ARC OF THE IMMORTALS — Pursuit / Book 1
Chapter 6.3 Through
Touzdae entered the bridge. /“Course heading?” the Fish spoke. /“You’re alive!” Touzdae turned to Harry, “She’s alive!”
“Course heading?”
“Oh, oh… let me think… Ah… Prepare for a jump to the Forechoir Zone.”
“Spirit — That’s an intergalactic war zone. Do you really want to do that?” Harry was beside himself.
“Yes, right. Course laid in.” Fish reported.
“That’s right. I discussed it with Jac before he left for the inner world.” She sank into the melding chair as Harry strapped himself in.
“By the way, Touzdae, you didn’t ask permission from that planet back there to take the water, did you?” Fish asked.
“Shit — -no!”
“Jump factor?”
“Twelve. Engaging.”
A Jump tube formed out of a rush of stars, and the Fish entered inside in a blur of light.
Jac climbed up, hoisting himself onto a rock beneath the shadow of the spire. Nez Fish materialized next to him on the rock.
“Thank the Spirits, you’re alive,” Jac said to Nez, relieved.
“Yes. That was the third closest I’ve ever come to death.” Nez
“The one at the beginning, I know, and the other?”
“When your Father crashed onto the eastern shore of Gata.”
“Gata. The place I don’t want to hear about keeps coming up,” He paused and forced himself to take a deep breath. “Where are we headed now?”
“Right into the main fighting in the Forechoir Zone.” Nez.
“Good. The war is a good cover for us.”
“And that’s the good news.” Nez
“And the bad?” Jac.
“Touzdae did not ask permission from the Planet, and my blood — contaminated. It can’t be cleansed for another two cycles. When that happens, we’ll be in the midst of the Forechoir war, and 85 percent of the planets are now contaminated. Pursuer is now three weeks behind us. And you need healing from Bhantu to live.”
“Right, Get moving,” Jac stood up.
Nez stood and hugged him. Shocked, he was. She vanished. Jac leapt down the rocks to the valley floor.
The voice of Fish boomed out from the sky:
“You have five days to get to Bhantu. I don’t think Touzdae can handle making decisions and keeping Harry in check.”
Jac stopped, turned, and looked skyward.
“What do you mean “keep Harry in check”?”
“You haven’t noticed how he lusts after her?”
“I’ve been kind of busy; maybe you’ve noticed that? Beside Touzdae and I have the highest form of love.”
“Take it from a female Jac; a body needs another body.”
“Food for thought. Thanks,” Jac was oblivious.
“I take my leave of you. My duties call. We have to change jump tubes now and countless other new and old tasks…”
“Good luck, Jac,” Nez Fish trailed off.
The Space Fish emerged from a transdimensional jump tube and formed a second one. The ship entered. The second tube swallowed the ship.
“Harry, I’d like to recommend some sleep. It will be a good five hours before we reach the edges of the Forechoir Zone.”
Harry yawned. “You look delicious when you’re tired; why don’t you join me?”
“That’s very flattering, Harry, but the melding chair provides a kind of sleep when one is trained in its use. And I want to remind you that Jac is my one and only lover.”
“Of course, Jac — the saint. I’ll go below and get some shuteye. But I’ll be dreaming sweet dreams of you.”
Harry disappeared below through the hatch.
“He’s a lusty devil, isn’t he?” Nez.
“I can handle him. Did you see Jac on the inside?”
“Yes… He’s on the journey to meet up with Bhantu now.”
Jac jogged a trail through the center of the valley by a river. The river released bubbles of iridescent purples, oranges, and green. The bubbles reflected in the sky overhead presented its own language of sorts. The river widened. Jac jogged on.
Jac strode through the terrain, which grew more rugged. Non-deciduous trees grew out of sharp craggy rocks, and the river had cut a deep chasm in the land. A pink light pulsed from the ravine where the river flowed. Mountains seemed to arise out of nowhere. Small bubbles rose out of the vents in the rock on either side of the river’s ravine. He smiled as the pearl-colored opalescent spheres caressed his face. A cooling mist and soft music slid through the air.
The sky filled with bubbles. The way obscured. He pushed forward until he collapsed into a bed of bubbles, laughing.
Bubbles merged, forming a larger bubble around Jac. It held his body inside a single bubble. Smaller bubbles gathered around. It rose carrying Jac into the air above the valley filled with all sizes of bubbles. The sphere is blown by a breeze through the crag of a mountaintop.
The bubble disappeared through a fog bank and glided up onto a grassy knoll beneath a tree. It popped as the rays of the sun shone down on him.
“I’m here,” Jac whispered as he fell asleep in the sun.
Harry gazed at Touzdae as she slept in the Captain’s chair on the bridge.
“I wonder if you know how beautiful you are. You’re so young.” He leans down as if to kiss her, but looks at her skin instead. His eyes gaze over, captivated by the sensuousness of her soft, smooth, skin.
“You’re so much younger than when I came aboard. Hmm. You’ll be mine soon enough, but now a little taste…”
He kissed her on the lips. She yielded, parting her lips.
“Oh — Jac…” As if in a dream. “Oh…” shock.
Fast, Harry pulled away as Touzdae opened her eyes. “Oh, Oh Harry!”
“You were dreaming. I heard you call out Jac’s name a few times.”
“Cow-dung! You old coot!”
“It’s true! You were dreaming about Jac, talking in your sleep.”
Jac woke with a smile on his face. A monk eclipsed one of the nine beams of sunlight that spotlighted the green glade. Clouds surrounded the glade. The monk extended his long bony hand toward Jac. Jac’s hand took the monk’s as if in a dream.
“Did I blink?” Jac asked aloud to himself. The glade was gone, and he stood at a gleaming white temple.
“How — ah,” Jac pointed below, dropping his thought. He hesitated and turned towards the temple doors.
The monk smiled, gestured towards the open door, and bowed low.
“Right,” Jac chuckled to himself. “I’ll go in then.”
Jac ducked down and entered the temple. He stepped inside. White light absorbed the details of the room. Jac looked down at his own body and watched it fade into white…
“Bhantu?” he heard his voice go soft.
-Use your mind, Jac; a thought seeped into his consciousness.
-Bhantu? Jac thought.
-Yes, Jac…
I’ve come for a healing. Jac thought.
Your body is restored to optimal functioning. The wounds from the parasites infecting your prisoner have been expunged and healed. What remains is…
What does remain?
That which wishes to know to be whole and healed.
“Why is it that I cannot see you, Bhantu?” Jac asked aloud.
Ah, questions. Deep inside, you are all the answers. Answers and questions that span this galaxy cluster. I do have clues for you to guide you toward wholeness.
Jac’s mind was greedy with inquisitiveness.
Patience, young Jac… patience. Tell me about the Crupean species.
Hmm. Yes. They’re seers, asexual, taking on many forms, especially when threatened, and difficult to capture. Jac’s thoughts were offered as gifts to Bhantu.
Enough. Now you have more karma with this Crupean. I take my leave of you.
Jac began the 9-Point Light-Making exercise…
“Stop, Harry. Keep your hands to yourself — please.”
“ — I’m having a problem that needs immediate attention!” Fish stated tersely.
“What?”
“One of my pumping membranes in the Hub is hemorrhaging. We need to come out of Transdimensional Transport in five minutes.”
“Or what?” Touzdae.
“We all will be dead.”
The plan for the Entire Series 1–9:
The previous chapter:
The Next Chapter:
Apologies to the editors of ILLUMINATION Book Chapters for publishing here and skipping back to ILLUMINATION Curated where the bulk of the chapters are except Chapter 1 and this one 6.3.
Thank you for joining me in the adventures that span lifetimes and worlds. (If you do NOT wish to be tagged, let me know, and I’ll tag you not):
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