Page 66 of The Space Traveller's Lover
“Well, I’m sure she brings a message from the evil visitors, doesn’t she?” Walker snaps, his voice quivering as he tries to contain his anxiety.
Shaillah starts walking towards them; her firm but graceful pace makes it look like she’s hardly touching the ground.
“I think … I think … I’d better go and get Martha and Bill. I’ll be quick!” Walker drawls as he starts running towards the side passages, managing to avoid Shaillah’s path altogether.
Sanders nervously awaits her approach, trying to anticipate her next move. But her blank expression and hypnotic gaze are impossible to read. Sanders feels the building tension on his skin; his heart’s beating faster, sweat running down his cold forehead. As he fears, she makes a beeline towards him. And as he keeps looking at her, despite her piercing, focused stare, he’s surprised and then proud of his inner strength.
“John Sanders! Good that you stayed put inside the caves. Good that you followed my orders,” she says with a satisfied grin, standing short of two metres in front of him. But then her stare turns sombre as she adds, “Others didn’t. And they weren’t so lucky.”
“Ah, those were the voices endlessly repeating inside my head. I felt compelled to obey. Wait! What do you mean they weren’t s-so lucky?” Sanders stutters, attempting in vain to remain calm. He looks back at Sam, but Sam looks away, purposely avoiding Sanders’s uneasy gaze.
Sanders looks back at Shaillah as she speaks in a regretful but cautionary tone. “The explosion happened because the ARA submarines fired at the soldier robots—the completely wrong thing to do! The impact energy bounced back, instantly obliterating the submarines, liquifying metal and ripping giant rocks out of the seafloor. The ensuing fireballs, ash and dust clouds are now spreading, engulfing the cities. Unfortunately, nothing remains of the ARA headquarters … or LA.”
“The ARA headquarters … the city … gone,” Sanders gasps. His eyes nearly pop out of their sockets while his jaw drops in a sudden spasm as he struggles to believe what he’s hearing.
“The super-heated cloud of rubble and ashes soon will engulf the entire continent. The high temperatures are causing fires everywhere. The only safe place for humans and any living creature is underground,” she coldly continues.
“What have you done? Why? Are we all going to die when it gets here?” Sanders yells in anger and despair.
He snaps, trying to grab her shoulders in his blind irate state, but his arms are hit by a sudden bolt of electricity, violently pushing him backwards.
As Sanders clings to the rugged walls, Sam puts his body against Sanders’ back to help him keep his balance. Shaken, Sanders manages to stand upright while nervously looking back at Shaillah.
“Several times, I warned not to attack us. Know this. Resistance is futile.” She keeps talking, unperturbed, her intense gaze focusing on Sanders.
Suddenly, her hardened expression softens when she hears the distant echo of a familiar sound. She turns around, looking for the source of the insistent, high-pitched barks until she sees the shape of her beloved Blazer coming into view out of one of the cavities.
“Blazer, Blazer, my dear boy,” she shouts as she runs towards the dog.
But her cherished pet freezes, baring his teeth and growling at her.
“Blazer, it’s me. Come here.” She crouches and waves her hands in a friendly, welcoming gesture. But the dog digs his back legs harder on the rocky ground, barking at her even more furiously.
As she is about to calm her dog down, a pair of dirty boots partly covered by ripped trousers suddenly stand between her and Blazer.
Sam rushes towards Stella and hugs her tightly. “So good to see you, brother!” Stella says while keeping a wary gaze on Shaillah.
Then, Stella picks Blazer up and squeezing him firmly against her chest, she blurts out: “He doesn’t know you anymore, you weird creature!”
Shaillah stands up slowly, not taking her eyes off Stella.
“Don’t do anything to my sister, please,” Sam pleads, standing in front of Stella.
Shaillah looks directly at Sam, but her gaze seems to have gone right through him. All the while, she isn’t thinking about Stella or Blazer either. She’s trying to confront and dispel her unwelcome haunting thoughts. A sudden sadness disrupts her mind, and she cannot fully understand why. She thought she had transited totally into a new body, a new identity, but here she is, pining for an embrace with her adored pet dog.The past stays in the past, she repeatedly says to herself, trying to erase the irritating pining feeling.
Building up her inner strength, she manages to discardthose useless thoughtsand return to her cold calculating self.
Feeling more confident and revitalised, she comes out of her brief impasse and focuses her attention back on an imploring Sam. She doesn’t even feel sorry for her best friend now.
“Time is running out. I have to go,” she finally says as she walks briskly past Sam and Stella. She doesn’t even turn her head when Blazer starts whining.
Then she stops and looks back at John Sanders, hurrying her words as she watches Sam’s parents approaching in the distance. “The devastation will never get here. We’re making sure of that. The guardian robots will bring all provisions you’ll need to survive until we finish the reconstruction. Don’t do anything stupid, okay? They’ll be here to help.”
Sanders nods his head as if fully hypnotised while Shaillah resumes her march towards her awaiting scouting aircraft.
“Erin! Erin! Please wait!”
She hears Sam running behind her, shouting her name louder and louder, but she doesn’t slow down. As she puts one foot on her aircraft, she bluntly turns around to face him. Still, her blank expression doesn’t deter him from running towards her.
