around. She rushed to the edge of the hill and peeked around a pile of rocks.
To her amazement was a little valley of green living things. Through the brush she could see it, like an oasis in the desert. She touched the tree in front of her – it was alive. Moving a small branch to get a better view, she could now see all colors of vegetation on the hillside leading into the valley. In the distance there was movement – it was the happy residents of this garden spot playing in a glade. Yes, it was the Ophar cats – Salena had found their home! Somehow it had been protected, cultivated and hidden from the Lilistan. Salena climbed to a spot where she could see the length of the valley. There were 3 tall trees, one at each end and one near the center. Another amazing sight caught her attention in this surreal place. A creature flew over her head from a peak to one of the trees – was it winged? No. Was it one of the cats? She watched closely and saw a creature fly or jump from the center tree to a nearby valley peak. It was too far to tell for sure what it was. She kept watching from her hiding place between the rocks. Then one came out of the near tree and went overhead to the rock peak above. It was a cat with a glowing belly, holding a branch of a tree in its mouth. They did not have wings like birds. Their ability to fly must have had something to do with the glow from the underside. Salena saw several of them during her watch of their valley. The branches they were carrying looked like some kind of netting. They came the 3 large trees there. She watched one cat carry a branch away to another valley and drop it. Salena broke off a little piece of a bush and put it in her pouch. She was anxious to get back and tell Eldon and the others of what she had discovered. But she wished she could also bring back proof of the animal life there. After climb-ing down from the ridge overlooking the Ophar cats’ valley, she felt very tired. She found a rock overhang and sat under it. She wondered what was wrong because as an SS agent on a mission, her energy level was not supposed to get so low.
Back at the large chamber, Eldon was getting frustrated with the panel of elders he had been pleading with for an hour and seemingly the 100th time. Their complacency had turned to boredom with Eldon. They were writing notes on a white liliball and tossing it back and forth.
“If you continue to do nothing your people going to all die. Go outside and watch the sky. You will see no more poison streaks or fire.”
“Go out we will and – you will tell others – others kill us – kill us they will,” declared elder Leowan. Haanbeg then claimed that Eldon was causing them to die at a faster rate. Eldon said he had nothing to do with that, but that he was there to try to save them. Then the elders voiced in a serious tone that they would adjourn to decide what to do. Eldon was not allowed to leave while they were in another room deliberating. Shortly they returned and announced to all in the chamber that Eldon must die because he was a danger to them. They called it ‘rock-kill’, a punishment rarely used. They told him he would be put in a cell, the people would be gathered to the execution site, and upon Salena’s return, they would both be rock-killed.
Near the door was the hyperactive little child Wiligan listening to every word. When he heard the announcement or pronouncement of sentence against the visitors, he ran outside. Eldon now realized that the conditions on their world had affected their minds much worse than he thought. Eldon began to feel alarmed at his dire situation. As SS agents they did have certain abilities, but they were not indestructible.
Salena found herself in the peaceful glade with colorful fruit trees around and a sparkling river at her feet. The Ophar cats were treating her as their new queen. She was lifted atop a large spotted royal cat. He took off to give her a high-view tour of her new paradise kingdom. Suddenly she was falling in slow motion into darkness, then . . something scratched her face, a growl was all she heard, then a rough wormlike thing on her face again. Salena opened her eyes to see a black mouth with sharp teeth and a tongue licking her nose. She backed away from it instantly. Then what she saw was surprising but a relief. It was a small Ophar cat cub. It had apparently wandered away from its den but was keenly drawn to Salena. The site was near the rock overhang outside the valley of the cats. The cub had awakened Salena from her cat queen dream. She picked up the cub, black in color, and held it close. It was content to stay in her arms. When it soon produced a satisfied purr, that told Salena that it had found its second mother. ‘This is just what I needed’ Salena thought. She not only loved little animals like this, she now had living proof of the cat valley to take back with her. On her walk back she felt better because of the new energy and motivation the cub was giving her.
After a short distance, Salena came upon the canyon or large hole where the cats had dropped those branches. It was full of small rocks, some still smoldering, some still in the tree nets. She now knew how they had survived on the surface. They must have used the tree nets to catch the poison rocks that fell from the sky. Being on guard constantly, they became quite adept at catching the contaminants and keeping them out of their valley. They dumped them in the big hole not far away. But now the threat from above was gone and it was possible for the entire bloomball world to become like that valley.
On the trail back to the Lilistan main cave entrance, Salena was beginning to feel dizzy. Then she heard crying and small feet running. It was the child Wiligan coming up the trail. When he saw her, he screamed an exited warning. Salena stooped down and took hold of the child.
“What is wrong, Wiligan? Why are you out here?”
“Kill your friend – kill you too – no go – no go back!”
“It is okay. They will not kill us.” Salena knew by the SEF from the Dome that was still operative on her that Eldon was still alive. She felt sure now with this evidence of the cat valley that the Lilistan would listen. She re-assured Wiligan and allowed him to carry the cat cub which he was happy to do. Fortunately, they found a big bug to ride back. Salena was feeling weaker by the minute.
When they neared the entrance to the cave, a short walk away was the level area being prepared for the ‘rock-kill’ stoning. Many rocks were being piled up in front of the gathering crowd. Then the 3 elders came out of the cave followed by Eldon, bound and being led as a condemned prisoner. They did not want to get too far from the cave because of their fear of what may drop from the sky. The elder Haanbeg saw Salena and said, “Other one is here – bring her too – other one too.” Immediately dwarf guards ran toward the big bug she was sitting on. Wiligan jumped off the bug and started screaming. The cat cub jumped out of his hands and ran back to Salena on the bug. The guards stopped in their tracks when they saw that. Evidently no one there had ever seen a creature like that. Salena mustered up all her energy to say loudly,
“Look at this. This is a cat. It came from a valley I found on the surface.” She held it up. “This is one of their young ones. They live in a valley with many plants and even trees.”
Some in the crowd started to laugh at yet another wild story of the visitors. “Listen to her. She speaks the truth,” Eldon said in support. Salena put down the cub and said, “I have seen it. Look at this.” She took the part of a bush from her pouch and motioned to Wiligan. He came close and took the piece of vegetation.
“Go show it to them, Wiligan. Go ahead,” she coached him. The child obediently held it in front of him as he walked toward one of the guards. As the guards were looking at it in amazement, Salena continued,
“There were many plants, some good for food. This shows that you can live on the surface now.”
“Lies it is – no listen to her – must rock-kill them now – now before too late it is,” Haanbeg defiantly blurted out. This was accompanied by murmurs from the crowd. Fregban spoke up and said, “No, not kill now – must prove what she say – prove first – we must go see.” The cat cub and piece of a bush triggered a lost memory from when Fregban was a child. Now he knew it was not just his imagination. There were sounds of approval fr
om the crowd after Fregban’s words. Many of them did not really like the idea of the stoning of the visitors. They had grown fond of them like Wiligan did.
So they decided to follow Salena and the child back to the valley of the Ophar cats. With this turn of events, Salena felt re-energized and full of hope. Most of the people rode big bugs for the close to 4 kilometer distance. Some chose to stay near the cave, but most of the crowd followed to the valley. When they saw it, it was like a dream come true for them. Eldon and Salena then explained how the cats were able to do it when the Lilistan did not. By the time the people made their way back toward the cave, the sky was already starting to clear and little shoots of plant life were coming up by the trail. This was the surface responding to the energy the people were giving off.
Instead of stoning the visitors, they now honored them in a big celebration. Progressively over the next 10 days of their time, gardens and farms were started. The health of the Lilistan improved and one couple announced that they were pregnant. Their future looked bright again. Eldon and Salena were elated at the outcome. They could leave now,