Issue 5: A Javelin to the Heart
Our mission was pretty uneventful. Until we hit that asteroid field. What it was hiding? Another tomb. But unlike most haunted places? This was no ordinary resting place. It wanted to be found by a particular person. I’m just glad we could face it as a family.—Jacob Murphy
Unlike Eliza’s favorite show? There wasn’t always a mystery around every corner. Odd that I could hear singing. The entire time. Those weren’t ordinary flowers. Once we got them back to Earth, reality set in.—Eleanore Murphy
On one hand, it wasn’t White Owls. On the other? Unity has sick jokes hiding everywhere.—Gwen Murphy
Their song is an old one. Taken long ago. Out into the darkness.—Sleeping in Starlight, a memoir of the 23rd century (vol 3)
Javelin Bright Dawn
North Outer Sector
Edge of the Eden Universe
The low melody hummed.
White Lily sang with it. Eliza glanced up from her station to ask, “Where’d you pick that one up gran-gran?”
White materialized.
Her feline muscles bristling.
<<Soul song!>>
*****
I shared a glance of confusion with my grandmother. “She doesn’t have Light Shaman….”
White cut me off. Snarling, <<I know that vibration!>>
Her whole body bristled at our ignorance.
Jacob and Gwen jumped to their consoles. Sam joined us.
I linked to the ship’s com network. <<Prepare for combat flight.>> The ship danced under my fingertips. The end of our survey mission would be marked with blood. As I flew through the asteroid field a strange vibration bounced off my inner ear. Gwen said, “There is death here.”
Anna’s glare appeared on my private H.U.D.
<< It's not Owls but we need Lily in on this.>>
Her expression tightened. Sour didn’t even cover it.
Gwen linked to my mind. >>Sis, you have to leave your belt on the ship. It will force White to stay here.<<
I unstrapped myself from the flight chair. Hesitating. I had never removed that Defender belt. It was more than that. What was here that would require her to stay behind? Anna’s distinctive footfalls echoed. She glared at me as she entered.
“Do what bird bait said. Now.”
I narrowed my eyes and removed my belt. The aura coming off Anna was pure fear. White paced about. Changing shape. Becoming the stately woman I remembered from my shrouded memory. She sat down heavily in the co-pilot’s chair. Crossed her legs and snapped at Anna, “Go then, Speaker.” The last word mimicked a curse.
I winced.
I retorted hotly, “Hey now. Remember we aren’t the enemy. I get it, we haven’t seen all the ancient horrors. But don’t take your ire out on each other. I already got a taste of that with my future self and it was a reminder of why we have to work together!”
Anna and White stared at one another. Then like two cats coming to some silent agreement they nodded. I turned to join Lily, Jacob, and Anna when White’s pleading tone stopped me before I enter the transporter relay.
<<Not all things stay dead. Yet there are worse fates out there.>>
I replied, <<Even more than becoming a White Owl?>>
Her retort sent a shiver up my spine.
<<In comparison being a White Owl is mercy. Their fate is a living death.>>
The energy of the ship surrounded me in a golden light then I was floating outside. Dressed in my normal Jupiter Rising gear. My old yellow NASA hat was affixed to my head. Lily and the others were wearing their outer space gear. The low-level lights reflecting off the cold surfaces of the rocks. My eyes widened. Those weren’t asteroids at all. Within each was a tomb. Faces echoing torments of past atrocities. Their bodies floating in the ether between the stars. A testament to a long-forgotten battle. I moved to the closest container. My fingertips touching the frigid surface. I wiped away the frost. The face within contorted.
A Scholar.
Entombed within pale amber.
Jacob ran a scanner over it.
<<There’s a homing ping coming in from the center of the cluster. These were in suspended stasis well beyond their tech cap.>> A living tomb.
I glanced at the man’s face once more.
Noting with shock, <<There’s something within his eyes! A parasite!>>
His mouth opened and 3 dark tubes shot out.
Tinkling against the barrier. Their oblong mouths sucking. Gwen noted drily, >>Let’s not have a repeat of my past transgressions. Let’s find that song Grandma was humming.<<
I blew on the container gently. My ice breath frosting it back over.
Sending it floating a few feet back.
At that moment I’d gladly welcome the bright light of Sol.
Gwen reached out and touched her exosuit helmet to my forehead.
“There’s something else sis. Look at the clothing. You know their language.”
I used my dark matter sight to pierce through the failed Sleeping Chambers. The patchwork on another coat read, “Nexus. Research Division.” Their bodies were full of those parasites. Many dormant. My body heat had activated the one container as I had touched it. There was no sun to launch these things into.
Had White known these travelers?
Had it been a ship or colony world?
I pulled Gwen along. Then took point. Making sure to secure their emergency tethers to my left hand. At the center of the floating abyss was a section of a space station. Its partial curve highlighted a bright green to my eyes. The Amarche swirled around me. “They had to leave it here. For her. For Lily. Yet Unity tried to take it. Take the power of….” Their words cut out. One flowed through me.
Aether left a gift. Seek the star petals.
One of the headlamps alighted on the blasted hull.
Lily reached out and the shriveled mass obeyed. Allowing us entry.
She asked, <<Anyone else creeped out? My powers work mostly with Earth-based plants.>>
The Amarche answered.
The Nexus had been to Earth.
Images of a silver sphere filled my mind.
Taking all sorts of samples. Then retreating beyond the reach of our Universe’s Ouroborous. Grandma stopped dead center. The room was frosted over but a singular flower glowed within the darkness. One with purple petals the shape of stars. A crystalline container protected it. Dark tubes flashed. Glowing deep amber to my eyes.
I picked her up off the ground and blasted the inky darkness with my ice breath. Anna took a chunk of debris and hurled it into the room. Just beyond the glowing aura of the flower. A mass of movement followed the sound.
Anna noted, <<So they like sound and heat. Up for a game of tag then you flying brick!?>>
Gwen observed, >>Maybe encase yourself in ice. So they don’t touch skin.<<
Jacob said, <<Better plan: Teleport the Flower. Grandma, can you compel it to us?>>
Lily replied, <<I can feel it. The song. Those tubes are made of plantlife too. But its corrupted. Like anything else Unity touched. As for the pristine flower. It’s…singing to me.>>
Hybrid plants.
I watched as White Lily raised her arms. The canister opened slightly. Twin purple vines shot out. Wrapping around Lily’s helmet. Once she had secured the crystal container the flower withdrew its reach. A faint hiss followed as it resealed itself.
A gurgle of voices echoed around us. “Where is the White Mother?”
We retreated as the voices followed.
I picked up one other faint voice.
“The Three failed us!”
All of it was spoken in Scholar.
The three what? I relayed all this to Anna.
She muttered,<<The three is many things. Ouroborous. The Weave. The Highest. In this case? The three elder races. That came after creation. We’ve been fed a whole lot of bad information on purpose kiddo. The Scholars thought they were an elder race. They weren’t the first.>>
I signaled Samantha, <<Take the ship a few more clicks out from this mass. I'll guide everyone in. I don’t want it anywhere near this death trap. High priority mark. We will need a combo of light sage and light shaman cleanup.>>
After we spent hours in the decon room I approached Anna, “What is the hierarchy? I know the Markav Collective is pretty old. Older than what’s currently on Mars.” She uncorked a bottle of vodka. Took a swig.
She glared at White as the other padded in behind me. “Ever ask her what kinda stock she and Black come from?” White hung her head. Then her golden three eyes locked onto me. “We…were uplifted. Not by the J’kua. But by the Weave itself.”
Anna let out an undignified snort, “No. You were taken. From Earth. OUR Earth. The Energy of our Solar system. Formed from the Ether that bisects all of the Laylines. You and your brother are the first. Not humans but birthed all the same. Transplanted from the real Eden to prop up the Unity Universe. The Highest knew one of Hidan’s people would fall. Set is a pale reflection of that broken covenant.”
Anna continued, “A mirror to the Highest. Winged beings of Light. One shined brighter than the First himself. Hidan walked and the very stars were born by his passing. Then the Way opened. Ikarus summoned the Sun of Creation and got burned. ”
She held up 3 fingers. “J’kua. The minds that toiled.”
I sat.
Floating in the air as Anna continued.
“The Markav Collective. The builders of the Wall. The very chains of the Ouroborous. To slow the entropy of Unity.”
White’s golden eyes narrowed to slits.
Anna took another deep drink of vodka.
“Humans. The Courage to Face the Void. To change the face of the Multiverse. For they escaped the Calamity of the First Cycle. For the Amarche trail in their wake. Chronicling the Point of Convergence.”
Anna waved her arms out wide, “Why do you think they hid that Ark of the Covenant right under Unity’s nose and had Black, Dexter, and dear Thomas recover it?”
Darkness hit instantly. Taking all sight and sound from me.
*****
White sprang back as a large wolfdog made of silver fire circled. A much older Eliza remarked, “I have to admit, you never pulled any punches with me.” Anna nodded as if this phase appearance made perfect sense. Anna winked as the Silver Defender pulled a simple data stick from her belt. “That will give the Arcane Order the right frequency to cleanse this place. Ready the Nexus sub crew alongside the Artock. I’m stubborn and don’t want to leave anyone behind if I can help it.”
White’s mouth dropped open. “There’s a chance?”
Eliza reached down to cup White’s face.
“That was always the plan. The Highest won’t abandon these people and neither will I.”
Wisdom flowed from those pure silver eyes. Hard-won.
White saw the truth of it.
She lamented, “Yet we left them to drift!”
*****
I glanced at Anna, “Remember how it used to annoy you I left so many bad guys alive?”
The Living Stone and Keeper Drones were mere automatons. Material that was given the illusion of life. Like the old golem legends of old. My head still smarted as I thought of all the Keeper ships I had headbutted in my early career.
Anna smirked, “Yup. But now I know why!” She slapped her knee.
The human giggled, “Karma has a long reach. I should know. It hurts like hell.”
I nodded. My face darkening for a split second. “The Black will coil. Striking at the heart. The Crystal will restore. Life everlasting.”
White pawed at my left arm. Seeing the old dragon scar present. I nodded, “Look deeper.” She did so. Her golden middle eye resting upon her forehead growing huge. She saw how the crystals coiled about my arm. I put a finger to my lips.
“A mix of old and new.”
Anna hummed under her breath, “Waxy wings lead to nasty things.”
I cleared my throat, “Well there was a good reason to name it Ikaris Solundra.”
I found that the Highest could act quite literally. To this day I wish I could have informed my current self of certain events but as they say, “Can’t let the cat out of the bag prematurely.”
Much work to do.
With more time than I knew what to do with. I smiled. A note in my expression caused Anna to lean in. A conspiratorial look blooming. “A quick question.” Sentinel bounded over. Resting his head in Anna’s lap. She rubbed the spot between his ears. I waved for her to continue.
Gulliver and Trouble poked their beaks into the room, <<HI!>> Trouble added a belated, <<Mama!>> I held open my arms, “Hello! How are my boys today?” They took to the invitation with open wings. Making themselves comfortable as Anna grinned that toothy smile I knew so well. I had even missed it.
“How often does Aether rattle their cages instead?”
I replied, “He takes his job seriously.”
A merry twinkle entered Anna’s eyes.
She poked me in the chest, “Don’t rest on your laurels, you giant Flying Brick.” I took the bottle from her hand. Placing it in the cargo sealers above her bed. A faint silver thread spun about the room. I sat Gulliver and Trouble down. Hugging them to my chest for a split second, “I am very proud of you.”
Trouble sat up straight. His black feathers puffing out. Gulliver winked one solid black eye in my direction, “Ever skyward! Never bound!”
Another dynamic duo. The crosswinds of time pulled me back.
My Vigil was nearly at its end.
*****
Samantha watched in astonishment as Jacob peered into his mother’s cabin. She tapped him quietly on the shoulder, ready to reprimand him when the sight within sent her mind tumbling. Amazement etched on her features.
Eliza was asleep in the chair. Booted feet kicked up on the bedside.
Gulliver and Trouble dozing in her arms while White was curled up next to her mother.
Jacob recorded the scene and sent it to his father.
No one would have believed them otherwise.
They left without a word.
Sam’s face glowed.
“We are a family again.”
*****
Anna cracked open one eye. It sucked knowing the future.
Which was why she always looked for the Silver Lining.
She watched as the white tiger’s breathing slowed.
Real sleep had finally claimed her.
Anna wrapped the blanket around them both. White was going soft in her old age.
*****
Eleanore Murphy sang as the purple vines entwined about her body.
As the plant merged with her nervous system she saw an expanse of stars. Endless planets. More green, purple, blue, and red than she knew what to do with. The song of many seeds merged. She knew them all. To defend life one would have to shield its smallest souls. As she dreamed, roots grew deep within the Litari homeworld. Singing to the human of their songs. More voices joined. Adding to the symphony of plant life. Even among the ashes of Typha. The plants within the House of Healing reached out.
They would not fight alone.
She would be the wall that would break the Living Stone shell.
Issue 4: Here
Issue 6: Here
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