Page 84 of The Space Traveller's Lover
“Tell me, Zula, all those aeons ago, how did Kuzhma-Or survive the humans’ attack?”
“He survived unscathed—but not before seeing his whole family wiped out,” Zula-Or gloomily recounts.
“How did he escape?”
“A human saved him—a woman. She hid him deep down in her husband’s tomb for days—until he was finally rescued and taken to our departure starships.”
Shaillah bites her bottom lip and tightly closes her eyes while in deep thought.
“Now, Shaillah, don’t even think you can convince Kuzhma-Or on the grounds of some random gesture of compassion that saved his life.”
“Not Kuzhma-Or … but Rothwen. I must convince Rothwen. He will listen to me.”
“Will the most powerful, unstoppable Rom-Ghenshar soldier listen? And if he won’t?”
“Then I must leave him!” Shaillah takes a deep breath, folding her arms tightly around her chest, trying to control her trembling body as all her raw pent-up emotions finally burst out of her anguished self.
Zula-Or can’t take her eyes off Shaillah’s struggle against her inner turmoil. The wise lady can feel Shaillah’s despair in her own heart while realising she would have done the same in the same circumstances. Inexplicably to her, as she tenderly embraces Shaillah, Zula-Or finds herself wishing that Rothwen would give in.
CHAPTER 37
DESPERATION
Then don’t look at me with those lust-hungry eyes anymore.
I can’t change what they have prepared for me. I can’t unwind this carefully woven path. All my past wishes will soon vanish as if they have never existed. A new era is coming for me. It is already in my body, running through my blood and soon will take over my mind, usher me into a new world. But there’s still a feeble voice inside of me urging me to challenge all that.
As Shaillah lies down in deep thoughts on the abyssal edge of the quasi-world chamber, she waits until the swirling cloud of virtual particles dissipates around her.
When she enters the space-tunnel, she can’t stop thinking about getting one final view of her planet. All her thoughts lead her into the central processor’s antechamber.
Descending through the sparkling mist, she agonises, thinking this would be her last chance to see Earth and the humans as she now knows them. She listens out for anyone’s presence—all is quiet. As soon as she lands at the edge of the scintillating inner chamber, she thinks of the coordinates she’s looking for.
The thin edges of Earth’s globe start to take shape against the ghostly medium, getting sharper as the whole surface glistens with wispy blue, white, and green hues. The full view of the planet comes into focus in an instant. It looks peaceful and majestic, as if nothing out of the ordinary ishappening down below. Gazing at her world’s innate beauty, she breathes in deeply, feeling an overwhelming urge to protect it.
Shaillah makes the three-dimensional image rotate slowly until the vastness of the Pacific Ocean fills the whole surface with an intense dark turquoise blue. Scattered rosy clouds glimmer over the serene ocean as the evening sun shines through.
Shaillah’s eyes widen as she zooms in on the island of Tinian. She finds it hard to believe that her beloved island has changed so much as she gazes upon the gleaming constructions rising so high from their shiny metallic bases and sprawling over the once rustic landscape. The remnants of her island seem about to crack open and collapse under the massive structures.
The newly rebuilt areas are unrecognisable under the maze of marble and gold buildings and long-spanning bridges. But through the wild patches left untouched, Shaillah can still perceive the innate nature of her beloved island. The same seabirds glide through the skies; the same playful dolphins jump out of the water.
She scours her favourite places where she used to horse ride by the seashore or swim through the high tide’s strong currents.I was there last year. But it feels like a century has passed. As she looks everywhere, she promptly discards her anxious thoughts, trying to deny to herself what or who she wants to find. But she keeps inspecting every place. She cannot stop her thorough search, even though she knows by now that time is not on her side.
Then she notices two widening frothy trails on the sea surface near El Cuchillo, and she zooms in as fast as she can. She smiles joyfully when she recognises the dark green colours of Sam’s speedboat, followed by a second one in fast pursuit. The boats bump harshly over the waves, with ever-increasing speed, their bows pointing so high it seems they are about to flip over.
Shaillah suddenly fears Sam is in danger, but soon she realises what’s going on when she sees the pursuer is no other than Bill Sheppard. Sam’s lively hand gestures prompt his father to catch up, while his carefree laugh shows how much he’s enjoying the boat race.
“I’m pleased he’s happy,” she whispers, “doing what he loves.”
She allows herself some more time to enjoy the view. It pains her to turn off the projection, but she has to. As she’s about to set off, her attentiongoes back to Sam as he does a swift turn while she zooms in closer into the boat. There, carefully strapped-in, a windswept Blazer, tongue sticking out while excitedly panting, is riding by Sam’s side.
“Blazer!” she calls out as if her dog could hear her.
Her eyes hurt as the tears break through her aching eyelids, but she lets them flow in abundance, at the same time thinking that she must soon stop. Her face sets in a stern determined expression; she remembers that she has more pressing matters to attend to.It’s time to move on.She firmly says to herself.
“Bye, Blazer. Bye, Sam!” Her voice quivers, and she can’t get herself to turn off the projection.
Instead, she zooms out slowly and starts to imagine how she’ll see her beautiful planet on her departure flight. The receding images of Earth are so realistic she thinks she’s flying through space. Soon, she’s weaving through the encircling destroyer-crafts’ deadly web as she focuses her attention on the crater-covered surface of the upcoming Moon.
