Chapter 35 A Needle in a Haystack

“We have installed a re-transmitting device. It’s on Komkaran, but it still works. It actually sends images both ways. That’s how I knew that Kallitris arrived to Ashtarma. Then I directed Leot there to capture him and bring him to me.”

Oh my, here is the explanation about the weird object feared by the Koms. Bingo. Or whatever they play here.

“I need you to go to Earth now.” Yasen says. The soft light in the hallway has no effect on his mystic image, as the shadows from another world are dancing on his face.

“I can’t. I need to find the hostages first.” I find myself justifying my plans and my decision.

“Then I give you 24 Earth hours to find your hostages. After that you must follow my order whether you found them or not.”

He touches my chest at where the brand is. I changed the burned shirt ever since, but we both know the brand is still there…

It burns as he touches it with his thin hand without fingernails. Right through the image of his hand I can see the thick carpet and some wall. He is not here. And yet, the ederi is inside of me. It’s not only the fate of Kallitris that is keeping me from telling him off. He created a stronger bond, one I can’t break at all.

“Yes, sir.” I whisper, wishing for the pain to go away.

“Who are you talking to?” Baron Leo walks up to me with a worried look on his face.

The fragrance of his perfume envelops me with a sweet rainbow, washing away all my worries if only for just a second.

“I think I saw the ghost of Ari.” I lie, unable to tell him the terrible truth.

“Eva is concerned about a transmission from Komkaran. She believes it was an image. Why don’t you tell her what you know. She only ever wants peace and love for everyone.” Iris takes me by my cold and trembling hand.

“She says she wants peace, but she hates everyone and she revealed Kallitris to Leot! Thanks to this chain of events I’m now a slave to an ederi!” My God, did I just say that?!

“Tensartis!!!” Asmadis appears at the end of the hallway, calling for me, looking around. Then he sees us, and runs so fast he trips over himself. His wings flap in the air, only to lift him a little bit, and then he falls on his face.

“Ow…” He moans from under the mess of his crumpled wings.

“He-he-he…” Kallitris comes up, and lifts the poor guy by one wing. “What’s the plan, boys?”

Then he looks at me and goes pale. He is psychic allright, and he can read plenty of information. But most of the time he is too arrogant and careless to listen to things. Because if he was careful, he’d have examined the strange object Pieris was warning him about, he’d have known it was an ederi transmitting device, and he’d leave before he was detected.

Now I have to pay for Eva’s hatred and Kallitris’s negligence.

I turn around and go to the bridge. I have 24 hours to stop this war by finding a needle in a haystack.

I lift the ship enough to stay over the hills but close to the ground. When I was a child I used to be able to track people and objects. It’s been so long. What am I looking for? Are they even still alive? The screen shows the landscape, lit by the purple moon of Blisperada.

Not all the hills are destroyed. A lot are still inhabited. Can the Koms be held in one of the hills? If yes, then by whom? And why the leader of Blisps was never notified of it? I watch the screen intensely, still not knowing what am I supposed to sniff out?

“I understand that terrible creature, Yasen, branded you with the Sign of the Rose. But what does it mean? Are you supposed to obey all his orders now? Kallitris is out of danger. They can’t get him! Forget about the ederi!” My husband comes up to hug me.

He runs his hand across my chest lovingly, wishing for my trials to go away. He is truly devoted to me. So much that he is willing to help me carry any burden of mine. I don’t know if I can even share this particular crushing burden…

“It’s not the silly brand that holds me. The brand is just a symbol. Yasen bonded with me through the neurotoxin. It enabled my programming. My mind responds to him as it would to Leot. I have no choice but to follow his orders. Much like what Kallitris did to me in the beginning.”

Something attracts my attention on the screen. On a land full of hills and forests there is a pit. It’s not a big pit, neither is it very deep. It was not left here by a bomb, because this pit has been here for a while – with a lot of undisturbed vegetation in and around.

“That creep synthesized neurotoxin too?! Why would you let him inject it into you?!” Iris frowns, but has half a mind to glance on the screen and notice us descend into the pit.

“He did not synthesize it, his body produces it. He kissed me. I had no idea. Then I found myself back here, and I knew I was bonded by an ederi.”

I land the ship on the bottom of the pit and motion for Iris and Kallitris to follow me. Immaul decides to stay. Eva is nowhere to be found and I’m grateful for that. I just can’t stomach her today. I suspect she was in cahoots with Yasen all along.

She probably did not mean to get me in trouble, but the hatred in her heart would push her to any lengths to punish the sheirer for his crimes. If she did not have an accomplice, then how did she alert Leot?

Asmadis gets restless as we are walking out. He is not saying anything, but I can read fear on his face when we get down the ramp and on the ground. Maybe he needs to let us know what is there to be afraid of, if anything?

The purple moon casts strange shadows on the faces of my friends. Kallitris in his human form is a delightful sight, a hunk of a guy to fall in love with over and over again. But now he is full of grief and remorse.

‘Wait a minute!” He stops right as we get ready to examine a big rock right in front of us, embedded into the side of the pit. “You were supposed to be immune to any alien neurotoxin entries as you had my solution in your system!”

My answer is not going to make him very happy.

“Right before you and I landed on Ashtarma, the cartridge in my port was almost empty. I asked you to change it, but you were too busy telling me how everyone worships you here as god. Then you were captured. I have been running on fumes ever since.”

The revelation hits my lover like a ton of bricks. Yeah, that’s enough remorse to choke a horse. He somehow manages to stifle the pain, and hugs me tightly.

“It’s going to be allright.” I say, resting my head on his chest, listening to the rustling of his wings. “The good news is that Yasen probably does not need me, he is only using all of this to get to my mother. As soon as we find her, he will release me.”

What I really think is that I’m royally screwed. Yasen will run me into the ground making me look for my mother, who is so important to his plan, and then I will be forced to return to Crumbling Rose for the rest of my life regardless of the outcome of the search. Like I said, it’s not a bad planet, I could get used to the ocean views. There are worse prisons out there…

“Look, what’s that?!” Asmadis points to something by the rock and his eyes widen with fear.

What he sees is a passing shadow of an unknown origin. What I see is an old energy trail. Ten Koms were led here against their will. I can see their gloomy faces. Could they possibly be hidden here?

Another scary guess flashes like a lightning in front of my eyes. If they are here, it explains why Pieris bombs Blisperada with abandon. He knows they are safe here. Can it be, or am I going crazy, influenced by a prospective of becoming a prisoner of the ederi forever?!