Chapter 41 Escape into Waterfalls

His eyes glow spectacular green ever so brightly, and I’m about to lose consciousness again, when I notice that the black stone lights up with a series of images.

One image shows Ari, holding a small girl by her hand, walking up the ramp of his ship, followed by a dark-haired woman. The next one – Ari, that woman and the girl already inside of the ship, and Ari adjusts the screen to the girl’s height, so she can see better.

The third image is the picture on the screen – it shows spectacular views of mountains and precipices, the waterfalls come crashing down the bottomless abyss, and more amazing waterfalls. The picturesque landscape is full of tranquility, as if Peace itself dwells among the powerful streams.

The dazzling waterfalls are huge, and they sparkle with fleeting, blinding diamond drops of water. The girl’s eyes reflect the bright rainbows all around, as she watches the footage, astonished by its beauty. Ari is saying something, pointing to the screen.

I can see his lips moving, but there is no sound to the image. He leans to the girl, and says one and the same word several times. I have a guess that it is the name of the planet of waterfalls. What is it? I need the name of that planet!

At this moment the door to my room gets smashed from outside with a deafening noise, and Moro with some other ederi appears in the opening. Zumi screams in terror, and then – in pain, and goes limp in my embrace.

His body slides on the floor with a long syringe-looking object stuck in his chest. Terrified, I watch as his green eyes go from bright to dull, and remain open. He is not moving. I want to scream for help, but I’m too shocked.

There is a faraway sound of an engine, or some machine, making a rapid, rhythmic noise. Moro grabs me by my hand and drags me closer to himself across the lifeless body of my dead lover. Did they just kill my Zumi, or am I dreaming?!

“Where is your mother?” He hisses in my face. He is so mad he seems to become something like a fire-breathing dragon. His face gets distorted into an indescribable, ugly mask. I feel an unrelenting stream of neurotoxin, coming from Moro. It’s not a loving stream of Zumi, it’s an angry, evil stream, if a chemical can be vilified. The fire breathing dragon drags me towards the busted doorway. I realize that I must be hallucinating from the overdose.

I turn my head to find Zumi still laying there without any movement. But the black stone, recently awash with pictures is now totally shiny-black, silent. Moro’s people come to it, tap it, look into it, but it is impenetrable black.

My mind is turning off as I catch the message from the stone: “The images about the planet of waterfalls were for you, not for Moro. Do not worry, he will not find out. ”

I can no longer walk and fall to my knees. The piercing pain in my chest might indicate the heart arrhythmia, caused by the overdose, or am I just grieving profoundly for the loss of a dear friend?! The ederi that came with Moro pick me up, and carry me outside.

The last thing I hear from the stone is very mysterious: “All your secrets are safe with me. I will make sure of that.”

What secrets? I have some other secrets?

The next thing I see shocks me even more than Moro’s raid, if at all possible. The rhythmic noise is coming from a machine with several blades, spinning on the top. They take me inside of the machine and we take off. The last thing I remember is the distinct smell of gasoline, the fossil fuel Kallitris loves to use instead of regular psychic energy.

“Immaul… You need to tell someone. I’m being taken away in one of Kallitris’s destroyers. There is something wrong with that. This machine is not supposed to be here.”

“Copy that. I’ll track your movement.” He answers, and my mind goes blank.

I wake up in a cave. Water drips from the brownish ceiling. Moro is not far away. As much as I try not to show that I woke up, he can sense the changed state of my consciousness and comes up to me.

“I need you to tell me where your mother is. This undisclosed location is not known to anyone. Yasen will never find you here. And even if he does, I will torture you to death many times over before anyone can come to your rescue. Now, all I need is to know everything about your mother’s whereabouts.”

“I would not tell you even if I knew.” I mumble. “Are you using my boyfriend’s flying machine? It is very stupid of you.”

“Why?” Moro breathes in my face.

My mind is somehow more clear now so he no longer looks like a dragon. More like a loser! Unless Kallitris provided the machine himself, which is highly unlikely, it means nothing good for Moro. I have to chase away this thought, as he can read my mind.

The ederi senses something wrong, and takes me by my shoulders, gazing at me with apprehension. He gets into my mind allright, but it seems like that he is not finding anything. I see a black veil covering my thoughts from him. It’s a calming feeling. Could a piece of enchanted stone be that intelligent, and also care enough to protect me? I can’t believe it.

“There is no need to torture him, sir.” I see another ederi walking out of the darkness of the cave. “I think I found his mother.”

“Oh, thank you, Gemea.” Moro smiles, and lifts me up. “Time to make contact!”

There is no way… No. They found her? Not Moro. I can’t let him have my mother. I see now – he is clearly against Yasen. Obviously, whoever gets my mother first, can have her genes for his people, and not other people. I kind of see through that guy.

A large slab of stone screeches away and I find myself at the edge of a large black hole. Something moves upwards, and soon I can see a ship hovering inside of the hole. A ramp comes out, and we get in. The door slides close and I look around.

It’s chilly, dark, and several ederi start whispering at my arrival. None of them are friendly, but all of them look at Moro with deference, which gives me a hope. At least they will not attack me without a command. I can live while I’m needed. But for what?

We come to the bridge of the ship, and surprise is all mine again – it is another one of Kallitris’s machines. I recognize it by his signature dashboards. Now more thing to make sure it is truly his ship.

“We need you to make contact. When we arrive to where she is, you’ll come out and invite her inside.” Says Moro.

Yeah, like hell I will.

I nod, and come to the console. Yes, it is there, just like I thought. Among all the impossible complicated rows of buttons, lights and switches, in the very far corner there is an imprint of the hand. Kallitris had all his fleet equipped with a plug-in for me. I can interface with this ship in a matter of seconds if I want. These guys have no idea! Or do they? Are they that stupid, or is it an intricate trap?

I look at Moro, but he is not reading my mind. He is involved in discussing the course of the ship, pointing to a shiny speck on the map. I walk up to the screen and look at the map closely, as if it will give me anything. But the fact that the black stone is covering all my thoughts is amazingly helpful. I can stand here and think, and be safe. This is something, this is better than I hoped. It gives me an edge.

Let’s see what will happen. I think I have a plan. If they really found my mother, I will pretend to submit, walk out of the ship, lure Mom inside (that would be a heck of a meeting!), and then put my hand to the imprint, telling the ship to fly to Ashtarma. This will be cool. I’m anxious, as anything can go wrong at any moment, but this is my breakthrough.