Page 89 of The Space Traveller's Lover
Rothwen presses his lips tightly together as his patience entirely runs out, realising that Shaillah will not change her mind.
She runs away from him, throwing herself against the transparent walls as if trying to escape from it all. “I hate you already!” she yells while hitting the glassy surface with her clenched fist.
“Shaillah, you must join me at the end of this aisle soon. We are setting off in T-1200,” he orders, briskly walking away, never looking back.
The powerful assembly of antiproton engines lifts the enormous spaceship out of its locked position and aligns it at the precise launch angle. AsThePrestigeslowly climbs over the Moon’s bleak horizon, the serene image of Earth comes into full view. Shaillah can see her homeworld emerging in all its majestic appearance. Like an enchanting white and blue oil painting, drawn out against the vacuum of space, the radiantly azure image hangs seemingly undisturbed. The thin iridescent atmosphere shields the bustling life below, a life utterly unaware of its impending fate. She leans over the glass, pretending to hug the planet with her open arms, breaking down in resigned sobs. She asks herself what else she could have done to save the humans, but she feels powerless.
At the flight deck, Kuzhma-Or and Athguer systematically check the departure sequences, the bright shapes and symbols constantly flickering, floating on the massive front viewing deck. Kuzhma-Or sends a message to Zula-Or, who is following every detail of the departure from her gem-studded garden.
“Is this the ending you were thinking of, Zula?”
“We have not finished yet, Kuzhma.”
“I have a pretty good idea of how all is going to go. I told you so as soon as he returned inThe Prestige. Yet, I’m prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt—in case he changes his mind at the last minute.”
Zula-Or sighs. “Oh, why should we doubt? We have all the evidence.”
“Let’s see,” Kuzhma-Or mutters under his breath.
“I tried to warn Shaillah against him. I even gave her the Quark-Star diamond to guard her. But she used all that energy to love him even more.And Rothwen—every time he talks about her, he can’t hide his fixation. Does it sound familiar, Kuzhma?” Zula-Or tries to break into the fearsome commander’s impenetrable heart.
“I never think about it. I keep it hidden, buried, locked … inaccessible,” Kuzhma-Or growls.
“But you won’t delete it, as I did. You are so strong!” Zula-Or praises him to appease him.
“Let everything take its course. We can always change it the way we want it—anytime.”
“There’s one thing we cannot change. We cannot change Rothwen,” Zula-Or markedly reminds him. “Only Shaillah can.”
“Lock up your hyper-shields,” Athguer quips as he sees Rothwen entering the flight deck.
“Everything is ready. I’ll proceed with activating the departure sequences,” Rothwen announces.
“Go on!” Kuzhma-Or urges him on as he brings up the swirling hologram of Earth, floating by his side.
“Stage One,” Kuzhma-Or boasts, “The Prestige’s powerful plasma rays will create fast-flowing currents through the planet’s magnetic field, causing an unrelenting self-amplifying effect. This will dismantle their neurons into a useless mesh. The disruption will be short, but the impact, devastating. Our destroyer-crafts are already taking their positions to disintegrate what’s left of their useless bodies.” He zooms into the heavily built robot-packed cities, its terrified inhabitants disorderly running away as the destroyer-crafts further descend, forming a glittering web under the thin New Moon.
“We won’t have to worry about the residents of this planet any longer,” Kuzhma-Or raves as he watches Rothwen pacing in front of the glimmering holograms, activating the preprogrammed flight path sequences with his thought-commands.
“Stage Two,Ei Reishojen’sprotective antiboson cloud will expand. Once we reach our cruising speed, our antiproton flash-jets will erupt. And we’ll dart into the connecting hyperspace tunnel,” Kuzhma-Or continues with his booming voice.
“Stage Three, we’ll take command of the Grand Fleet. Then we’ll jet off towards Omega Centauri … as planned.”
Rothwen walks away from the dazzling multichromatic sequences, signalling that he has finished the activation. He glances at the sequences countdown charts, and then he looks out for Shaillah. But there is still no sign of her. He stifles his impatience, staring at the rapidly flashing holograms.
The Prestigerises even higher over the Moon’s barren surface. A muffled whooshing sound reverberates through the aisles and flight deck. It feels as if the entire fuselage is taking a last deep breath before take-off.
The humming pulses stir Shaillah’s body as she slowly gets up from the floor. With her spirit crushed and her hopes in tatters, she knows she must run to the flight deck now.
T-200. Take your seat.The Prestige’s sequence broadcast starts the countdown, transmitting the message directly to their brains.
Kuzhma-Or does a final check on the sequence stages before he and Athguer head for the high recliner seats on the main viewing deck. As they sit down, the densely padded cushions snug around them as in a perfect cast. In front of them, the glimmering bodies of planet Earth and its Moon seem doomed, in all their fragility and vulnerability. Kuzhma-Or’s eyes narrow while his face muscles tighten as he thinks hard about his imminent response to Rothwen’s actions. Even if the departure sequences appear perfectly set, the veteran supreme commander knows that his master navigator will have in mind an unexpected move. But he cannot foretell what exactly Rothwen is about to do.
Rothwen is still looking out for Shaillah.
T-60. Take your seat, the sequence broadcast alerts.
As Rothwen plunges into his seat, he sees Shaillah running past him while looking the other way.
