Through the Kisandra Prism

by Jack Challis

  ‘Do not act hastily…the frigate looks undamaged,’ advises Admiral Sebus. The red crests of the Ida Jaade slowly begin to fall. Blodwyn knew if not for Sebus’s logical thinking, they would all be plant food by now.

  ‘I have a feeling one life-form here is blind!’ Sebus announces. He walks forward signaling the others to stay put. Reaching out with his delicate three digit fingered arm he gently touched a creeper within reach. Slowly a tender pale green tendril appears from the earth and touches his thin frail fingers; then retires from whence it came.

  A creaking noise from above causes all to look up into the high and dense canopy. The Galla Quall frigate is slowly and gently being lowered to the ground, undamaged. Once on the ground the thick creepers untangle themselves and release their grip of the craft.

  Back on the bridge of the Galla Quall Time-ship, Admiral Sebus announces,

  ‘We have… after much searching, accomplished the last of our quests to save our species. I am now convinced the Worm-eaters possess an amazing power… perhaps even to accelerate evolution! If we can return to the past and bring back our distant ancestors…’

  ‘Is it wise?’ asks Zander, ‘leaving our ancestors at the mercy of this nutrient hungry planet….the results could be catastrophic!’

  ‘I think we are not dealing with one life-form… but several,’ answers Admiral Sebus, ‘only one of the life-forms craves nutrients. The Paradise trees will satisfy the needs of the vines and the appetites of all the other life-forms. These gifts should protect our distant ancestors. I am convinced that several life-forms are present on Signusgraag… all working together… the most powerful life-form dwells in the lake! Before we leave our ancestors here we must first communicate with this life-form… it seems to control all the other life-forms.’

  ‘Then what beings are using these paths Admiral?’ asks Marcus the Ida Jaade Centurion.

  ‘The Worm-eaters!’ the Admiral answers.

  Blodwyn was delighted to have survived another adventure, and grateful she had resisted the temptation to drink the water from the lake if it accelerated growth and evolution! Who knows what may have happened?

  Sebus turns to Blodwyn, ‘you have helped us again young Terasil.

  It is now time for you to have your own adventure. We will leave you on Sagittarius Minor… while we take the Time-ship to its full warp trial speed…a dangerous procedure.’

  ‘What if you don’t come back,’ asks Blodwyn again, feeling rather selfish as she said it.

  ‘Here is your space-chariot,’ answers Sebus, ‘It has a computer…I have already set it to guide you back to earth eventually… the controls are simple.’

  ‘How long would it take?’ she asks.

  ‘Around sixty earth years,’ answers the Galla Quall.

  Blodwyn could have fainted…she would then be over seventy seven years old… a dry and wizened old hag for sure…nobody would know her in Tala Pandy…. her parents would be dead… the smallholding sold on …she would be homeless… she would have to live in the woods… like Bryn Jones and become an alcoholic… she would have to solicit her wrinkled, dry and scaly-skinned, old boney body on the mountain path and scare people into giver her money for strong larger by swearing at them, and threatening to murder them! They would put her in the madhouse! She pushed the subject from her mind.

  ‘Are there any dangerous creatures on Sagittarius minor?’ Blodwyn asks.

  ‘You will be safe inside the clear telium canopy of this space chariot,’ answers Sebus, ‘it will only open for you, nobody else…never leave the chariot at night. This will help you.’

  The Galla Quall hands her a device that looked like a television remote control.

  ‘Will this kill a dangerous creature?’ she asks.

  ‘No,’ answers Sebus, ‘it disrupts brain activity for a short period.’ ‘How will I know when you are back?’ she asks.

  ‘When the red light flashes in the chariot…just press this button,’ answers the Quall.

  Blodwyn felt she was ready for this adventure.

  She took a hot bath, not bothering to cover the mirrors with a towel, as she had done on the Na Idriss battleship. She changed her clothes and packed her back-pack she also took some food. The little Sisling was still hanging upside down in chrysalis. She took it down.

  ‘Hurry up for God’s sake …you lazy little swine…I will be on my own again…you are supposed to protect me … besides I miss you…you little horror.’

  The chariot had a few simple controls; a wave of her hand opened and closes the clear telium canopy. She hung the Ling chrysalis above the dashboard as a lucky charm just like a cab driver would. Blodwyn hoped the little Sisling would break chrysalis soon, she had need of the little Ling’s company and the protection of its venomous bite and sting – feared throughout the Antares Cluster. She climbed into the space-chariot. It was comfortable and roomy. She was now all set for her next adventure.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sagittarius Minor: The Spotted Symator

  Hark…!

  the shrill, naked, bat-winged Yarbies’ piecing cries;

  circling above the dark purple cliffs

  of the Tarrus Tarm;

  dozens more screeching flights join the layers of the circling, searching swarm.

  They seek out the lame and weak,

  soaring high above;

  scanning the swampy fringes of the rotting, slimy balm.

  The massive Galla Quall time-ship, having reached Sagittarius Minor in the natural zone, hovered still and silent above the foothills of the Tarus Tarm mountain range.

  Blodwyn left the space craft with mixed emotions; would this be the last time she would see it? If they did not return she would be left to rot in the Andromeda Galaxy! All the same she was delighted with her new space chariot. She marveled at its manoeuvrability, speed and total freedom of flight. The small craft was also totally silent. Looking up she saw the massive, sleek, silver Galla Quall Time-ship. Slowly the Galla Quall War-hawk turned then accelerated into the blue yonder of never ending space, in a fraction of a second it was out of sight.

  Being a cautious young woman Blodwyn circled Tarus Tarm, a ridge of tall mountains that disappeared into the far distance on Sagittarius Minor, an unpopulated planet. She began scrutinizing the terrain below, looking out for any form of danger before she landed. The landscape reminded her of wildest Wales. Sagittarius Minor had just one large sun; she knew hot day would be followed by cold night, thank God for the warm, safe space-chariot.

  A pack of yellow, rangy, dog-like creatures rushed below her, barking into the tall reeds of the swamp as she passed overhead: these animals had to be predators!

  Surely, she thought, Sebus – the wisest and oldest of the Galla Qualls would have warned her if really dangerous creatures lurked below: she was wrong! The Galla Qualls last visit to Sagittarius Minor was over a thousand earth years ago. Since then one of the most dangerous predators in the Antares Cluster had been deliberately introduced, for big game hunting by the Cold-bloods (Malis Afar). This was no ordinary predator: it was in the process of evolution!

  After circling half a dozen times over the foothills, the only other animals she saw below were a small heard of black, tusked antelope that were heading for higher ground and towards the safety of the hills; she would follow suit.

  Blodwyn needed somewhere high enough to observe her surroundings. She would have to be cautious, there were no doctors or A and E units on this lonely planet in the event of serious injury; she was completely on her own on a planet in the distant Andromeda Galaxy!

  Blodwyn landed on a small brush-covered hill which gave her a clear view of her surrounds; just below she could hear the musical trickle of water: time to replenish her water bottles. The tiny purple berries (alien blueberries) that grew around in abundance, she knew were safe to eat. Blodwyn was not sure when the Galla Quall would return: or even if they would return. In that case she had a very long journey back to Earth. Conserving her limited
supply of food was paramount and foraging would therefore become essential.

  Her position over-looked a game path some fifty meters below her. This path needed to be investigated. She made her way down eating berries and filling two small paper bags at the same time. The air was rich in oxygen and heady. Being the first human to set foot on a planet never ceased to excite her: she tingled at this fact.

  The small clear spring trickled between the rocks and further down crossed the game path forming a small pool surrounded by a large damp patch of ground. The tracks in the damp soil would give her a better idea of what kind of animals lived on this planet and used the game track. She filled her water bottles. On her way down, small hyrax-like creatures regarded her suspiciously with bulbous rodent eyes.

  Blodwyn was pleased to find the damp area of the game track only contained the tracks of many hard footed animals…herbivores. Satisfied, she was about to make her way back to the chariot when a movement further down the hill caught her eye.

  An animal was slowly climbing a very steep gradient to gain the game path in the far distance below her. Because of the distance between them and the fact that it continuously disappeared from view behind rocks and bushes, she could only make out that it was long bodied; this did not bode well. Yet she continued to watch – spell bound; a fact she would bitterly regret!

  As the animal gained the game path, Blodwyn was in for a series of nasty shocks – the animal was a large cat! A Symator. Secondly, and far more terrifying, as the big cat reached the game path: it stood upright! What kind of creature was this? Instead of crossing the game path, to her horror the big cat followed the path upward straight towards her. As she was now in its direct line of vision – Blodwyn dared not move – she was trapped. Blodwyn reached for the small laser – she had left it in the space chariot. “You stupid cow!” Blodwyn cursed herself.

  The big predator, for it had to be a predator, began closing the distance, and like all cats occasionally stopped to sniff the surrounding rocks and bushes; she was only crouching five feet from the game path! With pounding heart she knew to move now would certainly give her poison away. Blodwyn preyed the big cat, which was a dirty grey with large black spots would surely soon turn off the game path. One thing in her favor was that the wind was blowing up the mountain. The cat would only be able to detect her by sight as she was up wind of the creature. Although movement would give her position away; she knew cats have good color vision and if it looked directly at her all would be lost. She froze but could not stop watching; worse still, she began to tremble with fear!

  Another shock awaited her; reaching the damp area the big cat deliberately avoided it – was this because like most cats it did not wish to get its feet wet or perhaps worse still – the feline creature did not to wish to leave its own tell-tale tracks?

  Blodwyn soon had her answer. The big spotted cat squatted and studied the tracks in the damp earth like some experienced hunter.

  “My God, this cat is intelligent!” Blodwyn whispered to herself.

  Closer now, the large spotted cat was extremely unusual by Earth’s standards. Firstly it was a bi-ped. Secondly the Symator’s dirty, grey body was hairless; the large black spots were on the cat’s bare skin. The cat that walked on two legs was almost past the damp area and nearly abreast of her when it stopped, turned and walked back, as if it had had an afterthought.

  Blodwyn’s heart raced; she remembered she had left her own tracks in the damp earth. Had the cat seen them?

  It had! The Symator knelt down and pondered the strange footprints. A paw reached out and touched her footprints. This predator had never seen a Terasil’s tracks before. The feline lifted its nose to the breeze, checking but did not pick up her scent, thanks to the wind direction. There was something very spooky about a big dangerous cat that could think intelligently; a shiver ran down her spine.

  Luckily for Blodwyn she had only left her foot prints when first walking across the damp earth; on her return she had kept to the hard ground. The big cat sniffed the ground, and then looked in the direction in which her footprints led: the wrong direction. The feline was so close to Blodwyn now that she could detect that musky big cat smell on the breeze, blowing from the cat to her. Surely it was just a matter of time before it saw her: “what a fool she had been to have left the safety of space chariot.” If they did ever return, the Ida Jaade scouts of the Galla Qualls would only find a few splinters of bones: the only visible remains of Blodwyn Jones, a Terasil: just seventeen!

  Suddenly the Symator crouched and looked back down the game path; something else now held its attention. In low slinky movements its muscular shoulders rising and falling, the cat-like creature moves rapidly away in the opposite direction towards the cover of a tangle of rocks and brush. She heard voices approaching further down the track! Who on earth could it be?

  This was her chance to regain the safety of the chariot. Quickly she scrambled upwards keeping her head low; moving as silently as possible. The small bulbous-eyed rodents had disappeared, safe in their rocky borrows; she envied them.

  Then it happened! Her foot dislodged a small rock that nosily tumbled all the way down the hill. Instinctively she stopped and looked back her heart racing: the big cat was looking straight at her! But something more immediate had captured this strange feline’s attention; with a last quick glance, to mark her position it slunk away quickly towards cover.

  By sheer coincidence a Malis Afar hunting party – accompanied by their bondsmen, the veiled Na Idriss had landed on Sagittarius Minor that hot alien afternoon. They were led by a Cold-blood Malis Afar called captain Daak. The only other Malis Afar present was young lieutenant Malak, on his first Symator hunt; young that is in Malis Afar years, he was over four thousand Earth years old.

  Two Na Idriss servants in their black robes and veiled faces were carrying heavy picnic baskets and equipment. The other two Na Idriss are moving on all fours sniffing the ground like bloodhounds, trying to pick up the scent of a Symator.

  ‘Look Lieutenant,’ exclaims captain Daak, the Cold-blood, ‘the Tarrus Tarm mountains and to the right the slimy swamps. The preferred haunt of the spotted Symator tiger.’

  ‘I have yet to see one sir,’ answers the young Lieutenant.

  ‘You will lieutenant – lying dead at my feet. When you are promoted you will have to hunt this cat alone – using an old fashioned laser with only one charge – one chance of killing the most ferocious and intelligent big cat in the entire Antares Cluster.

  ‘It’s a shame the spotted Symator will soon become extinct sir,’ complains Simma, captain Daak’s old and faithful Na Idriss retainer.

  ‘You are a sentimental old fool Simma,’ says captain Daak. ‘We Cold-bloods kill – not conserve species. Have you not heard the saying: “Grass never grows in the foot print of a Malis Afar”?’

  ‘Yes sir,’ answers Simma wearily, ‘but it is still a shame.’

  The Malis Afar smiles a thin smile.

  ‘The Symator… lieutenant, is held in high esteem by our Na Idriss – it is their nearest living relative, hence the misplaced sentiment. Now…’ continues Captain Daak, ‘when we locate the Symator, I will go forward. I do not want assistance. If I miss with the laser, I will use my sword – the way of a warrior. And by the way, lieutenant Malak… the Symator is partial to the flesh of us Cold-bloods – it even favors the flesh of their near relatives – the Na-Idriss.’

  Both Cold-bloods laugh; Simma the Na Idriss, carrying the picnic hamper was not amused.

  The hunting party now came into Blodwyn’s view, filling her with trepidation. She knew the Na Idriss were eaters of raw meat, tender, hairless, thin-skinned Terasils were highly prized; they were looking forward to their masters conquering Tarrea-two. These were the last aliens she had wished to meet; would they remember she had tricked them once on whilst on Quilla Prime?

  She crouched besides the chariot. The aliens were only fifty feet below, within ear shot.

  ‘Captain Daak,
I have picked up Symator tracks,’ announces a scout. The captain begins examining the large pug marks of the cat.

  ‘We are in luck lieutenant Malak …a fine specimen.’

  ‘Captain,’ continues the scout, ‘look… fresh footprints of a female Terasil.’

  ‘Rubbish Mensa – that is wishful thinking.’

  The Cold-blood looks for himself,

  ‘what is a female Terasil doing in the Andromeda galaxy?’

  ‘After you have killed the Symator sir,’ says the scout Mensa, ‘can we hunt the Terasil?…I have not tasted Terasil flesh for a long while…the females are so tender.’

  ‘Patience Mensa, when we reclaim Tarrea-two you can have as many Terasil females as you wish – when you tire of them, invite your friends to dinner.’

  ‘Sir are we still planning to conquer Tarrea-two, given the defeat of our battle fleet by the Galla Qualls?’ asks lieutenant Malak.

  ‘We can replace our battleships and crew – the Galla Qualls are nearly extinct – only about three dozen remain. The Ida Jaade are useless without the Galla Qualls.’

  ‘What if the Alter Dom returns or that immensely powerful strange being that drained the power from our whole war fleet? Without that delay we could have destroyed Quilla Prime.’

  ‘According to our mother (Queen Ra) The Admiral of the fleet was a suppositious coward. When we wipe out the Qualls – then conquer Tarrea-two, you lieutenant, will then have your pick of Terasil females.’

  ‘Sir,’ asks the lieutenant,’ is it true Terasil females need to eat three times a day, have hairy legs and need at least eight earth hours sleep every night?’

  ‘I am afraid so,’ answers captain Daak, ‘they also paint their faces, have terrible wind because they eat vegetable matter, never stop talking, some even grow whiskers… they also have the tendency to answer back.’

  ‘Is it also true that on Tarrea-two there are spiders the size of my hands, flying insects that carry deadly diseases, leaches that suck blood and vast areas covered in freezing ice?’