Aynsefian

It doesn’t take anywhere near as long this time. Our trip through the void passes relatively quickly, although again there is that feeling of no-time while we’re in it. There’s no in-between world either. We’re in the void and that’s it. I’m confident that things will come back soon and it will be our own time. This passage through is much easier to deal with.

The stone auditorium materialises slowly around us. Too slowly for my liking. The urgency is too real for us to be dawdling in the void, yet there is nothing I can do about it but wait. When I can fully see, hear and feel again, I’m struck immediately by the sight of Zarasena in her normal clothes. I was expecting her to retain the Aynsefian outfit. I’m mildly disappointed. I wanted Arlyss and Cindlyss to see the Aynsefian clothing. There’s another problem, too, as the room materialises around us.

There’s no-one else here.

Exception for Salvation. He’s parked a few metres away at my right, and he starts beeping right away.

Are our friends and companions dead? Are we too late? The presence of Salvation is a hopeful sign that they haven’t left yet.

I let go of the ninth piece at the same time Zarasena does. It drops onto the stone ground, making an echoing, clinking sound against the floor. My eyes momentarily follow it. It now sits amongst the other eight pieces, which have all fallen over and disconnected. It looks like it belongs.

Zarasena blinks and then stares at me.

“What just happened?” she asks.

She sounds different. She sounds like the old Zarasena. The one who doesn’t love me. The one who stayed aloof from me. A horror thought assails me.

That entire thing was a mind trick.

A thousand doubts come crashing down on top of me, and panic rises like it never has before.

She smiles at me. “You’re here. You look like you did before we went to Aynsefian.”

Despite her words, the doubts are still there. My heart is beating wildly.

“Are you okay, Axin?” she asks.

“I will be. Tell me… “, I ask nervously, “Where were we just now before we came back?”

“At Ralieshen’s place, with Hon and Erishijea. You don’t…”

“Oh thank god!” I interrupt. I crawl over to her on hands and knees, messing up the metal pieces on the way, and wrap her in a hug, pulling back to look in her eyes. She stares at me quizzically, but warmly. I kiss her quickly.

“I thought… you know. I get worried sometimes. I thought maybe I imagined all that and you really don’t love me. I would rather have died.”

She tilts her head a bit, regarding me. Doubts and insecurities don’t appear to be a part of her makeup whatsoever.

“Ralieshen was right. You funny…” she says, squeezing me a bit tighter.

Relief floods through me in wave after wave at her touch and her words. I never knew I was so paranoid until now.

Then the current reality hits both of us simultaneously, and we let each other go. We turn to Salvation. He has stopped beeping, but our companions are nowhere to be seen.

It’s vastly concerning. We have no idea how much time we spent there, or even if they’ve left the planet without us and left him here anyway. I look quickly at Zarasena, and we already know what the other is thinking.

“I’ll collect the pieces, you get Salvation, and let’s get the hell out of here,” says Captain Fen.

“Yes Ma’am,” I say, wondering where I am producing the light-hearted response from. This is serious. She seems to have not heard me as she is focussed on collecting the precious metal pieces that might one day bring our Aynsefian friends forward in time.

We get to our feet quickly and start running for the door of the auditorium. As we near it, we almost crash headlong into Lanemu, who is rushing into the auditorium through the narrow door. We pull up quickly and I almost drop Salvation.

Zarasena! he says. You safe! I lose you. You vanish! Worry so much.

I can hear him. I can scarcely believe it. My ability to hear languages has also come with me from the past Aynsefian.

Hello Lanemu, I say. So nice to meet you. Sorry we have no time to explain how I can now talk to you. Where are the others? We must escape, yes? How long has it been?

Six days total, says Lanemu. Nice to meet you, Axin. Zarasena thinks world of you. But we rush now. Everyone up in Nikse. We take turns on watch. We go. Now!

He turns on his heels, almost running to the stairs. He moves quite quickly for a small humanoid. Zarasena and I start clambering up the stairs after him. Climbing the stairs is hard work, so our pace slows. We don’t talk. That will be for when we meet the others. Eventually we reach the surface of the Central circular building. I can feel the night air.

Hang on a minute. Night air? What happened to the mini-sun? Is Aynsefian dying because we time travelled and affected the future? That is a real concern. It’s a very bad sign, surely.

Lanemu! yells Zarasena. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to yell telepathically until now. The mini-sun is nearly dark. Is that normal?

Yes! he yells back breathlessly, as he continues marching quickly up the steps towards Nikse. Night and day cycles. Come. We get inside!

I glance around at the quiet city. It’s partially lit by crystals all around and looks quite beautiful. However, it’s ghostly, with no signs of life other than us. Nonetheless, it still feels special here on top of the big circular building. Ralieshen referred to the energy here as being important with respect to the time travel device. I’m beginning to understand that now.

Although we did not see exactly where we were within the city, I am sure our trial was somewhere in this building. Even though I hated being around them, the lack of Aynsefian residents feels exceedingly sad. Their society died, and they all disappeared from this magical place, possibly because they wouldn’t evolve in the right way. I feel sad for them, ultimately, as if somehow they were misguided and it wasn’t their fault at all. I can feel the crushing weight the loss of their world as we cross the stone top deck towards Nikse.

Nikse’s external door is already opening. I know she’d be worried about me. She’s not the old Nikse I used to know, but she’d still be worried. I’m also not sure how she’s going to respond to Zarasena and I being together. I’m already concerned about that. I remember her as being caring, gentle and sensitive. She would have been terribly hurt if it was the old Nikse. I can’t easily shake the memory of that.

We scramble up the stairs, and her door closes behind us. Into the ante room rushes Anathusa, Jinekali, Arlyss and Cindlyss. The latter two rush straight over to me.

You’re safe! says Arlyss.

Wow. I can hear them too.

We know you can talk to us. We heard you talkin’ to Lanemu too. You bastard! How did you freakin’ learn that? says Cindlyss.

Their speech is crazy. The few spoken words they’ve had over the past year or so sound nothing like the voices in my mind. Their voices are uniquely different, but they’re deeper than I expected. For genderless beings, I was expecting a voice range between male and female, but both voices are deep, although I still can't say they fall on the male or female spectrum. Their speech in my mind is smooth and delicate. I wonder at that aspect of it. Their words caress my mind. Their choice of words is unusual too and sounds quite uneducated and common. Also not what I was expecting.

Long story, I say. Very long story. We went somewhere. It’s so joyful to be able to talk to you now! I love you both, you know that, right?

Yeah, we do, mate, we do. Same back at ya from us too, says Arlyss.

I love their voices. So much. I want to talk and talk with them, but I know things are urgent. Lanemu had said something out of my awareness, while I was listening to Arlyss. Zarasena follows it up.

“We have to get out of here Axin!” she has come over from her quick catch up with her friends and literally grabs me, with affection.

“Oh…” she pauses, turning and glancing at everyone. “Real quick. Axin and I are… together. You’ll have to get used to it right away. We can tell you all later.”

“We also went to the real Aynsefian… but yeah…” I don’t finish the sentence.

You what? You did bloody what now? interrupts Cindlyss.

“Can you guys understand me when I speak out loud?” I ask the Purlinians.

Yeah mate, we can, just freakin’ tell us about Aynsefian! says Cindlyss.

I recall how disappointing the society was. I have to break it to them slowly. Just not now.

“I would, guys, but…” I’m now looking at Anathusa and Jinekali. Concern is clearly evident on their faces. Time is short, but they are being as patient as they can.

“Hi guys,” I say. “Nice to see you too. I learned how to talk to Arlyss and Cindlyss in my mind. I… How long have we actually got?” My words are a jumble of several different topics, coming out in a rush.

“Hi Axin,” says Anathusa. “Very happy to see you both back safe. We have about a day and a half. After the seven day trigger, it will take the MGC about half a day to jump between stargates and then travel to where we are. We’ve got time to talk for a bit, then we must act and get out of here. You two would not have wanted to wait any longer.”

“We got back here as quick as we could. It was some adventure,” I say. Zarasena has her arms around me from behind again. She isn’t worried about what the others think. Me, I’m feeling a little shyer.

“This happened, too,” I say, nodding slightly towards Zarasena, behind me.

Jinekali regards me for a moment, sidestepping the possible awkwardness. “You can communicate with everyone now? Both of you? How?”

Zarasena, right next to me, answers. She’s now a blend of the Zarasena I know from Aynsefian, and Captain Fen of the IR84U. It’s so strange.

“It’s complicated and involved. Let’s grab some food and drinks. I’m starved. We’ll tell you all, and you can tell us what happened back here. The we get the hell out of here via the mausoleum. I know, I know, Axin, it’s the only way. We die otherwise. We’re saving more than just us now. We promised our friends back there in Aynsefian, remember?”

I remember. I don’t like it, but she’s right. It’s the only way.

Then I think of Nikse. Oh my gosh. Nikse. I forgot about her, almost totally. She hasn’t said anything at all.