The Cosmic Logos (27 page)

Astarleia seemed to be following, but Arthur placed both paws over his face, perplexed.

‘I don't know what's happening with my kindred or Maelgwn …' Tory was about to fly into a mad panic when Astarleia reminded her of something.

‘The books!' The Oversoul tapped the book in Tory's hand. ‘You can read what happens to your kindred. And besides, who knows what will have eventuated when time catches up to itself in the story? I mean you have at least four and a half books to convey to our charge before we reach this instance in time.'

‘You're right. I can also read what happens to me!' Tory realised, of the mind to manifest a copy of the sixth book, but Astarleia was shaking her head.

‘I wouldn't do that here, unless you want the last part of book six mysteriously manifesting at the beginning of book two.'

‘Point taken,' Tory conceded.

‘Between books perhaps,' Astarleia suggested, ‘or maybe you could take a leave of absence between trilogies to catch up with your kindred?'

Yeah!
Arthur meowed.
Then maybe some of us other guides might get to try our hand at writing.

‘Are you planning on leaving the land of the living so soon, Arthur?' Tory quizzed, as the cat stretched out on the lounge. ‘You've only just arrived.'

I knew this was a whirlwind gig when I took it. I've got to be outta here by the time the kid arrives,
Arthur meowed in response

‘Shh, puss.' The writer urged the cat to keep its meows to itself. ‘I can't concentrate.'

As the music that accompanied the nightly news was heard coming from the lounge, Arthur raised himself to go and reposition himself on the lounge in front of the television. ‘Later, ladies.' Arthur meowed back at them and drew the writer's attention.

‘Wouldn't want to miss the stock market news, hey Arthur?' The writer shook her head, amused. She'd often caught Arthur watching the financial market news. He was the strangest cat she'd ever come across and the sweetest too. Both she and her husband loved him dearly and spoilt him rotten.

‘A whirlwind gig?' Tory turned to Astarleia to question.

Astarleia looked rather sad suddenly. ‘He has a rare disease that is pretty well exclusive to his breed. It's his cute, flat face and nose that are the problem … he can't drink water without getting it up his nostrils. It's too difficult to see the waterline, which is why he prefers milk. Still, his intestines are not getting flushed properly and this indulgence will kill him by the time your first trilogy is complete.'

‘That's tragic.' Tory would have felt for the animal had she not been functioning purely from a mental aspect at present.

Astarleia nodded to agree. ‘He likes it here, and he'll want to hang around for a while when his time with this
couple has ended. Thus, I've decided to let him have a crack at that book he's been wanting to write … between your trilogies perhaps?'

Tory looked a little horrified by this notion, wanting to complete her mission as quickly as possible so that she might move on to higher realms and work.

Astarleia noted this, but she also knew things about their charge's future that Tory didn't. ‘We'll see how it all pans out, shall we?'

T
he sunrise over the city of Chailida was an incredible sight and seemed all the more wondrous when Gazelle considered that this was her first morning of eternal life. Born a space child, it was rare that Gazelle ever witnessed dawn on the surface of a planet and yet here she was viewing the sunrise from her own apartment in the newest and most exciting settlement in the galaxy. She was one of the Chosen Ones now and having been made familiar with the vows she was to make to Lahmu and his senate this day, she felt honoured and grateful — her life finally had a good purpose.

It was hard not to think about Sparrowhawk.
Gazelle had never dwelt on anyone as much, in all her born days, as she had on the Dragon's Falcon son in just this past day or two. She'd never met a man who made her feel attractive or special and she'd certainly never entertained the desire to let a man get close to her.

Gazelle ran her hands gently over her leather-clad form, dead to all touch for as long as she could remember. The thought of Sparrowhawk touching her like this caused the body beneath her hands to tingle and then tremble in delighted anticipation.
It's not going to happen,
she told herself in all seriousness and her delight ended.
Why would he want this used dishrag of a body?
The thought made her want to cry, for although she was far from being a virgin, Gazelle had never given her body willingly to anyone and now that she did feel disposed towards the love of another she felt unworthy of him.

‘I thought you might need a pep talk by now.'

Gazelle sniffled back her tears as she turned from the sunrise to face the lounge room of her apartment, and found a Homo sapiens incarnation of herself holding out a handkerchief to her. ‘Who … who?'

‘Who am I?' Lirathea helped out the tongue-tied Falcon female. ‘I am Lirathea, the representative of the spirit world on Lahmu's council, and the second daughter of the Dragon,' she explained, whereupon Gazelle's eyes broadened all the wider.

‘But … but, that would mean …'

It was a good thing Lirathea was telepathic as it saved a lot of guesswork. ‘Up until recently, Sparrowhawk has been habouring a secret love …' Lirathea began the tale
she was here to tell and it gained her Gazelle's complete attention. ‘He kept his feelings secret because the object of his desire was forbidden to him, being that I was his sister and of a different human breed to himself.' Lirathea saw the burst of awareness that the information gave Gazelle reflected in her face. ‘So you see, there is absolutely no need for you to weep. Your greatest aspiration is, in fact, the answer to Sparrowhawk's prayers, and mine.' She urged Gazelle to finally take the handkerchief and she did, although her tears had ceased to flow.

‘You were the cause of the woes of which he spoke?' Gazelle gathered, her mouth curving to a smile as she wiped the escaping tears from her face. ‘No wonder he was hesitant to discuss the issue with me.' Then the Falcon woman gasped as it came to her that their brothers bore the same striking resemblance that she and Lirathea did. ‘You're Avery's twin, aren't you?' Gazelle paused to ponder how strange this all was. ‘Is there a reason for the uncanny coincidences in our appearance?'

‘That explanation is going to be a little overwhelming.' Lirathea floated to a seat. ‘Are you sure you're ready to know?'

‘After a lifetime of lies, all these truths are rather refreshing.' Gazelle took a seat to hear Lirathea speak.

 

When Sparrowhawk arrived to collect Gazelle for her first briefing with Lahmu, he was rather alarmed to find Lirathea huddled in close conversation with the new object of his desire. ‘What are you doing here?'
He attempted to cover his horror by sounding merely surprised to see Lirathea.

‘Oh, I had a few things I needed to discuss with our new recruit.' Lirathea stood to make her departure.

‘What kind of things?' He ventured to pry.

Lirathea found his distress delightful. ‘You're so cute when you're flustered,' she commented playfully, looking to Gazelle for her opinion, ‘isn't he?'

‘I've never seen him flustered before,' Gazelle commented, feeling quite privileged to be privy to his secret and thus able to join in on his sister's teasing. In Gazelle's opinion, however, Sparrowhawk was gorgeous all the time, but she lacked the confidence to say so in this instance.

‘I'm not flustered,' Sparrowhawk insisted. ‘Why should I be flustered by the prospect of you two meeting?' he queried, making his unease all the more obvious. Still, the sideways glance and smile that the two women served each other seemed to confirm the Falcon male's dread and thus he appealed to Lirathea. ‘You told her?'

‘Nothing …' his sister smiled, ‘that isn't true.' She vanished.

Sparrowhawk wanted to die where he stood. ‘That's my family for you. Always popping in when you least expect them.'

Gazelle smiled in an attempt to alleviate his discomfort. She rose and wandered back to gaze out the large window that overlooked the city. ‘Then I hope they do so to me often,' she granted, ‘as that was without doubt the most amazing conversation I've ever had. I've never spoken with an oracle before.' She explained
why she felt overawed. ‘Probably because I never imagined that there was anything in my future worth knowing about.'

‘And were you pleasantly surprised by what my sister had to say?' Sparrowhawk just couldn't resist finding out about their topic of conversation.

Gazelle picked up on this and found it amusing. ‘Beyond my wildest dreams,' she teased, unable to contain her welling urge to smile, which caused Sparrowhawk to smile also. He wandered over to join her in admiring the view, and Gazelle became more intent upon the scenery as the moment threatened to become intimate.

Sparrowhawk stared at the view in silence for a time, while he roused the courage to ask, ‘Was I in your future?'

Gazelle looked at Sparrowhawk, stunned by the candour of his question — his eyes remained focused on the horizon, however. She didn't feel right discussing what Lirathea had told her about Sparrowhawk and why he might be disposed towards her. Gazelle wouldn't believe he held feelings for her until he confessed as much himself. ‘Well, you did just help me achieve immortal life,' she commented diplomatically. ‘So I was kind of hoping you'd be around to share some of it with me.' She looked down to avoid eye contact with him. ‘Truth be known, Sparrowhawk, you're the only friend I've got, or have ever had for that matter.' She sniffled back her welling tears, becoming annoyed at herself. ‘Shit, now I'm crying again. What is it about you? I've never shed a tear and yet you manage to get me going every time I see you.'

‘Hey.' Sparrowhawk gripped tight both her shoulders. ‘Spiritually and emotionally you're purging a lot of rubbish right now, a few tears are to be expected.'

‘I'm sorry,' she let her emotions flow, ‘I'm not normally like this.'

‘Really?' Sparrowhawk's tone implied that this went without saying. ‘What are you normally like then?'

‘Well, actually,' Gazelle sniffled and gave half a laugh, ‘I'm usually a right little bitch,' she confessed. ‘Tough as guts.'

‘Then I think I prefer you this way.' Sparrowhawk risked pulling her close to give her a hug and his timing proved good as Gazelle did not pull away, but continued to sob and chuckle against his chest.

‘I think my normal self will prove of more benefit to Lahmu somehow.' She responded at last, feeling torn between the warmth and comfort of Sparrowhawk's embrace and her natural impulse to push him away. Instead, she just eased away from him. ‘Speaking of whom.'

Sparrowhawk backed up a step. There was so much he wanted to say to Gazelle, but she was not yet ready to hear it. ‘Time for your first lesson in teleportation then.' He dispersed the uncomfortable mood with the cheer of his statement.

 

‘So, we are agreed?' Rhun pushed Brian and Candace to commit to his request, but they appeared none too keen to concede his point. ‘It has to be done, you know it does.' He appealed to them to see reason. ‘It's not anything I haven't endured myself.'

Brian gave a nod, placing his hand over the intercom pinned to the front of his suit to telepathically request that his secretary send in the rest of Rhun's team. ‘Make it snappy,' Brian requested, his voice going hoarse on him.

‘Fear not.' Rhun drew his pulse laser and set it to kill as his four brothers, both Lahmu's daughters and the Falcon-Nefilim defector entered the Governor's office and came to stand in a neat semicircle facing Lahmu.

‘Good day all —' Brian had not even finished his greeting before Rhun opened fire and shot dead his entire team.

‘Christ!' Candace freaked. ‘Where did you learn to shoot like that?' She rushed over to greet her daughters as they returned to the land of the living.

‘I've been practising my mind control,' Rhun boasted, appearing pleased to have downed the full team before they'd even known what hit them.

‘Well, what did you kill Zabeel for?' Brian felt a little uncomfortable with the impromptu massacre. ‘Zabeel assumed his immortal state twenty years ago!'

‘Oops,' Rhun uttered, ahead of making a dash to Zabeel's side to apologise.

‘What the hell?' his Delphinus brother moaned, as he recovered first, and Rhun aided him to a seated position. He would have thumped his older brother, but Zabeel only had the energy to give Rhun a shove. ‘You shot me?'

‘Sorry, bro, I guess I got carried away. I clean forgot you'd already assumed an immortal state.' Rhun cringed as he awaited his brother's response.

‘That hurt!' Zabeel emphasised.

‘I know, I'm sorry! Here,' Rhun handed him the gun. ‘Kill me if it will make you feel any better.'

‘No,' Zabeel refused. ‘That would just make
you
feel better.'

‘Give me the gun, I'll shoot him.' Avery was up on his feet and fuming. ‘Zabeel is right, that hurt! Why did you do that?'

‘So that on this forthcoming mission to the past, you won't get sick or tortured as a mortal could.' Candace rose from reassuring her girls to explain to Avery their reasons for the shock move.

‘Well, you could have warned us,' Avery barked, leaning down to aid Fallon back to her feet.

Rhun shook his head. ‘I was warned beforehand and, believe me, the wait for your death blow is worse than death itself. It's all over now, be grateful.'

Avery unexpectedly willed the weapon from Rhun's grasp to his own and promptly shot his older brother. ‘Yeah, thanks so much,' Avery mocked as his brother fell to the floor.

‘Do you feel better now?' Candace scolded, taking the weapon from Avery.

‘I would if he'd stay that way.' His eyes remained glued on his brother.

‘That's an awful thing to say … to do!' Sparrowhawk emphasised. ‘He just did us all a favour.'

‘He did?' queried Gazelle, raising both eyebrows as she held her throbbing head. ‘And I thought my kin were ruthless.'

‘Avery, you are the one out of line.' Lahmu spoke to quiet the riot. ‘That comment and your actions
could be construed as sedition. Rhun is the Vice-Governor of Kila.'

‘And what do you call shooting dead half of your senate?' Avery challenged.

Lahmu approached Avery and glared at him. ‘A mission imperative,' he stated firmly. ‘Would you be saying such things about me had I pulled the trigger?'

Avery backed down, heeding Brian's point. ‘No, Lahmu, I would not … but then you have a far better sense of team play than my brother does.'

Brian understood Avery's complaint, as Rhun was a bit of a one-man band at times, but then so was Avery. ‘Nonetheless, you owe Rhun an apology when he comes around.'

Avery appeared reluctant.

‘If being subordinate to your brother's command is going to be a problem, you are a risk to this mission, Avery,' Brian clarified.

Avery resented Rhun's style of command, but he took comfort in the fact that once they returned to the past he would be pursuing his own mission apart from Rhun, to free the crystal Eli from the Aten. ‘I would never act contrary to your representative's instruction, Lahmu.'

‘Good.' Brian accepted his assurance. ‘I need a unified team for this task, as so much depends on the outcome.'

‘Damn, that does hurt,' Rhun grumbled as Sparrowhawk and Zabeel helped him up. ‘Thanks so much for reminding me,' he commented in Avery's direction, sounding as though he didn't really blame him.

‘I apologise,' Avery stated for Lahmu's benefit. ‘I got carried away.' He used the same excuse Rhun had used to Zabeel and shrugged, forcing a smile. ‘No hard feelings.'

‘Of course not.' Rhun mimicked Avery's dry tone. ‘What are brothers for?' In reality, Rhun would probably have booted him off the team if Avery had not been their means to return to the past.

 

In order to return their team to Gaia in the year that that planet had known as 2088AD — the year of Hayden Ingram's reported suicide — Avery had enlisted the help of Eli's elestial crystal relatives. They resided in the Otherworld.

The year of destination was also known on Kila as 50AC (fifty years After Colonisation), which was the year before Avery, and most of their team, were even born.

The rare time-savvy elestial crystals existed on a planet in an old quadruple-star system to be found on the innermost reaches of the etheric body of the galaxy that Gaia's astronomers had named the Milky Way.

It was a seemingly dead planet with no atmosphere to which Avery teleported each member of their task force, but the multi-coloured suns shone brightly in the distant reaches of the dark sky. As did the many suns of the neighbouring star systems, which were situated much closer together than the outer star systems with which Rhun and his team were more familiar. The combined light of the suns and stars illuminated the planet's surface to the same intensity as bright moonlight.