Ripped Apart: Quantum Twins – Adventures On Two Worlds (36 page)

As Tamina entered her bedroom that evening she glanced at the Talisman, frowned, and walked over to it. She was right. The reds in the twin’s two segments were brighter. As she picked it up she noticed a dark mark on the pale wood of the stand that Pelnak had made. It had the same twelve sides and looked as though it had been burnt into the wood.

With Óweppâ in her hands she sat on her bed feeling old and tired. This was all too much. She wanted to tell the others and share the burden with them, but not before she had tried to understand what it might mean for Wrenden’s sake. Not only was he her young brother, now that Qwelby was no longer with them she felt a second sense of responsibility as he was Qwelby’s youngerest.

‘I don’t need protecting!’ Wrenden said angrily from her doorway. ‘Your thoughts are leaking,’ he added, in a tone of disgust.

Tamina grimaced as she realised that she had been betrayed by her subconscious. Yet she felt relief as she acknowledged that “her little Eeky” was growing up, and proffered the Talisman. As he took Óweppâ and examined it, she got up, took down the stand and held that out to him as she sat down.

Wrenden joined her on the bed and the two of them sat looking at the two objects, trying to find a positive meaning in what they saw before activating their wristers to call the not-twins.

‘We’ve got to rescue them,’ Wrenden said, looking at his sister.

Surprised by the firm tone in his voice, Tamina looked up, and was surprised even more as she took in the energies flowing through his aura. Gone for the moment was the irritating little pest. She was looking at a… mature young man, who had nearly died trying to save his elderest.

‘Whatever it takes,’ he added, in a tone that brooked no contradiction.

Thoughtsending that she had detected behind Mandara’s words that the four of them stood the best chance, was his opinion that due to the sixth dimension connection they were the only chance the twins had of making contact, she took a deep breath.

‘Whatever it takes,’ she said, matching his tone of voice.

Looking deep into each other’s eyes they held their hands up and made the XOÑOX symbol with both hands.

As Xaala withdrew from her meditation and settled down to sleep, the full realisation came to her: the Abominations had to remain on Azura – for ever. From their intense need to be together it was obvious that if they were reunited they would only live short lives, like the other pair. Even that could be another twenty years. She was well aware of the fear that if they did succeed in reconnecting they might return to Vertazia.

They were sister and brother. She had had a brother. Her parents had not wanted a girl but another boy, yet forever were complaining that she looked like a boy! There had been no love, only expectations. Yet no matter how hard she had tried she was never good enough for them.

Her grandparents who worked on Ceegren’s estate, they loved her, but it was not like her experience of the twins’ love for each other. Xaala shook herself in disgust. That was not love. Abominations could not love. Yet their friends had risked their lives to rescue them. If that was not love, what was?

What would her parents say if they were alive and could see that she had progressed to being better than her brother had been at the same age? It was all so unfair. Five years ago she had lost her family in an accident. If not for that, might she now at least have had her parent’s respect?

An accident.

If the twins met with an accident…

But an accident was just that. She knew it was possible to travel to Azura through using the seventh dimension. But that was only in energy form. She would not be able to affect conditions there.

She gasped in horror at where her thoughts were leading. The unthinkable! That had to be caused by her contact with the twins’ energies. That beautiful, powerful, rainbow bridge between them. Their energies flowing though her had been sublime.

‘No! Stop!’ she cried aloud, putting her hands over her ears in a vain attempt to stop the barrage of conflicting thoughts. She had no fear of her cry being heard as she kept her room permanently shielded, except for receiving incoming messages.

Weaving around the back of her mind was the unavoidable fact that if the twins were to meet with an accident, a serious accident, that would be the perfect solution. Again, the unthinkable! Throwing back the covers she swung her legs over the side of her bed and sat looking into Mirror. ‘Help me!’ she pleaded.

Her mouth dropped open as her reflection changed to nothing like she had ever seen before. She was wearing a tight fitting, ankle length, flame-orange sheath dress that left her shoulders bare. In her right hand she held a long rod with what looked like a large flower bud at the end. Mirror shimmered as though flexing.

As everything cleared she saw that her head had been replaced by that of a lion, with what appeared to be a circular hat standing upright on it. The figure was standing in a desert. Behind it a strange bridge to nowhere. A gently curved, stone arch supported on a pillar at each end.

Looking for clues, Xaala focussed on Image and was drawn to the lion’s eyes. She felt its rich, chestnut orbs mocking her insipid brown ones, challenging her. She licked her lips and gripped the rod firmly, holding it diagonally across her body as though in answer to the challenge. As she did so, one of the pillars flexed and as if in slow motion the arch slowly crumbled from that end until it had completely collapsed all but for the other pillar which remained standing, erect and isolated.

The connection between that bridge and the rainbow bridge between the twins was obvious. But the rest? The techniques that created Mirrors were faint remains of long-lost Aurigan technology. They seemed to generate a form of auto-hypnosis, revealing an individual’s inner state of being, and much more at times. Sadly, analysis of the Aurigan overtones was difficult due to the lack of records from those times.

Mirror opaqued and cleared to reveal a normal reflection. Xaala found herself standing up with her arms in position as if still holding the rod. A kaleidoscope of thoughts tumbled through her mind. Shocked at their content her whole body broke out in sweat. Breathing heavily she sought control as she went into the bathroom.

Standing under the natural shower she imaged each drop of water carrying away all the negative energy she had manifested. Dry, she returned to the bedroom where she sat cross-legged on the bed and concentrated all her energy into shutting away, irretrievably deeply behind her Privacy Shield, the thoughts she had experienced. The image of herself as that woman she tucked away in a corner of her mind, sealing that place securely. She wanted to explore that, carefully and in her own good time.

Calm at last, she slid back beneath the covers and fell into a deep sleep.

Anita was quiet on the walk home, trying to sort out her feelings. Hannu was her first boyfriend. They had only been together for a few weeks, yet they were so easy together, whether that was by themselves or with their group of friends. Was she in love? Real, true love, whatever that was?

Earlier that evening Qwelby had sucked energy out of her, then used it to heal a man’s broken knee. Although he had kept his hands very close to the man’s leg, she had seen his palms glowing with golden light radiating from them.
And he says he’s not as good a healer as Tullia!

Exhausted after the exciting night, Anita headed for her room as soon as she got home and collapsed into bed. She lay on her back, thinking. Since Qwelby had arrived she had been in a whirl with a whole new range of emotions flowing though her. She didn’t feel about him the way she did about Hannu. Yet the feelings were stronger for Qwelby. At times he seemed so very grown up. He said he hated it when Tullia tried to look after him. Yet she sensed he liked it when she had been attending to his wounds. Touching his velvet like skin, she had wanted to stroke him.

With a sigh she rolled onto her side, in her imagination cuddling the alien. ‘Tullia’s right. You do need looking after,’ she whispered as she ran her fingers through his thick, shoulder length hair. And fell asleep.

Downstairs, her parents were relaxing with a quiet nightcap. Viljo was feeling decidedly uncomfortable. He could not explain why he had allowed himself to involve the Institute through the story about Jadrovitch, nor why he had made such a crazy offer to Qwelby. It was clear from the boy’s explanation about his shooting skills that he was seriously deranged. What was the term. Psychotic? Schizophrenic? Staring into the flames of the wood burning stove he took a sip of his Maali.

‘You remember when MonKiw became fully operational, and running the combined experiments with CERN finally proved that photons can travel faster than the speed of light, and therefore must have slipped through other dimensions?’ Viljo asked, rhetorically.

‘How could I forget!’ Taimi replied with a laugh. ‘You, and I think every scientist in the world, were so excited.’

‘While that boy was talking, once again I found myself almost believing him,’ Viljo said, shaking his head. ‘Inventive or what! And I have to say he is a great storyteller.’

Qwelby was the first person whose aura Taimi had seen. That night she had slipped into a meditative state. Watching the scarcely visible fluctuations of soft colours she was convinced that when Qwelby spoke he was telling the truth. She could not tell her husband that. He would dismiss that as women’s intuition!

Viljo swirled the brandy in his glass, staring at it as if he might find the answer there. He swallowed it one gulp, coughed and shook his head. ‘With the police involved tonight, someone in authority must be told about Qwelby.’

‘Who?’

‘Immigration is the easiest choice. Then it’s up to them if they want to explore his mental state.’

‘It’s the weekend. And the New Year. All the offices will be closed. You’ll have to leave it until Monday. And you will have to speak to the Rahkamos first,’ Taimi said, temporising, as she really wanted to talk with the boy about the subtle forms of energy.

‘Mmh. You’re right. Let’s not spoil the last two days of the holiday,’ Viljo replied. After the events of the night his fear about what the boy might do had been assuaged and, anyway, his daughter was safely tucked up in bed upstairs. ‘I’ll discuss it with them Monday evening, after work.’ He sighed, imagining his daughter’s protestations and the travails that awaited the likeable stranger.

Later, sitting at her dressing table having just finished cleansing her face, Taimi gave her reflection a long look. She was feeling exhausted. She was not yet old, and not unattractive, but she did look different with her hair pulled back and her makeup removed compared to what she had seen on her last look in the mirror before leaving for the Rahkamos.

‘Image,’ she murmured. ‘Like a mask.’ She thought on what Qwelby had said at the end of the evening, and that took her back to his other explanation. As her husband had said, he was an excellent story-teller. And, she sighed, impossibly inventive. She had to admit that she wanted to believe him, especially when she felt herself sucked into his world.

She recalled the way her daughter had been with Qwelby that night, the three youngsters on the settee with Qwelby in the middle. She shook her head. She had seen from Hannu’s reactions that trouble was brewing there.

Taimi had established a successful Complementary Health practice in Helsinki. She was a Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master and CymaTherapist who used Electrophotonic Imaging to measure the human chakras and diagnose ailments. Giving that up had been a wrench.

Seija had been enthusiastic in helping Taimi to establish her Yoga courses. Added to Paavo’s friendship with her husband, that had eased their family’s way into acceptance by the close-knit community, and given Taimi hope that eventually she would again be able to deploy the full range of her skills.

She had enjoyed teasing her husband, but he was right. And she owed it to Seija to return that help. She would go with Viljo on Monday night. She was sure that between them they could persuade the Rahkamos to go to the authorities. Perhaps someone local would be best. The sergeant who lived in Kotomäki and had, however briefly, met Qwelby.

~

See you!

~

Dje’eymey

~

Sala sentle

~

Bye nyt

~

As a reader of Sci-Fi, I guess you know that Einstein’s theory of General Relativity establishes the existence of parallel worlds.

But did you know that humans had been around for about 350,000 years, when between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago there were rapid changes into what we are today. No-one knows why that happened; and it is true that even today only some three percent of our DNA is active.

Still no laser beam flickered. ‘Thank the stars these solids are so slow,’ he said to himself.

‘Qwelby?’ the solid said.

‘Unkh!’

‘You all right?’

He knew that voice.

‘Hannu?’ he asked, straightening up but keeping his hands poised.

‘Who’d you think it was?’ Hannu asked.

Qwelby heaved a sigh of relief and sat on his bed. ‘I was on the HomeSphere. I thought you were a solid. Attacking.’

‘Solid?’

‘People like you who live in the third or fourth dimensions. Huh. Daft. I’m solid in my world.’

‘Bad dream?’

‘Yes. No. Timeslipping through past …. memories. When we lived in higher dimensions and our… bodies were… flexible.’

Qwelby’s shoulders slumped. There was so much to explain.

‘Effects from last night.’

‘Yeah. Last night. You promised.’

‘Later. All together.’

‘Ah, come on Qwelby,’ Hannu wheedled as he sat on the bed and put an arm around his alien friend. ‘At least tell me what your twin’s like, how she got here and why… well…’ Hannu had seen a tall, naked and beautiful young woman in his friend’s arms, impossibly bathed in sunlight in the pitch black night of the snow filled woods. Then she had simply disappeared

‘Irritatingly Bossy. Wants to be a healer. Seventh dimension. I was there with her at the same time. On Mars in a hollow on a bare mountaintop in bright sun. She’d been absorbing the sunlight and the mountain’s strong energy.’

‘But what’s she like,’ Hannu insisted.

Qwelby’s shoulders slumped. ‘When we restore our full mental connection I’ll take you to meet her,’ he said in a sad voice.

‘Yeah. That’ll be good,’ Hannu said, knowing how real the experience was when his alien friend thoughthwrapped them, as he termed his vivid descriptions. ‘Come on, let’s get dressed and go to Anita’s,’ Hannu said as he got off the bed and switched on the light as he left the room.

Missing the warmth of Hannu’s arm around his shoulders and thinking of his twin, Qwelby was swamped by a flood of emotions.

Sadness that they were still apart. Anger as he blamed himself for not having ensured they were reunited. Pride that he had fought well against heavy odds and saved his twin’s life. And determination.

His homeworld had always been full of peace and harmony and totally non-violent.

Until last night…….

If he had to fight his way to his twin, and then back home….. he would. To succeed he needed her support - their twinergy.

Horrified, yesterday’s feelings ripped though her. The fear of the vicious fight in the seventh dimension and the heart-rending pain as her beloved twin was wrenched from her arms. Even now the inner pain was far worse than the cuts and bruises all over her body.

Pouring all her emotions into a Comfort Doll was fine. That was what it was for. But not another human being! It would have been bad enough had it been Tamina with all her Tazian energy skills. But this lovely, eleven-year-old girl! How much damage had she done?

Tsetsana stirred. Her lips curled into a smile as her soft brown eyes gazed adoringly up at Tullia. ‘You all right?’ she asked.

‘Me? Err…. yes. But are you all right?’ Tullia asked, slipping inside her friend’s mind to look for signs of disturbance.

‘Mmh,’ Tsetsana murmured as she frowned in concentration. ‘I’m still sleepy but feel more awake than ever. Inside, I mean.’ She blinked her eyes several times. ‘You hurting last night. Give me lots of energy. I feel…. different. Nice.’ She grinned. ‘Like Little-Sister,’ she added, savouring both what her Sun Goddess friend had called her yesterday and that she had intuitively understood the three words spoken in Tazian.

Tullia sighed with relief, more at what she had mentally detected than the words. ‘Thanks be to the Seven Sisters!’ she thought to herself. ‘She has not absorbed my negative emotions but received the power. And what a powerful outpouring that was! She has more than just “The Sight”.’

Tullia lowered her head and kissed Tsetsana on the lips, just as she would her BestFriend Tamina. Then gave a little gasp as she remembered the reaction when she had briefly kissed Xashee, Tsetsana’s sixteen-year-old brother.

Tsetsana giggled. She had come to accept the strangeness of being a guide and teacher to the tall and beautiful young woman who the whole tribe considered to be the daughter of the Sun Goddess. Happy to reassure Tullia, she reached her hand up and placed her small fingers on Tullia’s lips. ‘Okay for girls to kiss,’ she said with a smile.

Why not girls and boys? Tullia thought. That made her think of her twin, and that took her back to earlier the previous evening when she had lain with him wrapped in her arms and blood from his many wounds trickling over her. Her heart had gone out to him. Never before had she felt like that. It was more than confusing, the depth of her feelings for her twin puzzled and worried her.

And there was the violence - from her own world! She was a healer, and able to channel far more power than ever before. Yet to return home it appeared they would have to fight against their own people. She could not face that prospect. It was a betrayal of all she believed in. She would rather remain living with the Meera, as long as the two of them were together.