The bedclothes were the same soft pink colour as the room, and normally Ronan would object to being swathed in such a gentle, feminine colour, but at present it had a comforting, calming effect and he decided he rather liked it. There were large pots of flowers on both sides of his bed, with blooms of rainbow colours so exotic and fragrant that they actually brought a smile to Ronan’s face.
The only closed door in the room suddenly vanished and a beautiful, slender, dark-haired woman entered, her flowing robes the same colour as the room. ‘Ah, you’re awake, splendid. I am Hatty, your heart specialist.’
Ronan found himself rubbing his hands over his chest, expecting to feel himself bandaged. ‘No surgery?’
‘No,’ Hatty informed him, ‘but we are going to have to try and clear that very dark shady patch of energy that is shrouding your heart chakra.’
‘You see auras?’ Ronan was shocked and even a little relieved to find someone who actually had the same psychic gift that he suspected he’d developed.
‘Of course I do.’ Hatty smiled. ‘What kind of a healer would I be if I did not?’
‘How do you clear a blockage in an aura?’ Ronan was intrigued by this journey inside the world of a psychic; he’d never thought in a million years he would actually enjoy experiencing such a life. But perhaps his hatred of psychics had stemmed from a secret desire to be one of them? Despite the life of repression that psychics were forced to endure where he was from, they had knowledge and insight into the secret workings of the universe that he could only ever dream about … and persecute.
‘The best way to remove a blockage is to try and figure out why your heart wishes to shut down,’ Hatty explained. ‘We need to go back to the time in your life when it first became shut off.’
Ronan’s eyes were already brimming with tears; he’d never been this emotional before and it was difficult for him to be so vulnerable. ‘It could have been any number of a million instances over the past fifty years of my life.’ He boggled at his crimes. ‘I am despised by many,’ he wheezed in distress as a tear escaped his eye.
‘For a man to be despised, he must first despise himself. What was it that made you despise yourself, Zelimir?’ Hatty prompted sympathetically, as if she already knew that he knew the instance of which she spoke.
He did know the instance, he just never permitted himself to think of it. ‘I lost my son,’ he squeezed out, but as his impression of psychics had changed radically in the past few days, the circumstances surrounding his son’s death pained him all the more and, for the first time ever, he allowed himself to feel the guilt of finally admitting that he’d placed blame in the wrong quarter.
‘Take your time.’ Hatty took a seat on Ronan’s bed and held his hands for strength.
‘Yasper, my son, worked for the MSS as an agent. He fell in love with one of the top-secret operatives working for the MSS at the time. She was the only psychic permitted to go unrestrained as she had parents in very high places who wished to keep her hidden.’
‘Even from the little I know of your society, I imagine you didn’t like the idea of your son falling in love with a psychic.’ Hatty helped him out a little.
‘His lover was very good at what she did,’ Ronan admitted, ‘she was a pre-cog … and with the ability to see a mission unfold beforehand she could see all the pitfalls and dangers they might encounter and avoid them. She never once failed to bring all of her team back alive.’
‘Yasper was on this woman’s team?’ Hatty assumed and Ronan nodded.
‘Until I got wind of their affair,’ he confessed, and collapsed into tears. ‘I forbade him to see her again and had him transferred to another unit … he died during his next mission.’ Ronan clutched at his heart, wishing for it to just stop and put him out of his misery. ‘I should never have interfered, but I was so disgusted by the thought of psychic grandchildren. It didn’t matter that he was in love, happy and successful … what I would not give to see Yasper thus now.’
‘I gather his lover did not react well to the death, either … did she blame you?’ Hatty probed deeper.
‘Initially,’ Ronan recalled, ‘and I created some excuse to blame her. I hated her for being who she was; if she’d been any normal girl I wouldn’t have transferred Yasper. Anyway, she left the MSS after that. Her very powerful father had me erase all memory of my son from her mind, along with most of her MSS training and mission memories. She moved into the field of quantum physics and specialised in studying psychic phenomena. The MSS … in other words me … have been following her work closely and have been exploiting her findings and talent, without her knowledge, for our own purposes … one instance of which led to the displacement of our entire planet.’ Tears of remorse streamed down his face as he looked to Hatty for absolution or condemnation.
‘Ronan,’ Hatty squeezed his hands, ‘none of the above was your fault.’ She stated this so surely that the pain in his heart let up a little. ‘It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It was Yasper’s soul-mind’s decision.’
Now Ronan would have thought such talk was a crock of shit a week ago, but after his near-death episode he could honestly say that anything was possible. He’d never considered there was anything beyond death, and now he knew there was, his son’s death weighed less heavily.
‘Yes, you could have made better resolves after the fact, but none of us are perfect. Forgive yourself, Ronan,’ Hatty suggested, but Ronan disagreed.
‘For all I have done since then, I cannot forgive myself.’
‘Rubbish, we refuse to forgive ourselves and punish ourselves, as we think our victims would wish it, but what good can self-torture possibly do you or anyone else? If you have done bad in the past, then do good in the future. If you have been destructive, now you must vow to be more constructive. Then you will learn to love and forgive yourself, and others will start to love and forgive you also.’ Hatty moved into the little room within his chamber, leaving Ronan rather wonderstruck by her eloquence and her inner wisdom.
He felt a lightness descend upon him — he felt somehow cleansed and for the first time ever was inspired to turn over a new leaf.
Hatty returned with a bowl of cool water in which she dampened a towel to place over his eyes. It felt wonderful. ‘Speaking of others … you have a few people waiting to see you.’ She pressed the wet compress gently into his swollen eye sockets and massaged them lightly.
‘Really?’ Ronan was surprised until he thought about it. ‘My science advisor must be more than anxious by now.’
‘The Lord of the Otherworld is with him,’ Hatty advised, ‘and whenever you feel up to it, Eleazar Kestler would like an audience.’
The joy fell from Ronan’s face as his dark past caught up to him quickly. ‘I signed the man’s death warrant,’ he said, removing the comforting compress, feeling unworthy of care and nurture.
‘But the man is still alive,’ Hatty pointed out with a smile, ‘so now you have a chance to make it up to him.’
Ronan forced a smile, appreciating her optimism but not sharing it — he had a lot of confessing to do and his penance would be arduous.
‘Take heart,’ Hatty reassured him. ‘In the early years of my very long life, I stole the throne of the most powerful nation in existence from my brother and lied to my entire nation to suit my own ends. I worked my people to the bone erecting huge monuments to my greatness, I outwitted my father and ordered more than one person’s quota of unjustified executions.’
Ronan was rather stunned that such a loving, caring individual could have been the monster she described.
‘It’s all true,’ she assured him. ‘So you see, depending on our crimes, we all have to endure a dark night of the soul, or in our cases it might be an entire season, before we shine again … but we do shine again.’
‘You certainly shine.’ Ronan could not argue there and he considered that Hatty was probably the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. ‘And you are a very good heart specialist. I feel … lighter.’ He
smiled at last.
‘You have the potential to be a very good healer yourself,’ Hatty informed him.
‘How do you know?’ Ronan was amused by her statement.
‘Well, as I have already mentioned, having auric sight is a good start.’
Ronan was stunned by her insight, he had not mentioned his secret to her; was she telepathic too? ‘You think I have auric sight?’
‘I know you do.’ Hatty raised both brows. ‘It’s all in your DNA.’
‘It is?’ He was alarmed. ‘You can see in my DNA that I have psychic skill?’
‘Yes. But I doubt very much your people have the capability to detect it,’ she guessed his concern. ‘Unless, of course, they have unravelled the code of 12-strand DNA?’
‘Twelve-strand DNA? No,’ Ronan stated, relieved to the core.
‘Well then.’ Hatty shrugged in conclusion. ‘I’ll send in your science adviser and rustle you up something to eat, if you feel ready?’
‘I do,’ he decided. ‘Thank you.’
She departed through the vanishing door, which reconstituted in her wake, and Ronan dared to raise himself and slide out of bed. His legs were a little wobbly but they managed to trot him to the open doorway, beyond which was a small balcony that overlooked the city and a central park.
‘Oh, my word,’ mumbled Ronan, as he stared in wonder at the resplendence of the dreamlike place before him.
No city from his old universe could compare; he’d never thought that a city could be tranquil and in harmony with nature and the souls who dwelt within. There was no yelling, no fighting, traffic, sirens, or inharmonious noise of any kind. People strolled along the beautifully paved walks that wound through the circular city — everything was rounded, domed, curved, arched — there was barely a straight line to be seen anywhere within the landscape.
‘No people in boxes here,’ Ronan uttered with a smile at seeing the wisdom behind their grand designs. ‘How could anyone return to Maladaan after experiencing this place?’ He now sympathised with the agents he’d sent before him. ‘If only our leaders could see Chailida, how much they could learn.’
But Ronan knew very well that fear would prevent his president, or any of his cabinet, from coming to this planet of psychics, and they would certainly not invite any of Kila’s locals to visit Maladaan. All he could hope was that his hosts would not take offence to Maladaan keeping a long-distance relationship, as he certainly had no objection to remaining here in Kila as Maladaan’s representative indefinitely.
‘Chief Ronan?’ Telmo entered timidly, with the Lord of the Otherworld in tow, and was surprised to see his superior up and walking about. ‘You appear in much finer health than I expected.’
Ronan forced a grin and nodded. ‘A dead man walking.’ He appreciated the young man’s surprise, although his gaze shifted to the Lord of the Otherworld. ‘Far be it from me to die and cause an intersystem war … isn’t that right, my Lord Avery?’
‘We could hardly allow you to depart, just when you were becoming constructive.’ The Lord’s response amused both Ronan and his science advisor, who quickly repressed his delighted shock, realising it was inappropriate; no one was so informal with Ronan on Maladaan, but Lord Avery and his kin made the chief feel truly humble.
‘I thank you and yours most sincerely for the opportunity to make amends for my many wrongs,’ Ronan said with sincere conviction.
‘There is no right and wrong,’ Avery assured the chief. ‘There is constructive and destructive, there is positive and negative, darkness and light, cause and effect, and all of the above are just energy channelled into an outcome.’
‘I will channel my energy into better outcomes from now on,’ Ronan adjusted his thinking and his poor young advisor appeared as if he might pass out from the shock. ‘I feel I need a few more days of rest, if you are confident to continue filling my shoes.’
‘Of course.’ Dacre was quick to accept, obviously as keen to stay in Chailida as the chief was himself.
‘Dacre is doing a fine job,’ Lord Avery advised Ronan, ‘so rest easy on that count. The governor and I will help him to make all the arrangements to transport aid to Maladaan.’
‘That is a load off my mind.’ Ronan hadn’t realised how heavily the fate of his home planet had been resting on his shoulders until it was lifted by these wonderful strangers, who seemed more like kin than the race that had spawned him. ‘I feel sure that my people will be grateful, and less fearful, thanks to your generosity and kindness.’ Yet, in his heart Ronan feared it was a futile hope; his government was too arrogant and greedy to appreciate the serenity and kindness of Kila’s populace.
‘That which you can imagine most strongly holds the most sway over your future,’ Avery warned. ‘Envision only that which you desire to be the truth.’
‘But what if what I desire, and what I know in my gut to be the truth, conflict?’ Ronan felt positive thinking was for naive fools.
‘Infuse the conflict with your love, and then no matter what, you will be constructive. You cannot love and destroy any more than you can hate and be constructive; it is impossible, do you see?’
‘Yes.’ Ronan nodded, as did Dacre, who was spellbound by the subject matter. ‘But others will choose conflict.’
‘Let them.’ Avery shrugged. ‘That is polarity, but, in choosing conflict they will find it and be forced to live with the consequences of it, but choose love and peace?’
‘And that is what you will find.’ Dacre responded fastest.
‘That is what you will radiate and create …’ Avery expanded on Dacre’s conclusion, and then looked back to Ronan, ‘even in the face of greedy, arrogant fools.’
The Lord of the Otherworld had clearly been reading his mind again, and even in knowing all Ronan’s fears, the Lord did not seem to consider Maladaan any great threat. ‘Then I shall envision a peaceful co-existence between our people, and a long appointment on your lovely planet.’
‘Hear, hear!’ Dacre agreed wholeheartedly, and then shied out of the conversation when he realised he’d spoken out of turn.
‘You are both more than welcome here, for as long as you wish to stay,’ Lord Avery assured Dacre, and Ronan noted that the Lord seemed to hold his science advisor in high regard. ‘Speaking of which, I should show you to your accommodation, and let your chief get some rest.’
Dacre seemed very excited about the invitation and was clearly keen to get on with exploring this extraordinary city. ‘Is there anything —’
‘No, nothing,’ Ronan insisted, also liking the sound of the Lord’s plan.
‘Then I shall get on.’ Dacre did not hesitate to head back out into the temple proper; clearly, having such an intimate, metaphysical chat with the chief of the MSS had made him a little uncomfortable.
‘Keep up the good work, son,’ Ronan called after the lad, and then looked to the Lord of the Otherworld. ‘I believe I am glad that you dragged me back to this wreck of a body,’ he said, ‘just in case you were wondering.’
‘I know you, Zelimir Ronan,’ Avery stated rather adamantly, ‘I know you have had a recent awakening.’
‘Several, in fact,’ Ronan emphasised.
‘Any time you have in the land of the living from now on is a bonus, you can make of it what you will,’ Avery said with a wave and left.
Ronan breathed in the warm, scented breeze, delighted to be at liberty for the first time in an age, and to have his thoughts and mood in a pleasant frame. Well, I certainly made a difference when it came to entrapping psychics on my planet, he considered. Just imagine what I could achieve if I channelled the same amount of energy into their liberation?
‘Thank you for taking the time to walk me around, it must be an awful bore for you,’ commented Telmo to Lord Avery as they left the healing temple.
‘Well, you can hardly learn the lie of the land if I keep zapping you from place to place,’ Avery replied as they descended the stairs onto the pathway that crossed the temple gardens.
> Telmo smiled, grateful for the consideration, and then stopped in his tracks, astounded to spy a face that he recognised from his university days on Maladaan on the other side of the lawn. ‘Professor Kestler?’
‘You know him?’ Avery queried.
‘The man is a physics legend!’ Telmo explained his awe.
When Avery noted the old man was seated beside their head technologist, Floyd, he felt the meeting was synchronous, so he changed course and guided the star-struck lad towards the source of his amazement.
‘Professor Kestler, it is an honour to meet you, sir.’ Telmo’s excitement made him tremble all over. ‘I’ve read all your work, and I mean all of it, many times over.’
The elderly gentleman, although annoyed to be disrupted from his chat, was delighted by the adulation. ‘And who might you be, young sir?’
‘Telmo Dacre, science advisor and acting envoy for Maladaan,’ he replied, rather proud of his title, instead of fearful, for a change.
‘Oh, dear Goddess.’ Floyd burst into laughter upon recognising his old friend, Taliesin, in the lad.
‘Hey.’ Telmo would have been insulted, but he recognised the fellow being amused at his expense, from the first psychic flashback he’d had after landing on Kila.
‘Telmo, you remember Floyd …’ Lord Avery prompted, ‘… we spoke about him earlier.’
‘Yes, of course, the technologist.’ Telmo was quick to shake his hand.
‘I don’t mean to laugh, but you’re just a kid.’ Floyd’s explanation only seemed to add insult to injury.
‘Indeed.’ Kestler was curious. ‘How does one so young as yourself land in a position that even I could only dream to aspire to?’
Telmo suddenly felt like an impostor. ‘I … I …’
‘What Telmo means to say,’ Avery stepped in to clarify on his young friend’s behalf, ‘is that he designed the mechanism to extract energy from your stolen power sample, Professor, to store and distribute it to the grid.’
Telmo winced, the explanation made him sound like one of the bad guys.