ARC OF THE IMMORTALS — Book 1 PURSUIT: Section 7 CASANOIR
7/Casanoir: 7.1 — The Gata Inevitability
The ceremony for asking the Spirit of the Water for permission to save Nez was easy compared to the rest and Touzdae felt relieved. Harry helped until he threw-out his back leaving Touzdae with the remainder of the work. Fish transported Harry into a healing bay.
[a very brief scene of war from a distance]
Exhausted after having set up most of the filtering and pumping equipment, she laid down on soft grasses and slept. There was one large tube connected to the waterfall. Twelve smaller tubes went to various orifices in the Fish.
Harry twisted into a trance-like gaze from a nearby portable chair. He seemed transfixed. He stood, unsteady — as if inebriated, glided to Touzdae and fell to his knees. He kissed her hand, then moved back and gazed at her as if she were a prized possession. His eyes followed the lines of her body the curve of her hips. He leaned over and nuzzled her neck with his mouth and tongue. She stirred, turned away dead asleep, and turned onto her back in a giant sprawl.
“Harry, I heard that fantasy of yours,” she said as she stood. She faltered.
“Shit. You okay, Touzdae?” Harry asked and snapped out of his waking dream. He jolted out of his fantasy and stood.
She collapsed and fell unconscious.
And vanished.
“I transported her to my healing center, Harry. Don’t worry,” the female voice of the Fish boomed.
She awakened in the aftmost cabin. Harry left a note with a small meal. It read: I hope you enjoy your meal. I will give you your space. She read his thoughts from the note and put them all aside. Touzdae looked aft through the portals of the stern of the Space Fish deep into the night jungle of the planet. “That was close…”
“Yes… At first light, you and Harry can begin disconnecting the tubing. I’ll transport the pump and filters on board when you’re done. Finish the ceremony of completion.
“Take care that you do not stay out too long.”
“Fish, why am I so dependent on you for my life?”
“Only Jac can tell you how.”
“But you know why, don’t you?”
“Remember to bury some of the herbs at the shore and sprinkle the rest into the mist of the waterfall.”
“Umm. Ah,” Touzdae responded with the sound of sacred agreement (passed down to her by her Ma-Pa).
A golden globe followed Jac as he leapt from one island in the clouds to the next. Bhantu giggled from within the globe. Jac gazed down at the river that flowed into a distant ocean as the globe hovered nearby. An intrusive vision popped into his 3rd eye. He was being led by Luna, Touzdae’s identical twin sister, toward the cloud-shrouded Levelz — the deep hole in Gata. He struggled to hear Bhantu. The image switched to Touzdae leading him to the edge of the hole. Luna replaced Touzdae, and Touzdae replaced Luna. Touzdae turned in her magnificence, fairy lights around her.
“Soon my presence will disappear from you, Jac,” Bhantu’s muffled voice permeated the globe. Jac was present again.
After a few minutes, Jac spoke:
“I feel so much better. And I am ready to face the truth.”
“You will be joining your comrades as they travel to Gata on the Tubari Rift,” Bhantu said.
“Gata?” Jac gritted his teeth as he thought — I hate that place, why there? Jac forced himself to breathe a deep breath and he let go making a space and allowing it to float…
The Golden Sphere popped out of the space-time continuum and vanished. Jac dove out of the clouds towards the river. He floated gracefully, as if on wings toward the river far below.
“That last jump didn’t get rid of them. Fish, you’ll have to fly while I shoot.” Touzdae wrangled out of the melding chair. She climbed into the observation bubble and surveyed the weapons array console. All the weapons, including the turret below the Captain’s Cabin connected to the rest of the arsenal.
Jac plunged into the river with rays of bright light. This light engulfed him as he disappeared into a rainbow kaleidoscope. The turning dazzling light brought him to the surface. His consciousness returned to his corporeal body. He emerged out of the Pool of Life. As he climbed out he dried within a minute.
Fish shuttered and groaned. Jac climbed the ladder up toward the bridge.
“All right. No sign of them. Lost, disabled, or destroyed, I guess,” Harry said with glee. Touzdae turned towards Harry wondering about the disturbed conflict within him.
“Tell me about this rift again,” a commanding voice shielded in a manipulative tone came deep from within Harry.
“Harry you must be getting old your memory is failing. You’ve been through the rift many times in your life,” she glanced at him. There it was again — that vacant stare. Touzdae continued: “The Tubari Rift is a confluence of energy about 30 light-years long and 6 to 9 miles in diameter. Whatever rides in it travels in another dimension at ninety times or more than the speed of light.”
“But we’re going to have trouble getting into it aren’t we?”
“Yah. We overloaded Fish’s inner muscles and the turbines to get us a good spot in the rift. Jac’s not going to like that we’re going — -
“ — -to Gata,” Jac said emerging from the hatch below.
“ — -to Gata. Oh my God, Jac, you’re back!!!” Touzdae’s heart sang.
Touzdae rose and they hugged. Jac stopped time in mid-embrace. Seconds became minutes before they returned to ordinary time.
“We don’t have much time. Gata is the place where we’ll capture Pursuer,” Jac used an unhurried, terse tone, with determination.
“Good to see you Jac,” Fish quipped. “Would you like status on Pursuer?”
“Yes.”
“He is one day behind us. The rift will give us a six to nine-day lead at maximum speed.”
“I heard Touzdae say that you’re muscles and the turbines are overloaded,” Jac was drawing energy from some unseen place.
“They’re regenerating as we speak. That was the purest water we infused from Jama, the fourth planet of that system. Full power in 3 to 6 minutes.”
“Good,” Jac smiled and took the helm. “Good job, piloting Fish, Touzdae. Excellent bundling of the melding chair. Thank you, sweet one.”
Touzdae beamed as she took her place on a crash couch. Harry had already strapped himself in.
“Entering main rift flow… now,” Fish stated.
The ship bumped and twisted as it reached the faster acceleration curve of the Tubari Rift.
Pursuer Jac switched on a tracking scope projecting The Fish in the rift. He was almost identical to Jac Kristos. He pressed the throttle forward with both hands and the Needle-Craft jetted into a new jump tube.
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