Page 45 of The Space Traveller's Lover
Slowly stepping backwards, he approaches the front door, feeling as though he is moving away from a vanishing mirage. Her words seem to be coming from very far away. Her image is getting ever blurrier, in double vision.
As he appears on the farm’s porch, the armed guards instinctively point their weapons at a petrified Sam, who raises his arms in the air while Captain Walker repeatedly shouts through the loudspeakers, “Don’t shoot!”
A tense atmosphere sets in as Sam steps onto the front lawn while nervously glancing at the armed guards, who immediately lay down their weapons. He makes his way to the front gates in a dash. A loud cheer comes from the crowd trying to get a better view behind the police cordon as Sam appears outside the fence and rushes towards his parents.
At that moment, taking advantage of the guards’ full attention on Sam, Pat Lobart runs towards the farmhouse, attempting to push through the front gate from where Sam had walked out. Two of the armed guards go after her, trying to stop her, but she runs with even more impetus as she manages to go past the invisible line and through the gate. As Pat reaches the porch of her house, thinking she is about to pass through the open front door, she crashes against the barrier that has now formed just outside the building walls.
“Erin, Erin, you will pay dearly if you don’t come out right now!” Pat Lobart shouts as she pounds her fists against the invisible barrier over her front door.
Suddenly, Mrs Lobart collapses, hit by a bolt of lightning. When the guards cautiously approach, they find her unconscious, as was the case with her husband.
Shaillah watches in sorrow from the living room’s window. Her mind is in disarray, as she is about to let go of everything she cherished and trusted, her best friend and her beloved pet dog and horses. But as hard as it feels now, she understands there is no other way. She must dismiss any past emotions and possessions, no matter how strong, no matter how precious.
She goes back to the kitchen, reminding herself she’ll be there for the very last time. She grabs her favourite coffee mug and then lets go of the handle. The cup shatters into tiny pieces against the stone floor. “As my past life is ending,” she mumbles.
As she enters her room, her heart misses a beat. “Why does it feel so strange? It doesn’t seem like it’s my room anymore.” She stares blankly at her half-made bed, reflected on her wood-framed wall mirror.
Picking up her hairbrush, she pulls out some of her old hair. Looking in the mirror, she compares the golden strands she once had to her now silvery tresses.
She has the unnerving sensation that she is now an intruder in her room. She throws the hairbrush on the floor and swiftly walks out of her room and into the backyard, running towards the stables while trying to dismiss her conflicting thoughts, Blazer following her everywhere. She glances at the parked cars and helicopters waiting beyond the rear fence while their occupants, not daring to make a move, keenly stare at her through their binoculars.
She opens the large wooden stable doors, and her two horses immediately recognise her, kicking and neighing as she approaches them.
“Go, my dear friends, be free,” she says as she opens the fence gates, letting them run out into the open countryside, galloping past the baffled onlookers.
Once back inside the kitchen, she cannot contain her tears as Blazer is jumping at her, trying to lick her face. But she must move on.
As much as she tries, however, she can’t keep ignoring Blazer’s insistent gaze and sorrowful whining. “Oh, my dear Blazer, how can I ever give you up?” Turning off her shield momentarily to be close to him, she picks him up from the floor and strokes his smooth hair and velvety ears, rubbing her fingers on his belly while Blazer happily licks her nose.
As she finds a brief moment of solace playing with her beloved dog, everyone outside is waiting for her next move. No one dares approach the farmhouse fence, even though they know the impenetrable dangerous barrier has reformed further back.
Sam is sitting next to Captain Walker, inside the police car, his parents and sister at the back.
“I suppose she’ll come out eventually, don’t you think?” Walker comments hesitantly.
“We have to wait. Don’t do anything silly like the Lobarts.” Sam stresses his words, turning around to face his parents. Then firmly staringat Walker, he adds, “From what I’ve seen so far, she has some powers far beyond what we can control or even understand.”
“What did she do? What did she tell you?” Walker asks while staring probingly at Sam.
“She wanted to say goodbye.” Sam tries to contain his quivering voice, so he changes the subject. “But she also said that she brings a message from the aliens—something like they are friendly, and they are ready to talk to us.”
“I don’t see anything friendly about her!” Stella quips.
“The aliens … eh?” Walker rolls his eyes in mockery.
“Come on, Walker, you have to start taking this very seriously. Look at what happened in the courtroom, and look at what has happened to the Lobarts. Right now, we’re all waiting here, at her mercy. She obviously has some powers we cannot yet understand,” Bill Sheppard interjects.
“Everything has an explanation, Mr Sheppard,” Walker replies, looking incisively at Sheppard. “But it must be a credible explanation.”
“She can fly her alien craft using telepathy,” Sam eagerly explains. “She can create electric fields … and control them with her thoughts. I could feel sparks all over my body when I tried to touch her.”
“As you seem to know her better than most, what do you suggest we do next?” Walker finally relents.
“We need to hear what she has to say first,” Sam suggests.
The captain’s face shows he remains hesitant.
“Ah! And she can listen to my thoughts … even control my actions,” Sam adds as the captain twists his mouth in a dismissive gesture.
