Page 63 of The Space Traveller's Lover
He reaches out to her with his trembling hands and tries to touch her face, but his hands soon grind to a halt.
“At least you are not that spooky hologram now,” he remarks. “You are actually here—although I can’t touch you.”
“Yes, I had to come to get you out.” Shaillah tries to sound positive, but her gloomy voice can’t disguise her sadness. “I saved you from the disaster the humans have created. I tried to stop it, but all my attempts failed. I protected you by creating a shield around you from our pyramid station. At least I managed to save you, my dear friend.”
“What’s that pyramid station anyway? Everyone was baffled. Professor Khan didn’t know what to make of it.”
“It’s an energy exchanger. It takes in vacuum energy and converts it into any type of energy field,any—”
Sam tries to talk, but he starts coughing as his sore throat dries up.
“Here, I brought water for you.” She fetches a glass bottle and puts it against his lips.
He swallows in big gulps as if he hasn’t had a drink for days. He doesn’t stop until he’s absorbed the last refreshing drop. Then, looking resignedly at Shaillah, he plunges back onto his seat.
“You’ll be all right,” she says as she wipes his reddened skin with a moist smooth fabric. “I can heal your superficial burns. I managed to reach you before the shield from our departing pyramid station disintegrated.”
“Thanks a lot, Erin. But all I want now is … to touch your beautiful face.” Sam’s saddened dejected expression makes her feel guilty, even remorseful.
“Maybe … one day,” she whispers in a vague hesitant tone.
“How does it work anyway?”
“What? My biomagnetic shield? It keeps me safe in my own atmosphere and protects me from the outside. It allows the used-up air to escape while filtering and rechargingit on its way in.”
“Weird! And all that while being invisible if you want,” Sam raises his eyebrows in complete awe.
“And that’s not all. Try touching me now.” She says, trying to deviate his attention from the scenes of destruction down below.
Sam extends his hand towards her face, stopping hesitantly at times. Then the sudden discharge of electricity makes him jump back while stroking his numbed hand.
“Oh, that was too strong!” he chides her.
“Don’t worry … I always keep it at the lowest setting when I’m near you!” she says with a reassuring smile.
Sam throws himself back onto his seat as he exhales with a long sigh of sheer distress.
“What happened, Erin? What have they done?”
“They who?” Shaillah asks sarcastically.
“Those aliens,” He despondently replies, half-opening his reddened eyes as he looks back at her.
“You mean the humans? Everything that has happened has been self-inflicted. Humans caused the chaos, the confrontation, even though I warned them numerous times. The submarines fired at one of our posts. And their missiles bounced back off our powerful shields. The massive explosion that followed has caused billowing fireballs and ash clouds, all rising into the atmosphere. Not to mention the ensuing earthquakes and tsunamis … now that most of the cities are being destroyed on the entire Pacific West Coast, the robots are busy rescuing whoever has survived.”
“What about the radioactive fallout?” Are there any survivors?” Sam’s face tenses up in an uneasy glare.
Shaillah smugly smiles. “Of course, the soldier robots would not let any of that linger in the atmosphere. The shields rapidly disintegrate any radioactive or toxic debris. Only the impacting energy and its subsequent shockwaves are released. And yes, there are survivors—because the guardian robots protected the people in their shelters in the first place.”
“Oh, did they?” an incredulous Sam asks.
“Yes, I’m taking you to Tinian now to see your family. You can see them from here.”
Shaillah looks at the dashboard and turns on the displays with a thought-command, revealing the scenes from Diablo’s cave’s interior. Sambreathes a sigh of relief as he sees his parents and sister sitting with a group of people, all listening to John Sanders.
“The Rom-Ghenshars, yes, that is what the aliens call themselves. They are pure evil,” Sanders shouts impulsively, trying to fire up the crowd. “We must prepare for anything. But we must stick together no matter what. United we stand; divided we fall.”
Everyone stands up and forms a close group around him, lifting their arms, holding bright torches and shouting all together, “United we stand; divided we fall!”
