Page 46 of The Space Traveller's Lover
Their conversation is suddenly interrupted by a knock on the windscreen. Walker opens his door and jumps out of the car to greet an anxious Professor Khan, who has come to see him, accompanied by a group of ARA’s soldiers. The heavily armed, uniformed men, stone-faced, take up their positions in front of the police line, their weapons at the ready.
“What is this? Ready to go to war?” Walker says with scorn while extending his hand to the professor.
“How’re you doing, Mr Walker?” Khan responds, ignoring the captain’s irony and not shaking his hand. “We’ve come to find out once and for all what is going on. We need to get that girl, Erin.”
“I see. Easier said than done,” Walker replies in a sceptical tone, immensely annoying Khan.
“We have come prepared. The ARA’s Space Defence team is here, our specialist rescue robots are here, and General Stewart is leading the task force. We are ready!”
“Well, first things first. How are you going to get her out of there?” Walker says sarcastically, pointing at the farmhouse.
The large stone and steel building seems eerily quiet and uninhabited. An uncanny peace lingers on the front lawn as the sunset looms, the grass bending under a soft breeze. Behind the police cordon, the onlookers’ clatter sharply contrasts with the ghostly farm scene.
Several soldier units have arrived, displacing the people farther and taking positions close to the surrounding fence. Behind the police and soldier units, the world’s media have now managed to set up their broadcasting camps, while a large group of onlookers are still refusing to go home.
“We have to convince her to come out. Then we’ll surround her. Where is her friend?” Khan wonders, looking through the driver’s window.
But Sam, who has been listening through the partially open car windows, promptly gets out of the car, only to bump against the guards’ tight circle. Khan walks towards him while shaking his head. He puts one arm on Sam’s shoulders, trying to calm him down, but Sam backs off and tries in vain to run away again.
“Listen, boy, you’d better help. Or she will end up dead, dead!”
“You know what is dead, Professor Khan? Your plan, Professor Khan! You’ll never catch her. You’ll never succeed,” Sam firmly states.
“Let me tell you something, Sam. Mr and Mrs Lobart are now critically ill in hospital. Who’s going to be next? That girl, Erin, is a danger to us all—”
“The Lobarts brought it upon themselves. What about me? She has never harmed me,” Sam remarks.
“Because she is using you. Can’t you see that? She is using you,” Khan ripostes.
Sam’s expression changes from upset to confused.Could it be that she is using me for some yet unknown lethal purpose?He feels afraid. As he stares up at the sky, the buzzing sound of the surveying drones fills the air. Hismind is clouded with the frightening thought that Erin might not be his friend but, instead, his deadly enemy.
His vision blacks out, and he feels as if he’s about to faint. As he tumbles, his father’s arms hold him firm, preventing him from falling flat on the ground as Stella runs towards him, staring pitifully at him.
“Oh, my dear brother, what has she done to you?” She sighs while hugging him tightly.
“I am so confused,” Sam mumbles, “so confused.”
Stella keeps staring at him with a sympathetic, thoughtful gaze, trying to comfort him while stroking his cheeks. Then, her face muscles twist into a sour grimace, as she can’t contain her resentment any longer. “I knew it all the time. There was something odd about her. I never trusted her, never. But you, my dear, you were totally under her spell.”
CHAPTER 19
THE SUMMONING
The time has come to face our past, change our
present, and build a different future.
As night falls, Shaillah hears the helicopters hovering around the farmhouse barrier once again. Through one of the front windows, she watches the rows of police cars and soldiers that have now set themselves up close to the surrounding fence. She can’t contain the derisory smile flashing through her face.
The knowledge that she is entirely unreachable, the fact that she can set the terms of engagement and decide how future events will unfold, makes her feel invincible.
She has taken her time inside the farm, reminiscing about her past life, saying her final goodbyes, and relinquishing her few old possessions, now worthless to her. In fact, it all makes perfect sense now.At last, all wrongs have finally been righted, Shaillah says to herself.
As she paces slowly over the backyard’s lawn, she stares at the dark horizon. The threatening thick clouds beginning to form in the distance bring her the impending signal she has been waiting for, the go-ahead order from Kuzhma-Or himself.
The blinding lightning bolts fork their way through the towering cumulous clouds, while the crackling booms of the almighty thunder soon transform the blackened landscape into a doomsday setting.
The panicked crowd attempt to flee in all directions, but they find themselves unable to move—as if metal screws were anchoring their feet to the ground. Shaillah has them under her total control; they can only move if she allows them to. They cover their heads with their hands and crouch on the ground, praying for a miracle to stop the encircling storm. Even all vehicles still trying to approach the farm have come to a halt, but the howling wind and billowing clouds are relentlessly advancing.
