“Do it!” came her strangled cry—and Sateron jabbed the final preprogrammed sequence button.
The Prehendere’s NMIP tried to correct the signature pathway of the Intezelin Torpedo at the last second, but it was too late. Mariah’s “Little Buddy” had been jerked around enough. It had a clear signature, the target Mariah had downloaded was right before it...
And in a spectacular eruption of super-heated flames so hot that gouts of red and white illuminated the heavens for thousands of miles, the Intezelin Torpedo self-destructed, annihilating itself and its target ... the Stirilium Cruiser Prehendere. Both became nothing more than infinitesimal particles that would forever float in the void.
With the concussive waves from the explosion catching it fractionally before its completed hyperspatial transport, the Lepitera skidded and bucked, swerving sideways like a pickup truck on black ice. Its neural processor blinked off-line, having been previously hit by the energy beam projectors and now this rupturing blast. Anticipating this, Sateron manually adjusted all the relays to stabilize the vessel. The Lepitera slewed and almost went into a roll, but was marginally saved when the NMIP came back on-line and resumed control of the shuddering MERS, bringing it to balance.
Aleris instantly disengaged the field surrounding her pod, moving swiftly to Mariah’s side. She knelt over the prone figure only to have the object of her concern roll over onto its back and say wearily, “Mother, that was close.”
Chapter 75
Aleris was not smiling as she looked down at Mariah. She then lifted her eyes to her colleague. Relief washed through him, knowing the Hevru was not permanently damaged. Unlike his colleague, his smile was one of unadulterated joy as he experienced a rush of relief and exhilaration. Nothing had ever beaten a Stirilium Cruiser or escaped a deadly Intezelin Torpedo!
With Aleris’ help, Mariah rose unsteadily to her feet. Her smile was thin, her voice reedy. “Feeling pretty invincible, are we?”
“You have given me the experience of many lifetimes,” Sateron exulted. “If I had not been so concerned for our safety, I would have basked more completely in your luminosity!”
Sitting down heavily in her pod, she nodded at his compliment. “Let’s get the hell out of here. Don’t imagine for a second that the Min’yel’os are through with us. They’ll be even more, shall we say, agitated when they find out I destroyed one of their indestructible war ships with one of their infallible bombs.
“I’m going to sleep. Wake me when we get there.”
Aleris watched Mariah head for her sleeping quarters, a slight frown on her brow. She could no longer teach this human in her fight with the Min’yel’os, could only lend support. She had never felt so helpless or so frightened for another’s safety.
#
The remainder of the journey to Izorach was uneventful. Mariah slept for twelve hours; upon awakening, she realized that, for the first time since she blew up the surveillance van, she had not completely recovered. One thing was back to normal, however: her appetite. As usual, she was famished. Buoyed by her victory, her belly finally full, she looked forward to who—and what—awaited her on Izorach.
With the Lepitera well hidden from the surface by low hanging clouds, the three boarded a personal transport vehicle. As Sateron piloted them down to the lab, Mariah stared out the portal, fascinated by the harsh landscape, captivated as they descended into the deep gorge of the Agrist K’anna. She was impressed with Sateron’s expertise as he maneuvered the craft through a narrow opening in the gorge, around some lethal-looking rock projections, and over a quartz labyrinth that brought them into some mean turbulence. She was tickled at the reprimand he received from the vehicle’s on-board processor and Aleris’ long-suffering sigh.
The PTV began to ascend. While it corrected for the change in air pressure, it alerted them to the one hundred fifty miles-per-hour wind velocity. Lifting her head, Mariah listened; the howling wind above seemed far closer than the five hundred feet Sateron claimed it to be. She shuddered, a sudden prescience filling her with dread.
They veered left and the transport vehicle decelerated as it approached the chasm wall. Sateron sent his personal signal to the Protective Energy Array panel and Mariah watched as the rock face disintegrated. The red glowing lights in the darkened hole wound up being the landing lights of a hangar.
Their craft glided through the PEA then followed a path of sequentially blinking lights to its cradle where it settled. Sateron flipped the hatch switch; in a moment, they stood on the landing pad.
Quickly closing the distance between them, Emmanuel approached, arms outstretched, a broad smile on his face. One pace behind, al-Amin and Siddhartha also welcomed her with their own warm smiles.
Enfolded in his arms, Mariah leaned into his strength, smelling the aroma of freshly shaved wood and soap. Just for a moment she burrowed her face into his chest as she had with Thomas, her arms encircling his waist, holding tightly to his solid presence. His arms tightened protectively; he felt her hearts beating against his body.
Sighing, she loosened her hold and stepped back to look up at him. Moving further away, she reached for al-Amin, grinning at his exuberant expression. He responded by engulfing her in his arms in a fiercely protective and nearly bone-crushing hug. As he loosened his hold, he gently communicated his reassurance while bringing her hand to his lips and lightly kissing her fingers.
Taking her eyes from him she looked to Siddhartha on her right. Mariah closed her eyes for a moment as she felt his physical presence surrounding her in a gentle but possessive embrace. This one always made her feel at peace and she reveled in this sensation, needing his steady comfort now more than ever.
The smiles on the faces of the three men faded as Mariah stared with eyes fixed and unfocused. She cocked her head, listening to something they could not hear. The Three glanced anxiously at the Anorasians who did not appear to be perturbed by Mariah’s behavior, only watching her closely to see what she would do next.
She began to walk purposefully toward the back of the hangar, heading for the Vectored Energy Field that led to the living quarters. All they could do was follow.
Picking up speed, she passed through the VEF without a moment’s hesitation then turned sharply to the right, sliding through another VEF that separated the living quarters from the Humid Zone.
Unnoticed was the moist air that settled on their skin and the smell of ripened foliage that insinuated itself in their nostrils. In the diffused light filtering through the trees, the three humans and two Anorasians followed Mariah to the fork in the main path. Without hesitation, she headed left and followed the fuchsia ground cover.
As she approached the grove of quercus trees, they all began to hear a faint humming. Startled, they realized it came from the moss-like entities clustered on the trees. Never before had the Eocene dicit’ledoni made a sound; now, however, they seemed to have found their voice.
Mariah took several steps closer until she stood in the middle of the grove, her eyes closed, apparently unaware of the effect she was having on the dicit. Light willow-green in color, stark against the mahogany of the trees, every one of them began to quiver. Bunching up like inchworms, their front segments came off the bark then arced in a slight curve. The Anorasians had this effect on them; however, what happened next had never been witnessed by any living being either on Hakilam, Izorach, or Earth.
The Eocene dicit’ledoni began to fade, casting out ghostly illuminated wisps of the willow green color that filtered eerily through the grove of trees. The strands of light began to coalesce and intensify as the filaments began to touch Mariah as if drawn by the magnetism of her body. Once they touched her, they turned a glowing white, so bright it nearly blinded those watching. In a matter of seconds, the light engulfed her completely, obliterating her from view.
The intensity of the humming increased. Later, Aleris would remark to the others that she was sure she heard unrecognizable
speech intertwined with the steady hum.
Several minutes later, the light dissipated, the glowing tendrils breaking up as if they were nothing more than fine mist caught in the gleam of an early morning sun. For several heartbeats, Mariah stood with her back to the ones who stood on the path.
Then she turned to face them ... and they were thunderstruck by what emanated from the depths of her eyes.
And more so by the other changes in her appearance.
Chapter 76
It was several hours before the red sun would set. The wind at the bottom of the gorge huffed lethargically. Sateron’s anger and fear was evident by the smoldering look on his face as he watched Mariah wander around aimlessly, kicking at rocks, causing dust to billow and plume. With nothing to do but follow her movements, his mind drifted back to her emergence from the grove of quercus trees...
His eyes wide in disbelief, Emmanuel’s knees had buckled. He would have collapsed if not for the supporting arm of al-Amin. His voice filled with terror and bewilderment. “Oh ... My ... Lord.”
Rigid in incredulity, Siddhartha and al-Amin just stared, their hearts thundering in their ears.
Aleris and Sateron were not frightened, just captivated and amazed. Even though they had more experience with transmutations, they were unprepared for this. He observed Aleris involuntarily reach out toward Mariah; then realizing how ludicrous was this gesture of support, her arm had dropped by her side.
In one singular moment, the change in Mariah’s appearance created by the dicit was as dramatic as all the numerous transformations her body had undergone during the past year.
Her clothing was gone. In its place was an opaque body covering of pale blue that form-fitted like a second skin, even enveloping her head and hands, but not her face.
The material was nothing the Anorasians had ever seen. Without a source of light, this casing shone with a preternatural brightness. Over the entire surface, pinpoint spots becoming brighter then faded as other spots illuminated. As Mariah moved, the garment shifted with her rather than a normal body suit that was just a fitted casing.
It appeared to flow as if she were under water. As scientists they were thrilled, immediately desiring to inspect, eager to investigate further, never having encountered anything like this in their vast experience.
Yet it was more than a sheath. When Aleris made her gesture of assistance, she encountered an energy field which she psychically shared with Sateron. Mariah was wrapped in a biological and organic substance—and it had gently kept Aleris from physical contact with its host through a psychic and intelligent barrier.
The sclerotic layers of Mariah’s eyeballs were no longer mustard yellow or auburn; they were back to their original white. However, the pupils were now permanently dilated, completely obscuring the irises. Incredibly, she was taller, now nearly five feet ten inches.
Although more than twelve inches shorter than himself, Sateron sensed tremendous, inconceivable raw power and knew, without doubt, that he could never best her if ever they were to engage in physical combat. This realization did not bother him a bit; in fact, he was fascinated and elated.
There was more. Light, with no obvious delineation, encircled the crown of her head. Yet, if he looked elsewhere, his peripheral vision picked up a clearly defined shape ... a halo, a corona of scintillating iridescence no more than half an inch distant from her cranium.
All of them held back. Was she still the one they had come to love? But her smile warmed them all, her gaze tender as she met their eyes, understanding their fear. They sighed collectively with relief. Her eyes settled on him last even though her words were meant for them all.
“I see myself mirrored not only in your eyes but your minds. Let me state the obvious. While I have retained many human and Anorasian characteristics, I believe I am now not either.
“You were right, Sateron. Eocene dicit’ledoni is not native to Izorach. It’s probably not even native to this galaxy. It may even exist in many dimensions, maybe sent by your forefathers, at best, twice removed.
“And, no, this isn’t what your forefathers looked like although I have several of their characteristics.”
Missing was the rasp in her voice. The tone was now sweetly melodic, as if a harp had been blessed with the miracle of speech. The effect was soothing; nevertheless, beneath the gentle tones was an unmistakable energy force that literally vibrated with omnipotence, heavy with incredible consequence.
Chapter 77
They followed her out of the forest and into the hangar where she told them what she was about to do. Outraged, Sateron demanded she abort her plan by attempting to dissuade her with scientific fact. But she was adamant. Helplessly resigned, he took her to the canyon floor via the LIMC, the Localized Inertial Mass Controller, deliberately slowing its deceleration to continue his harangue. She smiled and said nothing. She would win in the end, as usual.
When he returned alone, stiff with disapproval and dread, he opened a section of the rail enclosing the LIMC and the four who waited for his return mounted the platform. He stabbed irately at a button on the free-standing panel array, causing the lift to rise noiselessly to the observation walkway.
The LIMC stopped without sensation, seamlessly aligning with the walkway which extended over all the eco-chambers. They dismounted and turned away from the observation deck, following a path that the glow orbs lit as they approached, their trail leading toward the outer wall of the lab.
The passage widened then ended before a wall of solid quartz. A transparent protective energy array materialized. It spanned twenty feet from floor to ceiling and fifteen feet from side to side, giving them a magnificent view of the opposite wall of the Agrist K’anna.
Sateron halted before a control panel set forward in the viewing area. Fingers tapping impatiently on its display, he brought several consecutive illuminations to life. Radiating coldly in the near dark, the light provided an eerie glow that cast uneven shadows on their bodies and faces. The angle then shifted downward, affording them a view of Mariah in the canyon.
#
Less than fifteen minutes after she walked through the PEA and onto the canyon floor, Zubeln’s frail light began to shrivel, casting dark serpentine shadows on the walls of the gorge. Siddhartha frowned and turned to Emmanuel when he heard his friend mutter: “The sun will be turned into darkness on the last day.”
Mariah finally quit her wanderings and climbed a mound of hard-packed dirt in the only clearing for hundreds of feet. Tendrils of hair whipped around her face, a sign that the wind was increasing.
Emmanuel looked worriedly at Aleris. Without turning her eyes from the figure in the canyon, she said in a hollow voice, “She will follow her course no matter our advice to the contrary.”
The wind moaned as eerily as a Halloween ghost. The volume increased until it reached a shrieking crescendo, as if it had glanced down into the chasm, spotted the lone figure whose head was now raised upward, and felt itself challenged.
The colossus which had defeated Sateron’s attempt to fly through it began to roll down the canyon wall toward her. It erupted in a monumental rage, exquisite in its ferocity.
Rocks and dirt pelted the crystals protruding from the canyon walls; lightning discharges intensified until the canyon seemed lit by strobe lights. The continuous detonation created more than enough voltage to produce sizzling sparks that blazed into a kaleidoscope of color when the lightning jags struck the quartz crystals.
Mariah raised her right arm, her hand outstretched toward the malevolence above. In a heartbeat a bolt of lightning ceased its assault on the canyon walls and stabbed her hand—and in a heated flash of light, she was lifted up and hurtled several feet through the air, landing flat on her back.
They watched her roll over and get slowly to her feet, stumbling as she resumed her position on the knoll. Then, as though in defiance, Mariah shot both hands into the air ... and summoned, twi
n jags of lightning sped toward her, striking her fingertips. Spun around several times, she dropped her arms, cushioning the impact as she fell to her hands and knees. The five inside could see her chest heaving as she tried to draw superheated air into her straining lungs. Her head now nearly touched the ground.
#
“Has she become demented? Is she trying to kill herself?” shouted al-Amin, his voice crazed with horror. After several words of prayer, Emmanuel became silent. His eyes clouded with anguish, tears sliding copiously down his cheeks as he leaned heavily against Sateron.
Siddhartha, the only human who had not uttered a sound, stared unblinkingly at Mariah, his lips compressed into a thin line, his arms folded tightly across his chest as if trying to protect his heart.
Neither Sateron nor his colleague spoke. They could only imagine her intent, but could not comfort the humans who were too emotionally involved. The fact that she was still alive was an obvious testimony to her incomprehensible capacity to absorb exorbitant quanta of energy.
#
Mariah rose to her feet, the expression on her face grim, determined. She stumbled up the dirt mound; her arms lifted parallel to the ground, palms raised upward. She was surrounded by ever darkening lavender light as dirt began to churn around her.
The howling wind abruptly changed to a snarling whine as it found itself being forcibly sucked down the narrow gorge. As if suddenly incensed at this effrontery, the entire fierceness of the Agrist K’anna headed straight for the intruder.
Chapter 78
A vicious whirlwind of debris consisting of rocks, dirt, and fractured pieces of crystal formed a cone which surrounded Mariah. The lavender glow darkened to violet then to black. Mariah never moved. Behind the safety of the energy barrier, the humans and Anorasians watched as the debris produced its own lightning bolts, bombarding Mariah from every angle.
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