Page 67 of The Space Traveller's Lover
“Now what?” she snaps as if she is reluctant to even talk to him.
He stops in front of her, staring at her with a grateful smile. “You came back. You saved me. You care about me!”
“Don’t be melodramatic, Sam. I had to do it—no big deal. But now I must go.” Shaillah looks at him impassively, as if she couldn’t care less about how he felt. “Your parents are here. Please send my regards to them.”
“Okay, I hear you … I suppose you have a new life, and our childhood dreams are over—”
“You know nothing about my dreams.”
“That much is clear,” Sam replies sullenly, bowing his head as if completely giving up. But then, he boldly looks back at her. “Remember this: I’ll always be here for you—always!” he firmly declares.
Shaillah jumps into the craft’s shiny hull and never looks back. Still, as she takes off, Sam’s emotional, heartfelt vow keeps ringing in her ears.
CHAPTER 28
INVASION
I want to get rid of whatever it is that’s invading my mind.
“Reijen” (Perfect)! All is proceeding as expected. Almost too easy,” Kuzhma-Or boasts as he glances at the UniverseScope’s bustling scenes with a furtive smile of satisfaction.
As they planned from the very beginning, magnificent sleek cities rise from under the rubble, transforming planet Earth into one of their permanent bases in this galactic zone.
New buildings, interconnected by wide roads and high bridges, sprout under the soldier robots’ never-ending toil, effortlessly lifting giant pieces of granite, marble, and precious metals and fitting them like a pre-planned giant 3D puzzle. The robots’ pace is unrelenting, like a finely tuned, unstoppable machine. Awe-inspiring, capriciously shaped structures keep mounting on under their persistent advance. In some buildings, the robots waste no time setting up more machinery production lines and robotics workshops.
The robots wander busily in and out of the rising constructions like rows of leafcutter ants. Every building site is buzzing with giant flying cranes, laying and securing every block in the precise position as heaps of material arrive in never-stopping conveyor belts running from the bottom of the ocean andopen-air quarries.
The heavy rain and flash floods wash away what remains of the dust and the rubble, leaving behind immaculate marble and gold skyscrapers rising amid beautifully crafted green parks. They build a magnificent gleaming pyramid at the centre of each city, its edges lined in gold. On each of its smooth sides, a message in bold, bright letters can be read along the bottom—“Welcome to the New World”—in both the local and the Rom-Ghenshar languages.
“I must say I have somehow enjoyed controlling this planet’s weather and inhabitants,” Kuzhma-Or sneers, basking in his majestic throne while keeping an eye on the never-ending constructions. “Let the atmosphere recover first. Let the remaining animals thrive. Then we can bring out the humans.
“By the way, Athguer, how are the humans doing?” Kuzhma-Or asks in a dismissive tone.
Immediately, the bustling construction scenes change to the underground passages where people have managed to take refuge before the devastating, earth-shattering explosion.
They sing their prayers out loud, huddling together and begging for a way out of their dark, filthy shelters. Soon they are surrounded by soldier robots, digging underground to make ample rooms for families to gather. Helpless crowds anxiously watch as their surrounding are made roomier, healthier, and more liveable and as provisions are brought and equally distributed by the guardian robots. All the while, humans give thanks to the robots.
“How are the people from our island base doing?” Rothwen asks.
Athguer complies with Rothwen’s request by zooming inside Tinian’s cave system, where the soldier robots have already finished their reconstruction. Here, life seems to be thriving.
“It appears that they are doing quite well,” Athguer notes in an indifferent tone.
“Yes, I see Shaillah even saved her friend’s life. Pretty impressive, eh?” Kuzhma-Or remarks.
“She wanted to. I let her go,” Rothwen mutters, letting them know with a scathing look that his volatile temper is simmering at the edge.
“She seems to be taking much of your attention.” Kuzhma-Or keeps riling Rothwen nevertheless. “We’ve got to keep her under tighter controluntil we finish the reconstruction everywhere. She will cause nothing but trouble up there.”
Anticipating a flare-up, Athguer intervenes with an appeasing gaze at Rothwen. “Yes, Shaillah has gone through a dramatic transformation, and she is still unsure of herself. We must keep her out of this.”
Rothwen bottles up his anger while nodding reluctantly at Kuzhma-Or.
“You’re right, Yei Boishen.We must keep her out of this,” Rothwen relents; he knows he cannot do anything other than obey now.
“Shewe!” Kuzhma-Or stands up while sternly looking at his master navigator. “Come with me, Rothwen. We must start setting up the hyperspace coordinates—ready for our destroyer-crafts,” Kuzhma-Or orders as he regally walks down the glistening steps. He strides along the side corridor, his tall, dark figure disappearing through the vaulted walls. Rothwen watches in silence as he senses from the mounting tension in the air that his supreme commander’s temper is near breaking point.
“I’ll be right there, My Commander,” Rothwen finally says before turning to look at Athguer, his face set in a riled but resolute expression.
