“Please hold your questions, I am sure Zee needs time to sit by your mothers’ side. Can we give him some space while both of you visit with your father?” The doctor asked.
Zoey looked over at Zach, her twin and said, “Dear brother, these are very unethical questions we are asking. I feel extremely uncomfortable, don’t you?”
“Yes, let's just drop it for now! This is far more than my mind can deal with now anyway,” Zach replied.
Both sat by their father’s side and looked through the viewer as he was healing. He looked peaceful and neither could tell he had ever been injured other than the equipment now wired to him inside the pod.
Trexien sent Syra’s children back home to their spouses, children, and grandchildren and directed them to try as best as they could, to explain the age reversal to them.
Each day, both Zach and Zoey continued to check up on their parents, but Zach had a job to do, and that was to run Earth II.
Zoey will have much work to do and so did her husband Preston, and so they both reported back to the observatory.
Zee did as he had always done, he was in many places at the same time through the core systems sending orders here and there, but never left Syra’s side.
In only a few months, Syra began waking up and was kept sedated until the proper time.
Then, Zee got the great news he was waiting for! His fleet of 100 ships had successfully taken the Xnaethean ship back to its space and given Arzaitus a warning.
It was understood that any attempt to reenter Earth II’s space would be unwelcomed and they would pay the consequences.
Somehow, all those who captained those 100 ships all concurred that there would be no further issues from the Xnaethean’s ever again. That was the consensus of all who attended the meeting upon the fleets return.
It was about six months later; Syra was now ready to be awakened and both her children were so scared of doing this they could not attend the awakening.
They stayed in the room next to her pod and could do nothing more than simply cry. Their emotions were just too out of control for the both, and they were extremely nervous about how their mother would react to such a drastic change in her life.
Both had explained to Zee and Trexien that they had watched both their parents reach a point of near death, they could no longer take part. They left the room and would watch through the viewer.
“Syra, wake up. How are you feeling my dear?” Trexien asked.
“Dr. Trexien, why am I in the restore pod?” Syra replied.
That was when Zee interrupted and explained to Syra about the explosion and that she and James were trapped inside it along with others.
Then Trexien explained that James was still in the healing pod and sedated. He would be there for some time and then would need some physical therapy to walk. He explained that there would be no scars and he should make a full recovery very soon.
But it was now time to explain to Syra about her transformation. Both Trexien and Zee took turns explaining it and then waited for Syra to respond.
But Syra had closed her eyes and motioned for them to give her some space and both stepped back from her and waited for her to speak to them.
It was a long time before Syra spoke again and when she did, she wanted to see James. When she raised her hand in front of her, she saw the arm of a youthful girl and cried for some time.
Syra knew for such a drastic move to have been made, she must have been awfully close to death. But to have gone through such drastic age reversal was something even she had never heard of nor could she understand now what was really going on.
Syra was weak but insisted on standing on her own two feet and so they helped her to James’ pod, and she sat there on the seat next to him for a while brushing back his hair from his face and giving him a gentle kiss from time to time.
She had grown tired very quickly and was helped back to a regular bed. She then rolled over, pulled the covers over her head, and went to sleep.
The next day, Syra sat at the edge of her bed and realized that Zee had not left her side. She knew she would never have a more loyal friend.
“Come on old friend, help me braid my hair, it’s all the way down my backside and I am sitting on it!” Syra said.
The captain helped her braid her hair and she did her usual wrap around the crown of her head and placed her hairpins to secure it and thanked her lifelong friend.
“Is this really me or am I dreaming Captain Zee?” Syra asked.
“It’s you my dear friend, and you look just like I remember you over 85 years ago,” the captain replied.
“Well, I certainly don’t remember feeling this energetic!” Syra stated. “As a matter of fact, I don’t remember being so physically fit either.”
Trexien discharged Syra and asked her to let him know if she feels anything different physically or mentally. He would need to know about it right away.
He had never had a patient with such severe injuries and then have them go through such a drastic transformation.
Zee had brought Syra new clothes because her old ones had been thrown out. She was more than ready to leave the hospital.
Zach and Zoey had arrived just in time to greet their mother as she was getting ready to leave. Both of her children pretended nothing had changed about their mother, and all three hugged for the longest time.
Syra made her children promise to contact her the minute James recovers and she and Zee headed over to the newly repaired section of the Central Command Center. She had no memory of the explosion but was glad to see the repairs were completed so quickly.
“So, what happened to the old Zerk programming we had stored here?” Syra asked.
“He was destroyed by the Xnaetheans, which they intended to do all along!” the captain replied.
But Zee went on to tell Syra everything and she had no idea that Zerk had had old programming within him from Arzaitus and the Xnaetheans!
But with his programming now running perfectly within the Ark Royal, the captain explained that Zerk was a real asset and had helped them win the war!
The captain and Syra boarded his travel pod and he took Syra to her Sheevah. She was well enough now to venture out on her own.
Syra had left the central since her crew was already back to work and had survived their injuries. Everyone who saw her was not prepared to see her so youthful even though they had known ahead of time.
A few days later, Syra called on Zee to visit with her. It had been most difficult at home alone these days since everything reminded her of who she was before the accident, and now when she saw her reflection, she was young again.
She needed her old friend to talk to. Zee arrived just moments after she had called him.
Once in flight, Syra had to say something!
“Zee, I can’t decide if I am 25 or 125!” she exclaimed. “One moment I want to sit and rest and the other I want to go running up a flight of stairs!”
“The doctor said you would go through a lot of emotional changes so expect to break down and cry, burst out laughing, all kinds of emotions that may seem confusing at times,” Zee told his longtime friend.
That was when Syra remembered the old beast she used to ride on in the holocom chamber and demanded that she get to ride that beast again.
Zee and Syra went to the holocom chamber and they both rode beasts. But there was no way he could keep up with her and so he commanded his beast to stop the chase.
For the next month, Syra spent her time by James’ bedside. But when it appeared James would be coming out of sedation soon, Syra asked not to be present.
She did not want to cause James any shock. He had gone through enough and so Syra stayed away and would until she was called up to visit with her husband after he is told about what had happened to her.
She decided to take her Sheevah and head to the beach and spend some time there reflecting on her life. But somehow the clothes she used to wear to the beach just did not seem to fi
t her liking anymore, and she ordered up a whole new wardrobe.
The Sheevah ship was like James’ camper back on Earth but could fly in the sky or sail on the ocean and there was nowhere on Earth II that she could not go.
Over the years she had the ship changed several times. But now, as she sat on the beach that day, she decided it may be time for yet another upgrade.
Meanwhile, back at the medical center, Trexien woke James and the first thing he asked for was Syra.
“Where’s Syra?” James spoke softly.
“She is not here right now, but she is fine and had healed very well!” Trexien informed James.
And course, it took Trexien and Zee awhile because the doctor had a lot to tell James about Syra.
But first, Zee gave James the rundown on what had happened at the Command Center and what had happened in the war with the Xnaetheans and Zerk.
But it was time to give James specifics on the health of his wife Syra, and both dreaded it.
The doctor had told the captain before he woke James, that he was just not sure how to tell a man his wife is young enough to be his granddaughter in looks and physical being! She was still the same woman, just younger like she was when he first met her.
Of course, James himself was younger as well. The healing pod had repaired all the damage done and had taken his age back about 20 years in health and looks because of the Zhian DNA he now had. But of course, that transfer alone was what saved his life.
When James was told of the transformation of his wife Syra, he was in total shock and had nothing to say for some time.
When he had gotten his composure, he asked where she was, and he was told she was at their favorite beach to relax since she had gone through so much lately.
“Then I need to go there to see her, can I get someone to take me there and just drop me off?” James asked.
Zee volunteered and suggested James send her a message so she could at least be prepared for his arrival and so he did. It did not take him long to grab his swimwear and leisure clothing and he was ready to go.
Once Zee and James were in flight, James had several questions of course!
“So, what do I say to her?” James asked.
“Whatever you want! Just tell her she is beautiful and embrace her. Everything will be okay James,” the captain stated.
James could see the beach ahead and the Sheevah was right where he thought it would be. He was as anxious as anyone could imagine he would be, and then terrified just a much.
The captain dropped James off some distance down the beach and allowed him to walk to Syra. This was to show her he was alive and well. But he was anxious to see his wife again, no matter how different she may look.
Then Syra saw James walking down the beach with a small travel bag wearing his swimwear and she had to shade her eyes from the bright sun to try to get a clearer visual of him.
James began walking faster and faster! He was anxious to hold his wife in his arms once again, and as he came closer it was like flashbacks into his past.
Syra was running to him and her hair had fallen out of the crown of her head and a long braid fell behind her back.
James’ heart began pounding and he reached out and embraced his wife for the first time in just a little over three months since the accident.
Neither had anything to say, words were not necessary. They walked back to the Sheevah, dropped off James’ travel bag and went out to the beach and laid down and began soaking up the sun and both fell asleep and slept a long time in each other’s arms, then they woke just in time to see the sunset!
.
BOOK THREE
chapter eight
Syra and James spent several weeks vacationing at their secluded beach tucked away and mostly out of sight. But it was time to return to the city and the Command Center because there were still many decisions that needed to be made since the war ended.
The following morning after returning home, Syra and James dressed and jumped into the travel pod to go attend one of the most important meetings since the time they had first landed on Earth II and made many decisions that day for their future.
It was difficult for James to keep his eyes off his wife because she was so strikingly beautiful and exactly as he remembered her so long ago. But as much as she was the same on the inside, she was equally changing.
James had noticed Syra’s behavior was a lot like it was when she was only 25 years of age, and she slowly discarded clothing she used to love and returned to the Zhian clothing and much of the Zhian ways.
But he was just grateful that she still had her full memory. He often wondered how she handled it all so well, the confusion must have been difficult, he thought.
He sat there at the meeting thinking of the time at the beach and how strange it was to see her looking and acting so young.
They had grown old together, but now she was changing not just because she looked younger, she was younger.
James often daydreamed and was now not aware of anyone in the room for some time as he remembered the olden days back when he first met Syra.
Then Zach called upon his mother Syra to discuss a rescue mission and that woke James out of his daydreaming instantly.
Zach suggested they set up a new mission for the Ark Royal. She was a battleship, but she was also a rescue ship. Those Zhianites that the old Zerk sent to the smaller planets in Zhian space were abandoned and that needed to be corrected.
Zee had been in touch with those citizens for many years and things had gotten much worse for them. All of them were now on the same small planet resources would not last too many more years.
They simply did not have the ability to leave Zhian space and the captain also said another one of his concerns was that he felt that if the Xnaetheans found the Zhianites on that planet, they may turn them into slaves, and they had absolutely no defenses.
But if they did rescue them, where would they put them? The captain pondered, and he whispered to Syra for ideas.
The southern part of the continent on Earth II had many beautiful beaches. There was some land with a small cliff and that area had a plateau and would make an excellent new settlement with a gorgeous ocean view.
Syra knew exactly where it was located because she had flown over that area many times and stated it would be perfect for a new settlement. The captain loved the idea as much as Syra did.
Everyone in the room agreed with the captain and Syra on the location. They knew that if he could pull off this rescue, they would have the new settlement ready with temporary shelter, at least until those Zhianites could build more permanent structures.
Zach spoke up and said, “Well we’ll never be able to build a monorail system that could reach there, but then again, what would paradise be like if it had all kinds of traffic from the monorail?”
“Then if we are successful, let’s call it the Southern Paradise Settlement,” Syra suggested and it was voted upon and was a done deal.
When everyone stepped outside for a break, Syra looked at James and said, “Let’s go! Let’s go with Captain Zee and save my people, James.”
“I’m sorry my darling wife, but I am just not up to such a jaunt these days, but I will support you if you chose to go,” James replied.
“But I can’t leave your side my darling, I just can’t!” Syra said.
“Yes, you can, and you should. It will be good for you to travel on a new adventure and I know you want to. I insist you do!” James replied and went on to say, “Those people have been through a lot and they deserve to see you when they get rescued.”
Once back inside the meeting, Syra announced that she would once again travel with Zee if he would have her aboard the Ark Royal. She would assist him in this journey and save her people.
Everyone in the room cheered including Zach and Zoey, who both knew this was exactly what their mother needed.
Zee and Syra would once again travel through space together, but this time piloting the Ark Ro
yal. They would return to the Zhian space and rescue every single Zhianite who had been sent to those smaller planets.
It was never Syra’s plan to abandon her people; she had wanted everyone to go with her in the Zhian Sphere. But it was the Council of 12 and Zerk’s plan to overstock the ship with crystals, and also pack all their technology and leave the majority of Zhian’s citizens on a couple of smaller planets to survive and start over.
She hated to see all those travel pods leave the towers and merge with the vessels that would house them until they reached their assigned planet in the Zhian space.
One thing Syra knew for certain, was the Ark Royal could now handle about anything coming its way.
The ship would be able to house the Zhianites from those few planets now trying to survive on one small planet, which was quickly getting overcrowded.
The perfect area had already been selected on southern land, which would be Earth II’s first tropical paradise. With most of the problems solved, they could leave any day.
But to resettle on Earth II, they would need to bring everything they could to resettle quickly.
Earth II was simply not ready to handle that many new citizens without the added supplies.
There was also a concern that they may still run into Xnaetheans, but everyone who would be aboard the Ark Royal was confident they would fare well under an attack.
Zee had been readying his ship for some time now and was anxious to enter Zhian space once again.
It was estimated that the flight time at his new speeds, rescue time and barring no delays they could make the trip in less than two months.
Syra and James had spent as much time as possible together, and James was beginning to regret agreeing on seeing his wife off on such a long and dangerous mission. But he knew it was something she had her heart set on.
James and his whole family stood there that day when Syra boarded the Ark Royal and all of them felt overwhelming emotions.
But as they watched Syra waving at the crowd and blowing kisses to her family, they knew she was doing exactly what she needed to be doing!
With the Ark Royal ready, Ellead aboard and Ohtron with his bitrons, Zee gave the command and his great ship rose high into the sky as everyone watched and cheered them on.
The Chronicles of Syra Omnibus Page 48
