EarthUnder (The Meteorite Chronicles Book 1) (24 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Love Lost

W
hile we were in Mina’s village I could check on people we left in harm’s way on the surface. Jasmina and I were both still feeling the cabin pulling us home for time in solitude. But for now we walked the worn sandstone steps to her desert home. It felt strange to be back on the surface in daylight. The desert sun stung my skin with tiny bites of cosmic rays filtered by hundreds of miles of polluted air. Pupils narrowed in reply to the sun’s diminished, unrelenting attack. Sand ground beneath our footsteps walking towards the door of the grand house. Moving through the weathered wood door, Mina called out to Magna, who should have been awaiting our arrival out front. Jasmina felt something was not right. We stepped through each room with caution. Returning to the great hall, we split to survey the remainder of rooms.

A shrill scream echoed in the halls as Mina cried; “No, no, no!” Kneeling on the kitchen floor was Jasmina, her arms wrapped around Magna’s legs, her tears soaking into the housekeeper’s robe. The scene was a sickening nightmare of morbid cruelty; Magna was clinging to the stone wall, her fingers digging into the mortar between stones, eyes rolled up and sunken, life sucked from her body through her skull. A tall, dried, lifeless Cordyceps ascocarp had grown from her skullcap like the stem of a mushroom. Green spores that had leaped or drifted from the knobbed tip were attached to the wall above and beside the top of the stem. The Cordyceps was dead; Mizlets had not gotten there in time to save Magna.

Jasmina would never let go of this memory. The horrid image would haunt her dreams; it would dim the light of her days forever. Jasmina’s infinite strength had found its limit. The Cordyceps were released here because they are an equatorial parasite that thrives and flourishes in the heat of deserts and jungles. The Headworms would be found near the forty-fifth parallel, both above and below, and the Ice Flies would inundate the frozen ice caps and any wintery climates of the planet. There was no knowing how much death had occurred before the Mizlets arrived. Our fairy-like friends are fast as light and deadly when needed. They had done what they were tasked to do, but they followed the night sky to work under the cover of dark. It takes the Earth twenty-four hours to turn once on its axis, but night in one area can span twelve hours, during which it was possible that many humans died.

I sat with Mina, her tears puddled at Magna’s feet. There was nothing to do or say; all I could do was sit there with her while the pain of her loss tore at heart and soul. Night came and went. The next day was slow to go; the shadows grew long before Mina began to stir. She brought the Vug into the house and we gently laid Magna into the transport where she would be carried to the Void for interment. Dread and sadness hung heavy in the air like a thick, cold morning fog. Life could not have less value as this loss ruled the day. Memory of this loss would return time after time, and only the distance of time would help heal the wound. We sent the Vug to be received by the Elders, where Magna would be properly cared for in preparation for the next level of her existence.

Jasmina spent days taking long, pensive, contemplative walks through her village, checking with her people to make certain that others were all right. It was hard for her. As strong as I had seen her, she was also equally sensitive and caring, and she was torn apart by the loss of several others in the village. The loss of lives included children, which seemed to bring anger to Mina. I had not seen that emotion in Jasmina, but the meaningless ending of children’s lives struck her with powerful emotions of hate and anger. Across the village, families were mourning the loss of loved ones. We had to stay to help her village deal with their pain. It was hard to sleep at night. We worked until exhaustion closed our eyes, but the nightmares woke us both a short time later.

One sleepless night I sat at Mina’s desk and logged onto her computer, where I soon learned a surprising discovery. Someone had gotten word out to world leaders from all walks of human life; it was Vanessa: she came through with the reveal. Vanessa had been accosted by the evil ones while we were in London and they had roughed her up and taken the samples we had left. But she had made a thin section of the brain bone. She was mystified by the specimen, and not long after her trouble had settled, she drew together a research team that dedicated their efforts to one task: to learn all they could about the origin of this extraterrestrial specimen. She presented this work to The Royal Society and put her career on the line presenting the findings. Again George’s words came to mind, “Good comes from bad.” If the evil ones had not been so cruel to Vanessa, she would not have committed to her research with such dogged dedication. The world changed while we were gone. Between the presentation of Vanessa’s discovery and the parasite invasion, humans were beginning to awaken.

For a time, Jasmina and I remained in her village helping families repair their lives. No days were better than others, as the pain of loss returned over and over in each house. Then a day came that stabbed like a blade through the hearts of us all; it was a busy day filled with visits to homes offering support and assistance. As we walked out into the street, the midday sun burned sweat from our foreheads. We staggered and halted, reaching out to each other as waves of bright energy blew past us, pulsing, one following the last. I could feel that this was tragic, but Mina knew that many lives had just been silenced; multiple body bombs had ignited, taking the lives of many of the Elders and the Terans around them. Gary’s voice called out from the Void. The Teranor had hidden a number of agents in areas they had infiltrated within EarthUnder. Somehow they were not prevented from detonation, which leveled and scorched a large area of the Void, ending the lives of many. Gary was at his workstation and was missed by the blast, but Talleyrand’s span was ended, along with other Elders and countless other Terans. I felt the tragic loss as spirits streamed through our bodies on their path to the next realm. One could see the light ring of each spirit as it passed, expanding into the Cosmos. The sadness was tactile; it hung in our hearts and in the air like dark matter, dense and unable to bear. Living history and great wisdom were lost, voices silenced forever.

We stayed in Mina’s village helping with her people while keeping vigil through Gary. Gary was finding that the work Vanessa had presented was having a huge impact on global awareness of life elsewhere. He observed that people were making assumptions in the right direction and that soon they might be ready for the next level. Days morphed into weeks and months as we did what we could to help rebuild lives here in the desert.

Eventually we took our trip to the cabin in the woods. Insects and animals had also died in the early hours of the invasion, but nature was taking care of the loss and new life was making its way into the world. Mina and I spent seemingly innumerable hours meditating by the fireside. We stood arm in arm at the crest of the waterfall watching the sun rise in the morning mist, while we spent evenings enjoying the last fluttering wing beats of creatures making their way to the night’s roost. Hours raced past as we embraced, sharing our memories and hopes. Our lives were changed; the magic of the firelight seemed to flicker on blind eyes. We stared into nothing as fire warmed our faces. We were losing our hold on lifetimes of happiness.

Days passed, and Jasmina agonized over her loss; there was little that could be done for her. Time dragged as life went limp. Weeks into our visit to the cabin, a special evening came. The fire was crackling and smoke drifted with the gentle breeze that caressed the meadow encircling the cabin. Mina moved restlessly in the glow of the flames as if preparing to speak. Words slowly lifted from her reluctant lips and floated to my ears in half step. “She was my mother,” Mina slowly confided. “She had chosen to care for me for the duration of her life. This was a decision far outside the boundaries of Teran cultural tradition. Her constant, vigilant presence filled me with strength and confidence like no other Teran has ever known. This loss has left a hole in my soul.”

I moved to put my hand on hers, telling her that I could never know how this must feel. Jasmina turned, looking down at the comfort of my hand. She replied, “Oh, but you do.” Her gaze moved to mine; as our eyes connected, I felt the rush of sadness and loss cut into my chest as her thought words revealed that my father was Talleyrand. Tears pooled in our eyes, falling with synchronicity as we looked into each other’s tear-stained faces.

His last words were etched in my memory, “I am with you always and forever.” His memories are mine and a part of his spirit is in me. I can never reach out and touch him, but I feel that he will always be there in my mind. Looking back through the life of an Elder at the thousands of years and experiences, I can feel the magnitude of Mina’s loss from the passing of Magna. Jasmina can feel my sadness and compassion. We are drawn closer by the mutual pain of loss and mourning. Where two souls mourn loss in kind, they are one of heart and spirit. There is nothing to do now but for us to share, honoring their time and remembering the love.

Lives begin again many times through the course of a journey through the worlds. An ending like this is still a beginning, but in the lives left behind, it can be the start of inexplicable sadness lived endlessly in the memory of those lost in time like tears in rain.

As the flames provided a place of reflection, we watched the images of memories jump out at us. I listened to Talleyrand speak his wisdom as if he were there. The weight of our loss was an anchor. There was no place to escape our grief. We had brought it with us here to our fortress of solace and yet it grew steadily as does an ancient tree that grows from solid rock. Evil had forever changed the color of our lives.

Mina and I sat quietly beside each other on the ancient hand-carved wood bench at the fire ring. My fingers brailled over our names carved into the back rest as Mina reached out to the pot of tea water hanging above the fire. Talleyrand appeared in the firelight that glowed in the smoke rising from our warming fire. When he spoke the voice came as if from behind a wall and yet he was right there. Jasmina was frozen; I realized we were both seeing him, hearing him speak. He told us that the next life was but a window between worlds. We could speak and see, but could not touch. He smiled as he repeated that he would be with us always. As my father’s image faded from view, Jasmina’s hand filled mine, and we sat quietly in stunned wonder. Night passed nearly unnoticed as the stars yielded their dominion of the sky to the early light of the sun rounding the globe. Time had taken a still stand as we tended the fire through the night and passed our time together deep in thought, our minds folded into one.

Morning brought a brighter day. We both felt lighter as we moved through the day. I noticed the birds singing again. Jasmina hummed a melodic tune as she walked through the meadow barefoot, picking delicate, blue flowers for the vase in the cabin. Parts of us were mending faster now. We both caught glimpses of the other making brief shallow smiles. It was painful to deal with the dread of returning to EarthUnder to witness the damage and loss. With time on the surface, thoughts of past concerns began to creep into the back of my mind. There were rare meteorites to have classified, contacts that may have found trouble along their paths home, and we needed to present the brain bone meteorite research data. Humankind would soon have to begin saving and sharing the planet. And somewhere out there in the world was a dirty dog by the name of Claus Laurent, a fellow owed serious payback for his troublesome ways. I just knew somehow that the worms had not gotten him. He was far too lucky for that. He was put on this Earth to trip me up and get in my way; for him to be gone would be too easy. Even if he was a Teranor recruit, his basic tenor and actions were always wrong and corrupt.

I rested, staring into the light of the fire as Mina headed for the cabin. We had left so many situations unresolved. As I gazed into the glowing logs, my mind was bursting with unrelenting worry about Earth’s future. Talleyrand reappeared in the dark beyond the firelight, his face carrying a peaceful, thin-lipped smile. His presence seemed to bring a feeling of peace. He reached out to me from beyond this existence as if to touch. I stood and walked towards his faint, illuminated image. As I drew closer I could hear his voice and feel his energy surrounding my head as if he was cradling my brain. Talleyrand told me that he was going to share his knowledge with me. It would become a tool for me to use when needed.

As the knowledge poured into my memory and he spoke to me, I realized that much of what he was sharing was knowledge he had just acquired from his new state of being. I could see the thoughts of all of the Teran people as well as the thoughts, plans, strategies, and tragic histories of the Teranor and their recruits from other worlds. They had the ability and technology to reduce a planet and all of its living tissue into pure energy, which they could then inject into their own bodies, giving them unlimited power, energy and a huge drug-like high. The Teranor were severely addicted to this intoxicating high and they endlessly craved more. Nothing in their existence had more value or importance than maintaining that level of intoxication, and all life was forfeit to their lust for more life force energy. They were clever in their approach to this system. They had learned that less resistance makes the process transpire much more quickly. The value of Earth as a target was compounded by the life energy reserved in each of the Terans.

I could see through Talleyrand that there were countless Teranor suspended elsewhere in the galaxy and beyond. These hordes were poised and ready to get their share of the life energy that exists here on our home world. I could also see the other worlds that they were currently sucking the life from, as well as the dead worlds they had left behind. The Teranor had a myriad of abilities in their arsenal for war-like action and evil efforts, but Talleyrand had taught me that they also had weaknesses. The lust for more “high” was one of their greatest weaknesses, and it might just give us an advantage.

As his mind detached from my conscious thought, Talleyrand’s eyes raised to look beyond me. Jasmina had come from the cabin and was drawing towards us. In the cool, peaceful silence of the night I could hear their thoughts as they shared. So many thoughts streamed between them. It seemed that words spoken were a waste of time when I listened to them share volumes of thought in only moments. Emotions are far more intense when communicating in this manner. One can not only hear what a person is saying, but actually feel the emotion that motivates the words to be released from the mind.

Compassion welled up in my chest; tears filled my eyes as I experienced the conversation between my father and Mina. Soon they were done and Talleyrand’s light image began to fade, but Mina’s face gleamed as another image began to appear.

“Magna!” Mina called out in joy at the appearance of her lost loved one. It was time for me to walk away so these two could share, alone in solitude. I didn’t think I could have handled the deluge of feelings from this encounter. This was all new to me and I felt limits in my human ability to cope. Jasmina and Magna spent hours there, leaning into each other and sharing their thoughts and feelings. In the cabin I was brainstorming where we go from here. Sooner or later, we would have to face the future and deal with what was to come. I could see through Talleyrand’s help that the planet was littered with Abecedarians: Teranor wannabes that had sold their souls to the Teranor and were at different levels of recruitment and training. Now leaderless, the Abecedarians had no direction and yet they remained, a treacherous subculture of human recruits craving Teranor affiliation. War was coming, a galactic war, a war of wars to decide who will carry on in the universe.