Pat examined Lisa’s entire body, with her permission. The cancer was gone!
›That’s a trick. They’re trying to deceive me!‹ Pat thought, enraged. Then she looked into Lisa’s happy face and knew that the girl had spoken the truth.
»Yes … you’re cured, and that makes me very happy for you,« she said and ran her hand through Lisa’s hair, petting her cheek. Pat covered her with the blanket. »Sleep a little bit and rest.«
As Pat turned around she saw Jakob standing under the doorframe, looking at her inquiringly.
»So you see, everything is back to normal. Lisa will be okay,« he commented.
Pat left the room and pulled Jakob along. They returned to the kitchen and sat down at the table.
»Lisa was very ill. I know it. This quick healing process is inexplicable!« she began.
»Don’t you believe your own eyes?« Jakob asked.
»I’d like to know where this Abraham lives. I want to visit him and talk to him!« Pat all but shouted.
»His house is at the east side of the village. That’s no secret,« Jakob explained. »He lives there with his three brothers, but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t let you in.«
»We’ll see about that!« she replied sternly, slipped into her jacket and left the house. »I’ll be back!«
An underwater creature
The energy sphere slowly drifted forward into the darkness of the deep sea. Pi had no idea how the ZyClonians managed to stabilize and direct the sphere under the strong water pressures and currents. The thought of the sphere bursting in this deadly environment terrified him, but he hoped that the Prophet’s guardians would not let that happen.
Maya Ivanova was hovering beside Pi, watching the ocean outside. She couldn’t see through the sphere’s skin, just dark shadows that passed quickly by. They might have been rocks and bizarre underwater plants, even large fish hunting smaller ones. A predator fish followed the sphere, attracted by its glow. Maya waved her arms and tried to shift her position, but some force kept in place.
»Don’t waste your energy. The ZyClonians have probably established a force field to keep us secure, »Pi remarked dryly.
»I feel I’m in a straitjacket. I don’t like this at all!« Ivanova griped.
»It’s for your safety,« Kuster~Laap replied.
»How is this conference supposed to work?« Pi interrupted. »What are you going to tell them?«
»I am a Genorantan Prophet, a Chiropter First Class. It is my mission to inform and prepare the galactic peoples for the Great Tremor … and to activate the Protectors. That is exactly what I will do!« he replied with a deep, important voice.
»Hmm … yes … and without jumping too far ahead of ourselves, just what is Humanity’s role in protecting the galaxy?« Pi inquired.
Kuster~Laap flattened his ears again and replied in a much deeper voice – near the pain threshold, »Your task was to build one million ships, a powerful fleet to prevent the Looters from destroying the galaxy – but you failed.«
»Well, yes, that’s obvious,« countered Pi and cleared his throat. »A million ships, eh? How were we supposed to know about these plans of yours? Even if somebody had told us, it would have taken a lot of convincing. Thousands of people would have been needed to work on such a huge project over a thousand years. What would have motivated this generation project?«
»If your gene pool had not been contaminated, you wouldn’t have to ask,« Kuster~Laap replied in agitation.
There it was again, this hint, which made Pi’s stomach ache.
›Genetic contamination. That smacks of manipulation, no free will, controlled evolution, existence for somebody else’s cause!‹ he pondered.
Pi didn’t want to believe that this was Humanity’s only destiny.
»We should take it to the interim government. Everybody should hear your words and then decide. I just hope for your sake that we can accept this fate!« he requested.
The Prophet didn’t react; he saw things from a different perspective.
»I have instructed the ZyClonians to increase our speed – we’re being followed by a large underwater creature,« Kuster~Laap announced.
Pi looked around and tried to see what followed them, but could not penetrate the deep sea darkness.
»What do you mean, a large underwater creature …?« Maya Ivanova inquired. »…as big as our sphere?«
»Actually no … it’s three times bigger! It’s about 15 meters long, according to your units of measure and possesses numerous tentacles. It sends out sonic waves on a special frequency band and seems to use them for orientation. It’s approaching fast!« Kuster~Laap replied.
»Could it be a large octopus?« Pi doubted. »I’ve never heard of an octopus that large.«
»But I have!« Maya Ivanova replied. »There was a writer who described a huge octopus in his book which …«
A large shadow passed by. Maya swallowed her words.
»There!«
Pi also swallowed hard.
»If that’s an octopus, it’s one enormous specimen.«
»The sphere’s glow is probably attracting it. The ZyClonians have redoubled our speed, but the creature is keeping up effortlessly,« Kuster~Laap remarked. »Don’t worry, this eight-armer is no threat to us.«
Suddenly, the shadow passed on the right side.
»It’s circling us!« Maya shouted nervously. »What if it grabs the sphere with one of its arms?«
»The sphere will protect us!« Kuster~Laap proclaimed.
The shadow came very close to the sphere and Pi could see a large red eye, observing him interestedly. Then it was gone again.
»Wow … it is an octopus!« Pi shouted in amazement. »It seems to be intelligent. It just checked me out!«
A long arm suddenly uncoiled, touching the sphere. The sphere shuddered.
»Right! The octopus checked you out – and found you suitable for lunch,« Ivanova laughed. She quieted when she saw a shadow suddenly closing in from the other side.
»I think it wants to play,« Pi said uncertainly. And then all eight arms reached for the sphere and brought it to a halt.
»Very impressive,« commented Pi disgustedly, gazing at the meter-in-diameter suction cups beside his head.
Another hard jolt made the people in the sphere sway back and forth. For once Maya was glad that she was held in place by the force field.
She screamed a warning as the octopus pulled them into its gigantic beaked mouth.
Eavesdropping
Patricia didn’t know what was driving her to visit the healer. Probably her common sense, for one thing … she just couldn’t accept that Lisa had been healed in only an hour.
›That girl had an advanced stage of skin cancer!‹ she knew. ›Even in a hospital, they would’ve not been able to cure her that fast!‹
In her era, cancer was detected early and cured. The health chip implanted in most people’s bodies released antibots into the bloodstream that detected and eliminated cancer cells. The spread of the cancer was suppressed if not made impossible. The Amish didn’t subscribe to the health chips or modern medicine. They must know better, but they didn’t protect themselves with UV skin creams working in the fields.
Pat remembered seeing that the village women wore no makeup. Makeup as well as sunscreen was probably prohibited.
On the way to Abraham’s house she had asked some women for directions. Now, standing in front of the house, she didn’t know what to do next. She walked hesitantly to the front door and knocked. There was no answer, no noises from within, and the window shutters were closed.
She decided to walk around the house and try the rear. There was a small barn in the back whose sliding gate was ajar.
›What am I doing here?‹ she asked herself, aware that she was trespassing. ›Abraham has a secret, and I’m going to find out what it is!‹
Instead of knocking at the back door, she moved unobtrusively toward the barn.
›There! Male voices!‹ she heard.
›There’re people talking in the barn!‹
Her journalistic instincts took over.
»You shouldn’t have gone to Jakob,« somebody said.
»The girl needed help. I had to do it! The Amish wouldn’t have taken her to a hospital until it was too late. She would’ve died in the meantime. That would have got the village media attention – and we don’t want that.«
She recognized Abraham’s voice.
›Interesting!‹ Pat thought. ›Whoever you are, you don’t consider yourselves Amish!‹
»What are we going to do about the English woman? She’s suspicious. She’s not like Jakob and his brethren. She comes from the city … and she’s a journalist. She’ll write about this!« the first voice said.
»And who’ll believe her?« Abraham replied. »Nobody cares about the Amish and their wonder healer. They’re all preoccupied with aliens. Let her write her story! Nothing will happen.«
»Ever since the aliens arrived, with all the related turmoil, our situation has changed,« a third voice spoke up. »The signs are obvious. It’s time to step out of the shadows!«
Pat listened closely to the conversation. Suddenly, something hit her in the back and she stumbled into the barn and fell to the ground, in front of the men. The bearded men looked at her in shock.
»She heard everything!« a fourth man announced as he entered. »What are we going to do with her?«
Patricia struggled to get up, sneezed and wiped the dust from her face.
»I’m warning you!« she hissed. »My people know that I’m here! They’ll come and look for me!«
Abraham stepped forward, reached for her hand and pulled her up to her feet.
»Nobody knows you’re here. You don’t have any friends, and you’re a freelance writer,«
›How does he know that?‹ she wondered.
Abraham took off his hat so she could see his face in the dimly lit barn. A beam of light from the entrance shone on his face – and Pat held her breath.
Two golden eyes stared at her!
»You are … you‘re …« Pat looked around hectically. She was suddenly scared. The other three men also took off their hats and revealed their eyes. They must have hid their eye color from the Amish all the years they had been with them.
»How is that possible? Here among the Amish? Where’s your spaceship?« her voice trembled.
»You’re wrong. We’re not Progonauts,« Abraham cut her off. »We didn’t know who we were, or why we’re so different from all the other people on Earth, until Vasina was pulled from the Antarctic ice. We believe we’re the descendants of the people deported to Earth over a million years ago. But that’s only recent knowledge. Our own history has many gaps; it was never passed on accurately to succeeding generations.«
Pat was speechless. She could only listen breathlessly as Abraham continued, »In the past we were prosecuted and killed because we were different. In some cultures we were considered angels … in others demons. Today we live in small groups in the underground. The Amish villages are one of places we can hide. Since we first learned that we were different, we’ve been trying to find our roots and our destiny. When Vasina was found, we realized the connection.«
Pat couldn’t believe her ears.
»Esoteric circles of Progonaut descendants?«
Her heart was racing suddenly as the four men surrounded her.
»What are you going to do with me? Don’t …,« she whispered in panic. She twitched when Abraham reached out to clean the dust from her clothes.
»You misunderstand, Patricia. Considering the circumstances, that’s natural. This must have been quite a shock for you.«
Pat looked from one to the other of them uncertainly.
»You really scared me,« she admitted freely.
»I understand, Patricia,« Abraham soothed. »But there’s no need for concern. We won’t harm you … in fact; it may be that your appearance here in the village is a stroke of luck for us. I think it’s time we came out of the closet and offered Humanity our help. You could help us.«
Pat was confused. She had one more important question to ask.
»How did you do that with Lisa? Heal that girl?« she asked.
Abraham smiled.
»In the dim past, Progonauts like us mixed genetically with early Homo Sapiens, and developed certain powers. We can activate our self-healing powers through high level concentration, and enhance Human self-healing by bodily contact. You’d be surprised how much self-healing power your mind and body has, if you know how to tap into it.«
»That’s unbelievable,« Pat whispered. »You have super-powers?«
Abraham laughed out loud briefly.
»No, no …, we can’t break through walls, or fly … not even heat and X-Ray vision, if that’s what you mean. It’s simply freeing your mind from traditional thought and learning to use your potential.«
»You know …,« Pat struggled for words, »Your whole revelation caught me on the wrong foot, and it’ll take time to digest the information, but I think I can breathe easier now. What did you mean, I might be of help to you?«
»Let’s go into the house. We can talk about it there,« Abraham suggested.
Useless defense shields
»Do something!« Maya Ivanova shouted at Kuster~Laap. »That thing wants to eat us!«
Eight huge, long arms grasped the sphere, pulling it into the octopus’ mouth. The occupants were jolted around and fell over each other.
»The ZyClonians have reinforced the shield strength, and established another defense shield. It seems, however, that the octopus is able to weaken our shields. We have been losing energy since it caught us,« the Chiropter explained.
»That’s not possible! How can it do that?« Ivanova doubted, even as the sphere was pulled with a last jolt into the mouth.
»The damn thing’s swallowed us! Can you believe that?« Pi laughed despite himself. »We’re inside it!«
»Like Jonah in the whale’s belly?« Maya whispered, still denying what she saw. »Are we going to be digested?«
»The sphere is weakening,« Kuster~Laap warned. »The ZyClonians have no explanation for it. The defense shield is collapsing.«
Two small clouds of nanopods suddenly formed a wristband around Pi’s and Maya’s left wrists.
»These nano-generators will give you your own personal and independent defense fields, but I don’t know how long they’ll stay stable. The animal is very hungry for any kind of energy!« Kuster~Laap explained.
»I’m still wearing the Shwakan defense shield device …,« remarked Pi.
»… the shield is too weak and inadequate. It will collapse in seconds!«
»How can an animal …?« Ivanova wanted to ask. The sphere burst open like a soap bubble. Pi and Maya held their breath as their personal shield enveloped them, only to collapse seconds later. The nanopods formed clouds again and drifted toward the ZyClonians.
The team fell on the slippery ground and tried to get up again.
»What the … why is there no water here? If we’re inside an octopus stomach, where’s the stomach fluid? This doesn’t make any sense!« Maya exclaimed.
Suddenly, bright light flooded the scene and the stomach seemed to warp and shift. The stomach walls were no longer rough and organic, and transformed into smooth, metallic walls. Pi inhaled noisily as one wall became transparent, revealing the silhouettes of three people.
»Welcome aboard the Techno-Ferry!« a voice they knew greeted them. »It’s just amazing what you can dredge up on the bottom of the sea.«
Pi grinned relieved.
»Hello, Toiber! You scared us to death with your octopus act!« he replied happily.
The transparent wall disappeared and Vasina, Paafnas and Toiber Arkroid were standing before the team. Vasina was looking closely at the Chiropter and seemed to be studying him for a moment.
»After the trouble on Mars, we flew directly to Earth. The Techno-Ferry helped us to contain and defeat the disease. As soon as we arr
ived on Earth, the Techno-Ferry detected a tachyon impulse and energy source on the bottom of the ocean, and we came to investigate … and detected the energy signature of the sphere,« Arkroid summarized.
»Hmm … then you haven’t heard about the Prophet’s arrival?« Maya asked.
»That news hasn’t reached Earth yet due to the propagation delay,« Arkroid speculated. »You can tell us all about it in the meantime.«
»There’s no time!« Kuster~Laap’s deep voice filled the room. »We came here to prepare Humanity for what is unfolding in the very near future! You possess a ship of the Creators. Make use of it and call for the conference of the Protectors!«
»Protectors?« Vasina turned to the Chiropter. »I’ve heard that term before ...«
»… and it has nothing to do with your people, Progonaut woman,« Kuster~Laap interrupted her politely but firmly. Then he saw the Jamal comb in her hair and changed his attitude. »You have a galactic key! The House of Atlantika has fulfilled its duty and protected the key.«
Vasina only looked annoyed.
»What about my jewel? What do you mean, a galactic key?«
»It is of utmost importance to gather all active members of government for a conference!« Lai Pi interrupted them. »Kuster~Laap has important information for us – he needs to talk to all the people on Earth and the colonies.«
Toiber Arkroid frowned.
»All of Humanity?« he asked reservedly. »Let’s try a smaller audience first and set course for Puerto Nuevo. It has everything we need for a big conference.«
Arkroid threw a quick, thoughtful glance at Kuster~Laap, who was still admiring the Jamal comb.
Puerto Nuevo
The Aqua-Dome was the largest pressurized dome in the city, and Puerto Nuevo’s main civic center. It had been hastily prepared for Kuster~Laap’s conference. While the dignitaries, ministers and surviving government members were being assembled for the event, Pi took Kuster~Laap and the ZyClonians on a long sight-seeing tour of Puerto Nuevo. To his disappointment, they didn’t seem impressed by the architectural achievements of the Merinian population.
Puerto Nuevo stretched over ten square kilometers across the ocean floor. The submarine transportation system provided an effective shuttle service to the surface. A large earth-heat recovery system provided energy for the underwater city through great turbines whose pipes and tubes reached 8 kilometers into the ocean floor. Like most underwater cities, Puerto Nuevo obtained its food supplies from the ocean itself. The warm Caribbean waters provided more than enough aquatic lifeforms to harvest.
NEBULAR Collection 4 - Second Reserve: Episodes 17 - 21 Page 6
