by A. D. Nance
She used those times to take walks on the surface. At those times she would not be scrutinized by the Lilistan, or only from a distance. A few times she noticed a different type of creature than the many bugs there. It resembled a cat and it climbed the peaks with tremendous speed and agility. This reminded her of her gecgot friend Raskerz back on her home planet. She could not get close enough for a better look – they were too fast-moving. She wondered how they could live on the barren surface since they had not been seen anywhere else. This day in particular, Salena was feeling emotionally down because it seemed that their mission, her first one, was a failure.
Eldon was on his way to meet her, following the path that she normally walked. The atmosphere was very thin, but not a problem for them. This was because their bodies for this mission were very similar to the Lilistan soon after they populated the bloomballs. Their life is sustained mainly not by respiration but by absorption of energy from the bloomballs in a symbiotic process. Eldon found Salena at a cliff overlooking a great ravine dividing the spiking mountains. She hardly looked up as he approached her.
“Why are we here, Eldon?”
“We must hold on and keep trying, Salena.”
“I didn’t know it would be this hard. Every day we see more of these Lilistan dying. There are not many left.”
“At least a thousand are surviving still. And remember that the other SS team is on the outside as we speak correcting that situation.”
“I know, but will that be enough? The people here have to want to be helped and do their part.”
“I’m working on that, but . . . .”
A firelight above caught their attention. It intensified in brightness as it got nearer to the surface. Then a small glowing object shot out from the light and fell into the ravine.
“They haven’t stopped yet,” Salena complained, and threw a rock into the ravine.
“That will end soon believe me. We must have faith in our other team,”
Eldon assured as he looked up.
“We need a way to convince them to come out of their caves. They need to have courage to try to live again.”
Salena turned and looked at Eldon to say,
“They only can understand the simplest concepts. What happened to their minds?”
“They can learn. But they have so much fear. And it seems to me that this environment has worn them down to the point that they won’t try. They really do not believe it is possible to change for the better,” Eldon observed.
They now assumed their meditative posture which was hands touching and heads bowed touching at the top. This helped them to concentrate and to be comforted.
After a few minutes Salena looked up and said,
“The Creator will help us to be successful. Can we ask him? Can we communicate with him?”
Amazed and moved, Eldon’s face showed how he was pleased with Salena as he had been many times before. He thanked the Creator in himself for this exceptional moment, then said,
“I believe it is possible. The ancients called it prayer. But it was abandoned as an accepted practice. Proof could not be found that the Creator listened and responded to their pleas.”
“If the Creator really cares for his intelligent creation, then he would hear and answer them wouldn’t he?” Salena responded.
“Yes, absolutely the Creator knows all and sees all and knows our thoughts. He must be interested in our missions which promote his desire of peace and order. All the evidence supports this. And I’m sure he pays attention to our declarations at the beginning of the SS Domes.”
Salena agreed, “Yes Eldon, but does he pay attention to each expression of each individual?”
“He must Salena. We must believe he does. But even now no one seems to know for sure how to approach the Creator. How do you speak to the Creator of the universe, the Source of all life.? It could not be as you would speak to another finite creature.”
Salena took Eldon’s hand and looked into his eyes and said,
“We are so small and weak. The all-powerful Creator knows that. And our words would not be adequate. But maybe he just wants us to try.”
“You have proved to be a priceless treasure Salena, surpassing my expectations. Perhaps we could try to talk to the Creator the way the ancients did. It could not hurt to try.” Now they bowed in the meditative position again, but this time Eldon spoke.
“Great Creator, Source of life, we ask you now for a hearing. We want to accomplish this mission to promote your purpose to preserve life. Grant us success please. Help us please to help the Lilistan. Send your power in the way we need it to endure and succeed. We are grateful for this privilege. We look to you for eternity.”
The couple sitting on the edge of a microscopic spec of desolation now knew they were not alone. They felt the inner assurance and consolation of being heard. They felt infused with purpose and renewed enthusiasm. This alone made the ‘prayer’ more than worth the small effort and time. The couple made this a habit for each day but preferred to call it ‘source-speak.’ They of course were now alert to look for evidence of an answer, not necessarily audible, but some response or help to their requests. They did not have blind faith, but it was based on solid evidence.
The team on Metrozoid were assigned to the Sheiks. They had the boomball plant, the Lilistan world, in their residence. Temonay 415217 played a physician that convinced Alnamat Sheik to stop his smoke and incense habit. His habit was having an adverse effect on the bloomball. Scholisnab 4318 played a building worker who installed an air filter in their home to protect from the polluted air outside which was also bad for the bloomball world. These two things protected the Lilistan in the short term. Then 519 Hufinda played a public announcer whose voice and image was transmitted into the Sheik home. Her announcement was something like this: “The Metrozoid Native Plant Refuge is sending out an urgent appeal for another virtually extinct plant. The bloomball flower plant, once abundant on this planet is needed at the refuge. Said the director, ‘We are trying to preserve as many of these plants as we can. These vanishing native life forms can only be seen here at the refuge on this overly mecha-formed planet. A compensation will be paid for any plant donations.’ If you have any such plants, you are encouraged to bring them to the refuge where they will be preserved indefinitely.” This would be a long term protection for the Lilistan later when Sheik would deliver his plant to the refuge. Of course no one knew of the existence of the Lilistan except the SS agents.
Back on Ophar-Holiqui, Eldon and Salena were still trying. It had been 62 Lilistan days they were there. Eldon kept trying different methods to get his message across. He talked, drew pictures, did pantomimes and told stories. Most of the Lilistan liked his stories, even laughing at them sometimes. But none that he knew of took them seriously enough to do anything about it.
Eldon heard more from Fregban than any others. This aged Lilistan told Eldon of a so-called legend of Ophar-Holiqui. It was an explanation of an unusual ‘bug’ on their world. He said that when the original Lilistan came from the ‘sun’, they ‘rode the rays’ into the bloomballs. They had to ‘reach up to the sun in submission’ each day because it gave them life. Whenever some would not look to the sun, but trusted in their own life or energy, they began to shrink in size. These would try to hurt others and were called ‘evil lights.’ They would be expelled and subsequently drift from one bloomball to another. Eventually they would become so small they were called ‘fire bugs.’ There was no resemblance to the intelligent beings they were before. All they could do was hide in hot zones and occasionally fly out to bite or enter into an unsuspecting victim. Whenever a Lilistan was bitten or invaded by the fire bug, he developed a fever, started to shrink, and then would die. Eldon asked if any of those bugs actually existed. Fregban said in a low voice, “Believe it I do – but say it I do not – not to many I say it.”
Eldon had noticed that some had
died while he and Salena had been there. But he could not confirm the symptoms of fever and shrinking. He knew that their society was in a negative growth stage. No babies had been born for some time. In fact, the 4 year old child Wiligan was perhaps the last one born. So it seemed that the Lilistan’s days were numbered. Unless they could live on the surface again, they would die out as a race.
Salena was out exploring and hoping she could find something that would help them in this mission. She saw the ‘Ophar cats’ again as she called them. This time she kept following one over hills, peaks and rocks. ‘Where did they come from?’ she wondered. She sat on a stump of a tree which was hard like a rock. As she rested, she looked up and realized there had been no streaks or smoky stuff dropping from the sky today. This everyday phenomenon had ceased. To herself she thanked the outside team for apparently getting their work done. Then she thanked the Creator and asked for an answer to their problem with the Lilistan. For the past few hours her body temperature had been rising. Her clothes had become more loose which she was beginning to notice. Salena did not know about the fire bugs, so she did not worry about being on the surface. She now stood on her feet and caught sight of something over the next rise she had not seen before. It looked like a branch of a tree being waved
