The Light-Field (36 page)

‘We'll get there.' Her father urged her to back off and let them catch their breath. ‘Clarona and I have a whole load of fancy political footwork to do in the immediate future, before we go charging off and throwing our weight around with other planets.'

Taren accepted this. ‘We'll see to mother's request regarding the Princess Satomi.'

‘I would appreciate that,' Clarona said. ‘Perhaps then she shall rest in peace.'

After that, they had to prevent Kalayna and Telmo from opening the gateway, so there was plenty to keep AMIE busy whilst the president and the queen sorted through their new political alliance.

 

Back on board AMIE, the crew from the last mission were debriefed together and the team for the next mission was selected. Obviously they needed Mythric, who knew his way around the House of Vidor and its crypt. Lucian could see Satomi but needed Jazmay and a telepath to translate — and Kassa insisted on being the telepath of choice this time.

‘Hold on,' Zeven protested. ‘If Taren, Jazmay and Mythric are going, that means I can't go again. There's no way I'm staying behind this time — this is my mother we're talking about!'

Ayliscia put her hand up. ‘If I replace Jazmay as translator, she can stay and Zeven can go.'

‘Hey thanks, Dr Portus.' Zeven was genuinely surprised by her offer, probably because in the last time line she'd never liked him very much.

‘This can't be easy,' she said sympathetically, ‘for either of you.'

Mythric forced a smile.

‘We still have each other.' Zeven batted his eyelids at Mythric to dispel the gloom.

‘Everybody else may as well go get some R & R,' Taren suggested.

‘I'll keep one eye on you from here,' Aurora advised, kissing Zeven in leaving.

‘Yeah, that was really intense.' Ringbalin was glad to be dismissed. ‘I'm going back to my greenhouse where it's peaceful and calm.'

‘Great job, thank you.' Taren waved to him in leaving, and Yasper and Jazmay who followed him out.

‘I'll go find my husband,' Amie commented. ‘One guess as to where he'll be?'

‘Module D,' replied all with a laugh, as that was where the track, gym and pool were located. Swithin had set up office in one of the labs there.

It had occurred to Taren to speak with Swithin about the possibility of resurrecting Mythric's deceased princess. However, Swithin had explained that once a body had begun to decompose it did not repair once life had been breathed back into it; Mythric would wind up with a walking corpse and not the beautiful wife he remembered. This being as it was, Taren had not mentioned Swithin's talent to Mythric. In fact, Swithin rarely spoke of it to anyone, as he didn't like the idea of playing lord over nature's selection process.

 

Mythric's mental guidance landed their party in the large cellars of the House of Vidor that had been locked up since Maiara's death. Taren cracked a glow stick, as did Zeven, and the space around them lit up green in the glow.

‘Well, drown me.' Zeven was amazed by the scale of the cellar with barrels ten times the size of a man.

Taren noticed Lucian frowning as his eyes scanned the room. ‘Are you all right?'

He raised his brows, unsure. ‘There's a fair few ghosts in here.'

‘That's just going to get worse as we enter the crypt. Do you want to leave?' Taren hadn't considered what an uncomfortable situation this was for a medium to be in.

‘No, I'm good,' he assured her. ‘But if I start acting strange, don't shoot me. I've most likely just been possessed by someone.'

His humour made her smile, as they followed Mythric's lead through to the family crypt.

In the stone annex that marked the entrance, there was a key card scanner and a number pad lock on the door, which was linked to a security company. By his will, Mythric bypassed the key pad and blocked the security signal to part the doors before them.

The room beyond was not at all what Taren had been expecting; it wasn't old, dim and dusky at all. The chamber was completely white, spotless and filled with light, which poured in through a skylight in the centre. The majestic, hexagon-shaped room was filled with ornate sarcophagi, housing the remains of the royals of Vidor.

‘So which one of these is Mother's?' Zeven eyed over each one as they passed.

‘I'm not sure,' Mythric replied, ‘I haven't been in this chamber since my parents died, which was some time before I met the princess.' His eyes turned to the centre of the chamber where stairs rose to a hexagonal platform. One sarcophagus sat bathed in the natural light from the skylight above. ‘That's new,' Mythric noted.

‘Maiara?' Taren felt the great lady might have been honoured with the central spot in the crypt.

‘Maybe?' Mythric led off to investigate, and everyone trailed him to the base of the stairs and allowed him to ascend alone.

Upon reaching the platform, Mythric looked down upon the sarcophagus and gasped in shock, before falling to his knees beside it. His eyes were transfixed on the top of the tomb, which appeared perfectly flat from where Taren was standing — perhaps the inscription was emotive? In fact, the tomb itself appeared rather sleek and ultra-modern compared with the others.

‘Is it Mother?' Zeven ventured to ask what they were all dying to know.

‘Yes,' Mythric managed to squeeze out an answer, ‘no doubt about it.'

Zeven was concerned by his father's obvious distress and ascended the stairs to see for himself what was crippling the man. ‘What the? Whoa!' he gasped, amazed by what he saw.

Too curious to maintain their decorum, the others ascended to view the oddity themselves.

The top of the sarcophagus was glass, and inside the perfectly preserved and cleant body of the Princess Satomi rested peacefully. She appeared to have just drifted into sleep and looked barely older than Taren.

‘Why do this?' Mythric appealed to Taren. ‘So as to torture me, each time I see her?'

‘Hold on.' Kassa looked over the unit. ‘This is not a crypt, she's been put into stasis.'

‘But she is already dead?' Mythric appealed. ‘I held her lifeless corpse! No wonder she cannot rest in peace!'

Taren gasped so loudly that everyone jumped. ‘Maiara was a precog,' she attempted to explain, but only Lucian appeared to twig. ‘She knew we'd have Swithin —'

‘Swithin?' Zeven frowned. ‘What has he got to do with this?'

She held up a finger, too excited to continue. ‘Nobody do anything before I get back!' She looked to Mythric, who clearly didn't know what to feel. ‘I think there is a very good reason why Maiara did this, and it wasn't to torment … she may have just managed to save both your kin from Khalid.'

‘What?' Mythric threw his hands up, as Taren held up a finger and vanished from their midst.

 

Under a sun lamp by the pool, Swithin was startled out of his wits when Taren silently appeared beside him and grabbed his arm. ‘Swithin —'

‘Fricken heart attack! Don't do that! I swear, sis, I near took your head clean off!'

‘We need you,' Taren said and made a move toward him, whereupon Swithin backed up out of arm's reach.

He cocked an eyebrow, not liking the sound of that. ‘
Why?
'

‘It's Satomi —' Taren began.

‘Ah! No, no, no, no.' He shook his head.

‘Her body has been perfectly preserved, Swithin,' Taren appealed. ‘I think she might be one of the major reasons you were given the gift you have.'

Swithin was rather taken aback by that claim. ‘So I have her to thank for this, you reckon?'

‘Not at all.' He'd misunderstood her. ‘But I do think it is a clear sign from the universe that, in this case, you are meant to come to the party.'

‘Okay, I'll come.' Swithin frowned deeply, unhappy that he agreed. ‘But let me get my shirt on first.' He whipped it from the back of his chair and pulled it on his body. ‘Right then, zap away.' He gave her leave to take hold of him, appearing none to eager to experience his first taste of teleportation.

‘It's not going to hurt,' she promised as she took hold.

 

‘Yee-ha!' Swithin cried upon arrival, completely forgetting that they were teleporting to a crypt. As his excited cry echoed very loudly around the chamber several times, Swithin became increasingly embarrassed by everyone's stares of disapproval. ‘Sorry … first time teleporter.'

‘Why is
he
here?' Zeven asked, disgruntled — still holding a bit of a grudge against Swithin for his betrayal in their last time line.

‘Didn't you tell them?' Taren looked to Lucian, who shook his head.

‘I wasn't sure he'd agree.' Lucian thought he'd best wait.

‘Taren seems to think I was destined to help with this one.' Swithin scaled the stairs to take a look at the setup. ‘Wow, she's quite the looker.' He glanced at Mythric, who, although shocked by the proceedings, had to smile with pride. ‘It does seem a little odd that she's been preserved to this extent.'

‘Will someone please explain what you mean to do?' Mythric appealed as calmly as he was capable.

‘I mean to bring your princess back to life,' Swithin advised with a cocky grin. ‘With your consent, of course,' he added, as Mythric was utterly speechless.

‘You can resurrect the dead?' Zeven was shocked, as was Kassa and Ayliscia.

‘I was wondering about you,' Kassa commented with a grin.

‘Nice to know you've not invaded my head to find out,' Swithin replied.

‘That's against company policy, unless otherwise specified by the captain,' she assured everyone, not just Swithin. ‘It was in my contract.'

‘Good to know.' Zeven was relieved on that count. He noted his father appeared bewildered, so moved to comfort him.

Mythric didn't know what the right course of action was. ‘Does Satomi want this?' He looked to the captain for an answer. As Kassa and Ayliscia approached to help Lucian translate, he held up a hand to let them know he didn't need a translation. ‘She is nodding, laughing, crying, more nodding … I'd say she is keen.'

Mythric began to choke on the expectation of what the next few minutes might hold and Zeven hugged his shoulders for support.

‘Looks like true happiness might be a bit closer than the next life after all, hey what?' Lucian commented to Mythric, whose fear appeared to melt away. He fathomed the reality he now faced was very different to what he'd come to expect his life would be over the past two and a half decades.

‘Do you know how to crack this thing open?' Swithin asked Kassa, who moved to look over the control panel.

‘In the space program we used these kinds of systems all the time,' Kassa concurred. ‘Just give the nod.'

Swithin looked to Mythric and Zeven, who both nodded.

‘Deactivating stasis now.' Kassa shut the system down.

The top of the stasis pod opened and released a cold burst of air into the chamber. It smelt of the flowers that had been placed inside the tube in perfect suspended animation, along with the princess.

‘Okay then.' Swithin rubbed his hands together and placed them both over Satomi's heart.

There was a flash of light that sparked between his hands and was absorbed into the princess's body. Once this was done, Swithin backed away to watch the metamorphosis take place.

The frosty blue tinge melted from her motionless body, and was replaced by the warm glowing colour of a living being. Her eyes parted wide as she drew her first breath in twenty-five years — startling everyone into backing up a step. All but Mythric, who was at Satomi's side in a heartbeat.

‘Nice to know I am not the last line of defence against death,' Kassa commented to Swithin, as they watched the lovers embracing.

Satomi was speaking Phemorian to Mythric and she sounded panicked. ‘She cannot see,' advised Mythric. ‘She says the light is very bright.'

‘That will pass,' Kassa and Taren both advised at once, as this was the first thing everyone noticed when they came out of stasis. This was a relief to Mythric, who explained it to his wife.

But then, through her white burial gown, Satomi's blood began to flow. ‘Kassa?' Mythric held his hand up and it was covered in blood. ‘Her wounds have not healed.'

‘She needs surgery.' Kassa moved in to see if she could stop the bleeding.

‘She needs Ringbalin,' Zeven corrected.

‘Bring him to Kassa's surgery,' Mythric instructed and Zeven vanished.

‘Um,' Lucian felt loath to butt in at this point. ‘There are some very envious ghosts in here. We need to get Swithin out of here pronto.'

‘Me! Why me?' Swithin felt picked on, as Mythric vanished with Satomi and Kassa. ‘Never mind!' Swithin grabbed Taren. ‘I'm ready.'

Lucian and Ayliscia made haste to join their circle before Taren returned all four of them to AMIE.

 

After a few minutes under Ringbalin's healing influence, Satomi's body had completely healed itself — eyesight and all. In order to achieve such a miraculous healing, Ringbalin had injected the princess with a good serve of compassion, happiness, gratitude and pure joy. Her broad smile indicated that she felt overdosed on all these emotions. She spoke with Mythric and he translated.

‘The princess is so very grateful to you, Ringbalin, and all of the crew for ending her time in limbo.'

‘Your Grace is very welcome,' the grubby botanist assured her. ‘But I believe ultimately it is the late and
very great
dowager duchess that you have to thank.' Ringbalin was moved to tears by the thought of her. ‘I too, owe her so very much, and am honoured to be part of her grand vision.'

Mythric felt suddenly riddled with remorse. ‘You're right … Maiara did this.' He shed a tear. ‘I never truly appreciated or trusted her, and yet
she had my best interests at heart, even when I had no idea what they were!' Mythric's despair was overcome by pure gratitude and joy in one huge surge, and he looked up to find Ringbalin lightly touching his arm.