Box Set #4: Sisterhood's End: [The 3 book 4th adventure of Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood]

by Robert Iannone

  “Why wouldn’t we be together?” asked Tee’ka.

  “The pods are released in sequence . . . one every few seconds. The ship travels at a very high rate of speed. Those few seconds will mean hundreds of miles between each pod . . . and thousands of miles between the first and last ones launched.”

  “I don’t like it,” declared Soo.

  “The chance of having to use them is very small. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.”

  *****

  A few hours later

  The intercom came alive with a computer-generated simulation of Spirit’s telepathic voice. “Everyone to the control room, please.”

  The girls had been napping or talking in small groups. When they heard the announcement, they did as requested.

  “What’s up?” asked BreeZee

  “Welcome to Earth’s Solar System,” and she pointed at the view screen.

  “It’s beautiful,” observed Tee’ka. “Which one is Earth?”

  “The one in the lower right. It’s seventy percent water . . . that’s what causes the blue color. The white splotches are clouds.”

  “Hey, Spirit . . . gets out of that seat,” demanded Bl’azzz.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I want Serenity to do her magic and find me big bird. I’ve waited long enough. Now, move.” It was said jokingly and everyone smiled.

  “As you command,” teased the Thought Weaver. “Serenity, the ship is yours.”

  “No need to move, Spirit. I’ll just transfer control to my chair” and she did.

  “Okay, this could take me a while so make yourselves comfortable.”

  “The longer it takes, the gassier I get,” warned Bl’azzz.

  “I thought you had pills for that?” asked her friend.

  “I do . . . but I just might forget to take them.”

  “I think I found our elusive feathery friend . . .” The view screen went black and then a truly unusual image formed.

  Big Bird from Sesame Street

  “NO!”

  “That’s Big Bird?”

  “It’s . . . it’s so yellow.”

  “Why is it dancing?”

  “It’s kind of cute . . . or handsome. Anyone know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

  Bl’azzz on the other hand went hysterical. She actually rolled on the floor eeking. She was so loud that Jynxie had just about enough. “Grrrrrr. Burp,” then walked out.

  “Get up, you oversized sky lizard,” complained Soo.

  Bl’azzz did as she was asked. “Serenity, can you send a picture of this back to Aerianna?”

  “Sure. It’ll take a few days for it to get there.”

  “That’s okay. Send it to Meggy and K’ssss.”

  “Not Aeri’elle?”

  “No, no, no. I get to do that.”

  Serenity pushed a few buttons. “Done.”

  Then for the next twenty minutes, the girls watched their very first episode of Sesame Street. It was titled, “Put down the Ducky.”

  *****

  The ship went into orbit and the cloaking device activated. There was nothing to do at this point that was more important than getting some rest. They said their goodnights then turned in after a long day.

  “Hey, Soo.”

  “Yeah, Bl’azzz?”

  “If you want a good night sleep, remember you got to put down the ducky.”

  “Shut up, you foolish, feeble-minded F’yre Dragon.”

  “Hurtful,” was the reply as she shut her cabin door.

  “Good grief. Hey, Spirit . . . don’t forget to do the braid thing.”

  “I won’t. Good night Soo.”

  “Night.”

  “Come on, Jynxie. I’ve got some dreaming to do.”

  “Grrrrrr.”

  *****

  She knocked quietly.

  No answer.

  “Serenity.”

  No answer.

  “Serenity,” she yelled.

  “What?”

  “Sorry to wake you . . . but we need to talk.”

  “The door’s unlocked. Come in.” The girl did. “What’s wrong?”

  “I did my Thought Braid.”

  “Trouble?”

  “Yes,” but she hesitated as if she was reluctant to give any more information.

  “What did you see?”

  No response.

  “Spirit, tell me . . . whatever it is.”

  “There’s a one hundred percent chance that you are going to blow up the ship.”

  “WHAT?”

  “I have never had a Weave or a Braid with an absolute certainty of its coming to pass. But this time . . . you are going to destroy the Seven. And it’s going to happen very soon.”

  “How can that be? I was asleep until you woke me.”

  “It’s because of . . . something I can’t explain. It’s because of the shadows. They . . . it . . . came aboard when we exited hyper-space.”

  “Spirit, you’re not making any sense. What shadows?”

  “It’s not like a shadow that you cast when you step into the sunlight. These shadows only exist as . . . as shadows. They’re black shapes that skulk along the floor or walls.

  Egg wasn’t the only one who could get goose bumps. Serenity was getting them now. “What else?”

  “They eat energy.”

  “What kind of energy?”

  “Life energy.”

  “Wake everyone up. Hurry.”

  *****

  In the engine compartment, the only place that was open to the outside, were . . .

  . . . Spirit’s shadows. They oozed across the floor and walls looking for something. They were hungry . . . they were always hungry . . . and they sensed food. Lots of food.

  *****

  The girls were all back in the common room, their bodies very tired, but their minds now wide-awake and terrified.

  “What’s Serenity doing?”

  “Bree, I don’t know. She said to tell you what I saw and to wait here.”

  Bl’azzz swallowed a couple of antacid pills then asked, “Tell me again about these shadows? I don’t understand.”

  Before Spirit could answer, Serenity rolled in. “I’ve researched the database of the Federation. There is nothing definitive; however, there is folklore on more than one planet that describes what Spirit saw. Strangely enough, all the stories are almost exactly the same . . . which tells me that they are probably true.”

  “So what are they?” asked Bree.

  “Most everyone refers to them as the Reapers. Even earthlings have stories of them . . . but they call them Zombies. As Spirit told us, they harvest the life force of anything alive . . . dragons, serpent, humans, whatever. That’s how they feed.”

  “What else?”

  “Apparently, once they . . . infect . . . a planet, there’s nothing that can stop them. So, we have to destroy them here . . . on board the Seven.”

  “How?” asked Soo.

  “By destroying the ship. If we don’t, we’re just bringing a form of living death to Earth . . . and everyone on it. If we were to turn around and go home . . . well, we wouldn’t make it. Even if we did, we would be taking this plague back to Aerianna. I’ll send a message to the Queen by sub-space transmission to let her know what’s going on but it’ll take at least a week to get there.”

  They all started talking at once. Bree, who was technically still in charge, stopped them. “Quiet. Serenity, I gather we don’t have much time. What do we do?”

  “We have to abandon ship now. I will set the engines to explode and the ship will crash into earth’s atmosphere and burn up. It’s the only way to guarantee they’ll all be destroyed. And you’re right, we have to move quickly. Legend says, as the Reapers get closer, their victims will lose consciousness. I don’t know how much time we have, but it’s probably a matter of minutes.”

  “How do we get home?” asked Tee’ka.

  Serenity reached into a pocket and pulled out two rings. “Give these to Egg an
d Sylvia. Once we’re all together on Earth, they can take us home.”

  Tee’ka took them and put them safely away.

  “Tell Egg that she can’t get her flying suit back without the Myst Tree’s help.”

  “Okay. How will I find her?”

  “I’m sending you through the device. It’s . . . it’s about late afternoon her time. Let’s all head to the pods. We need to hurry.”

  They made their way quickly. “Tee, open that one and pull out the emergency pack and put it on.” The girl did. “Okay, good luck.” She pressed a button on her control panel and the girl disappeared. “Sorry, we don’t have time for long goodbyes.”

  “Now you two get in those pods and I’ll release them. Oh, Soo, Bl’azzz – whatever you do, don’t talk to anyone. Just trust me.” They each got into a pod and Serenity fired them into space. “Bree, there’s a jacket in the supplies. Cover your wings. Now go.” The girl got in, closed the door and Serenity released the pod.

  “I’m . . . I’m feeling drowsy,” said Spirit in a soft voice.

  “They’re coming. Quick get in. Spirit, cover your head with a scarf . . . and don’t talk. They never heard of telepaths. Hurry.” The girl managed to open a pod and get in. Serenity fired it off.

  “Grrrrrrr.”

  “Haven’t forgotten about you, my furry friend. Get . . . oh no. Oh no.” Spirit had used the wrong pod. The one that controlled Jynx’s capsule was still here. The Shamie would never survive. Thinking fast, the girl tapped a few more controls. “Okay, Jynxie, we have one minute to get out of here . . . but I need your help.” She wheeled over to her pod then slipped out of her wheelchair. “Jynx, morph into something with hands and put my chair inside the pod . . . hurry.”

  The Shamie shifted into a miniature likeness of Spirit and did as she was told.

  Serenity fired off the pod.

  “Listen, drag me over to that pod and put me in. Once you do that, get into the next one. Understand?”

  “Grrrrrrr.”

  “Good girl.”

  Jynx started to do as instructed but stopped and “Grrrrrrr. Burp.”

  “What is it?” Serenity looked around and yelped. There on the wall was . . .

  “Jynx, hurry girl. Hurry.”

  *****

  “BREAKING NEWS.

  What was believed to be a large meteor exploded high above the Atlantic Ocean

  a few minutes ago. Witnesses say it was a spectacular fireball.

  The Air Force reports that all debris fell harmlessly into the ocean and,

  thankfully, there were no reports of injuries or damage.

  More information as we get it.

  Now back to your regularly scheduled program.”

  Chapter 2 – Tee’ka

  Egg was cruising at about five thousand feet over a particularly treacherous stretch of canyons that scarred some unnamed mountain range. It certainly was a place to avoid for an emergency landing if something happened to malfunction on the airplane.

  Her mind wasn’t really concentrating on flying. Truth is, once airborne, the plane hardly needed a pilot. She was watching the strangely beautiful scenery while day dreaming about the first time she flew as Flying Girl. She smiled at the memory of meeting a hot air balloon with two people in the gondola. They had asked her, “Who are you? What are you?”

  “I’m Flying Girl,” and she blew them a kiss.

  She took a deep breath . . . and shook her head in amazement. “No one should be as lucky as I’ve been,” she told a cumulus cloud that was shaped like Jynxie (if you used your imagination).

  Then she remembered a conversation about luck . . . was it with Spirit? She had said she didn’t like to think about all the luck they had had. Sooner or later, it was bound to end.

  And she got goose bumps.

  “Rats.”

  Seemingly on cue, she noticed smoke rising from the passenger seat and her heart began to beat faster.

  To her surprise (and relief), she saw it wasn’t coming from the plane . . . but from Serenity’s device.

  It took her a second to realize that someone was coming through.

  The smoke became solid and there stood Tee’ka. The girl looked around trying to get her bearings. She reached for something to steady herself and by chance grabbed the same device that she had just passed through.

  A second or two later she recognized her friend. “EGG,” she yelled with a big grin on her face.

  With the engine and wind sound, Egg couldn’t hear her friend but she could read her lips. She smiled from ear to ear and returned the wave. She had been right all along . . . they came back for her.

  Then she realized that Tee’ka was standing up . . . on the passenger seat . . . in an open cockpit plane . . . at an altitude of five thousand feet. “Tee, sit down, sit down,” but, of course, the girl couldn’t hear her.

  Egg gestured with her hand . . . “Sit down.”

  Tee’ka frowned then looked down . . . but not at the seat. She peeked over the side of the plane and Egg could see the look of surprise on her face as the girl realized they weren’t on the ground.

  As bad luck would have it, a strong gust of wind blew the aircraft. Tee’ka was unprepared for the sudden movement and lost her balance. She gripped the device tighter but it wasn’t enough to steady her.

  She started to fall head first out of the airplane.

  The strap that held the device – never designed to support the weight of a person – snapped.

  And Tee’ka fell out . . . arms wind milling as if she was trying to fly.

  “NOOOOOOOOO,” screamed Egg in horror as she watched her friend plummet to earth.

  *****

  For a second or two, Egg watched as her friend hurtled towards the earth and certain death. Acting on blind (and very illogical) instincts that hadn’t diminished over the last five years, she unbuckled her seat belt, climbed out of the cockpit then dove off the plane.

  She had no idea if this was going to work. Stunts like this only happened in movies.

  But she couldn’t just watch her friend . . . her sister . . . die.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that she was falling at the same rate as Tee’ka . . . meaning that she would never catch up to her until they both hit the ground. So she curled her body into a ‘cannonball’ position to cut down on air resistance. Now she would fall faster than the other girl whose arms were still wind milling.

  Everything happened in slow motion because, at five thousand feet, there was nothing to measure speed or distance against. She concentrated on her friend trying to gauge how fast she was closing the gap.

  Now, you might think she was terrified . . . falling like a rock. Truth is, she had been Flying Girl for so long that it was second nature to her to be airborne. The only thing that worried her was how she would save Tee’ka.

  After about fifteen seconds she was a bit startled to realize she was almost on top of the girl . . . and if she didn’t slow down she would shoot right past her. So, she slowly unwound her cannonball position and assumed the pose of Flying Girl . . . hands at her side. This was going to be tricky because she had to match Tee’ka’s speed exactly.

  Tee was still face down and had no idea Egg was above her. When she felt a hand on her back, she screamed even louder and tried to knock it off since she didn’t know what it was.

  Then she felt a second hand and heard Egg’s voice. Looking over her shoulder, she saw her friend’s smiling face looking back at her. “Hi, Egg . . .,” she yelled.

  But Egg only heard gibberish. She didn’t have her translation necklace with her. “Rats.” It would have been so much easier if she could tell the other girl what to do . . . but as it was, she would have to maneuver for the two of them.

  She looked down and realized they had fallen at least half way to the ground . . . maybe twenty-five hundred feet. She had to open her parachute above one thousand feet to land safely, so time and altitude were racing by.

  Grabbing Tee
by the shoulders, she forced the girl to turn around so they were face to face. Then she put Tee’s arms around her waist and squeezed them as tightly as she could. “Hang on tight,” she yelled even though she wouldn’t be understood.

  “Here goes nothing,” and she pulled the ripcord then grabbed Tee’ka for all she was worth. The chute snaked out of the pack on Egg’s back, caught the wind and unfurled into a large white canopy.

  When it did, the girls were jolted hard as their speed was cut by more than half.

  Tee’ka yelped. Unprepared for what had just happened, her hands were jerked off of Egg and she started to slip away.

  “No you don’t,” Egg yelled as she grabbed the girl again. She pulled hard and this time, with Tee’ka’s help, the girl was able to climb back up. She said something . . . presumably thank you and Egg smiled in return.

  A few seconds later, the ground came up to meet them. Egg made sure she hit the ground first then forced her companion to roll as they made contact. By doing it this way, neither one would feel the full impact of the ground on their legs and thereby avoiding the possibility of sustaining an injury.

  Still, they landed in a heap and an “oomph” as the chute gently floated down to cover them.

  They didn’t move for a few seconds as their minds and emotions caught up to their bodies lying safely on the ground. Then they sat up, untangled from each other and from the parachute. They stood up and gave each other a proper hug.

  “Thank you. Egg, it’s so wonderful to see you again. You look different . . . older. But now you’re so much prettier.”

  Egg, of course, could only guess what her friend had said. She pointed to Tee’s mouth then to her own ear and shook her head no . . . hoping that the girl would understand that there was a serious translation issue.

  It took a few seconds then Tee’s face lit up with understanding. She pointed to Egg’s neck where the missing necklace should have been and shook her head no.