back in history to the time of…

  Remainder of transmission inaudible, the computer advised.

  The Montauk Project was a series of secret US government experiments conducted at an underground facility beneath Camp Hero and Montauk Air Force Base, Long Island, between the 1950s and mid-1980s. The project was steeped in conspiracy theory: tales had surfaced of human abductions and torture to enhance psychic ability, time-travel experiments, alien contact and much more. What had really gone on there was still something of a mystery to me.

  ‘Levi said he’d been involved with the Montauk Boys—’ I began.

  ‘I’m fairly sure Kali wasn’t referring to Levi,’ Polaris cut in, flattening my fear before I could verbalise it. ‘What I find curious is her reference to 1923. Our intelligence makes no mention of a wormhole to that year.’

  ‘What I find even more curious is that she claims we’re going to be ambushed when we reach our target year,’ I added. ‘Should we alter our plans?’

  ‘We don’t have to…we have you,’ Polaris commented flippantly, and looked out the front shield windows.

  I was confused by his confidence. I followed his line of sight to see another huge ethereal funnel erupting.

  Alignment with Blue Fire Command funnel complete, the Klieo announced.

  ‘It’s all one way from here,’ Polaris squeezed out as the pressure of the vortex engulfed us.

  Everything within the Klieo was reduced to an atomic state once more. Our destination in this instance was the Eye of Ra porthole passage, within the proximity of Rigel, some seven hundred and twenty-three light years away.

  When my universe again took form, I found myself with an entirely different view of it. A huge blue sun bathed me in its rays, so potent with my colour frequency that I could barely move from sheer euphoria. There were many large stars in this area of space, and the massive gas clouds of the Witch Head Nebula were like moving castles in space as the strong solar winds churned them. I could also see thousands of lights darting between planets and space stations.

  ‘Are the lights spacecraft?’ I finally found my voice, but couldn’t bring myself to move a muscle.

  ‘Some are.’ Polaris came to stand beside me at the huge windows. ‘Many are light-beings who no longer need a vehicle to travel through space.’

  Tears welled in my eyes. The grandeur of the view filled me with gratitude to be who I was, and the intensity of my joy left me breathless.

  ‘Why did you award me this moment, Captain?’ I asked. ‘Wouldn’t it have been more romantic to share it with Solarian?’

  ‘Two reasons,’ he advised. ‘When we enter back through Earth’s ionosphere, a cloud of electromagnetic energy is going to take out all the Klieo’s systems. As the HAARP array goes online, the natural frequencies of the Earth grid will be disrupted and the Klieo will be unable to draw Blue Flame energy through the natural matrix of the planet. You are the only independent living conduit of Blue Flame energy on Earth, so I need you to—’

  ‘—power the Klieo whilst we go about our mission in 2003,’ I concluded for him, feeling a little overwhelmed by my task. ‘No pressure, of course.’

  ‘I won’t lie…it will be a drain on your energy. But I wouldn’t ask if you weren’t completely capable of doing the job. It’s your forté,’ he added to make me laugh.

  ‘I’m here to serve,’ I accepted the task. ‘But you said there were two reasons?’

  ‘Well, more importantly than your use as a power source, you’re the teller of our story,’ he said with a charming smile. ‘So I wanted you to see our passage from the best seat in the house.’

  His response struck at my heart and filled it with a deep sense of purpose. Of all my Drago
n sisters, who had been so prolific in their lifetimes in recording their grand adventures, I was the one who had been awarded the honour of telling this tale—the grandest adventure of them all. I felt inspired to begin writing then and there—if I could have freed myself from the paralysis of my awe.

  Blue Fire Command request permission for extraction.

  ‘Permission granted,’ the captain replied to the Klieo.

  With a slight jolt, which startled me and set me off balance, the ship began to slowly ascend.

  Polaris helped to steady me and then pointed upwards. ‘Station dock,’ he said.

  ‘We’re beneath a space station…?’

  I was distracted by the sight of a large glowing vaporous being that was peering in at us through the control deck windows. Within seconds, many other such beings, of different sizes, shapes and hues, had joined it. Their forms were mutable and transparent, which made them fascinating to watch; they thought the same about us, clearly.

  ‘Humans are a bit of a rarity in this neck of the woods,’ Polaris explained.

  I had a little chuckle at this, then turned my gaze to the underside of the station we were entering. It was enormous, and the closer to the docking area we rose, the more dense the activity of the locals outside our windows became—the underside of the space station appeared to be a nation within itself!

  As the Klieo rose, she slowly turned and was behind us—the most awesome sight I will ever behold.

  I was staring straight into the great universal tear and the light was intense, saturated in the prima matra of the Ranna time flow. No wonder Rigel appears so damn bright in the night sky back home, I thought. I attempted to open my eyes wider but the pain was too intense. Instead, my third-eye vision came into focus and so did the wonder before me.

  It was a huge gaping window in space that led into another universe—as if one section of a labyrinth had opened to another. Much of the light was coming from the universe that lay beyond the tear and its source was the Eye of Ra, where all the ley lines of the Ranna and the Kali time flows merged. The eye itself was a light vortex, but around it was a golden light structure like two interlocking diamonds, which converged with a blinking-type motion and flashed in response to the quasar-like pulsing caused by the touching of the two universes. This double-diamond structure was the capstone of the Eye of Ra, known as the Telos Aarkhara, which prevented the universal tear from extending any further into the Ranna time flow. As a point of leakage between our time flow and the Ranna, this was where prima matra could be harvested for creation purposes throughout our harmonic universe. This was where the Ennead had acquired the base material required for their terraforms on future Earth.