The Light-Field

  ‘How about you?’ Zeven continued with his washing. ‘Do you have a girlfriend at present?’

  ‘You think I’m gay?’ Kalayna burst out laughing and shook her head at once. ‘No … I like guys … just not any of the guys around here, obviously.’

  Zeven could have hit himself for just assuming she’d always been gay — that was like assuming Aurora had always been timid, but that couldn’t have proved further from the truth. ‘Sorry, no offence intended.’

  ‘None taken.’ She chuckled at his embarrassment, as he stepped away from the pod and gave her leave to hose it off. ‘Do you have a name?’

  ‘Kale, Kale Tane.’ He reached out and offered her his hand to shake, and when she gripped it he felt the spark of a kindred soul rush through him.

  ‘Kalayna Zuri,’ she said, appearing rather beguiled by him suddenly — she’d felt the connection too.

  ‘Pleased to meet you.’ Zeven withdrew his hand, abruptly ending the moment. He’d not felt any connection to his higher self since being rendered powerless, and it gave him a spark of hope that he might be on the mend, or at least heading in the right direction. In his gut he felt Kalayna was definitely one of their soul group, and that spark just now only confirmed that for him. Still, she was not his twin-soul, Aurora was — but Kalayna surely was someone’s perfect other and Zeven felt he’d do well to remember that.

  When Zeven met Mythric at the city wharf with Kalayna in tow, his father appeared chuffed as he pulled up alongside the wharf. ‘End of the first day and you already have a little study buddy?’

  ‘This is Kalayna.’ Zeven cringed at Mythric’s overly sweet greeting. ‘Kalayna meet my father, BA.’

  ‘What’s the BA stand for?’ she asked, as Mythric tied off the boat for them to board.

  ‘Bakar-Aitor,’ he replied with a half grin.

  Kalayna gave a sigh that was sweet and sad. ‘So you’re a single father, huh?’

  ‘Yes, I am,’ Mythric confirmed in a very charming fashion.

  ‘Yeah, watch him,’ Zeven advised as he tossed their bags on board. ‘He can be worse than Jadik.’

  ‘Euwww,’ Kalayna sidestepped Mythric to jump on board.

  ‘Who the hell is Jadik?’ he wanted to know, as Zeven followed Kalayna on board, and Mythric cast off again.

  ‘He’s a total pervert,’ Kalayna clued Mythric in with a laugh, clearly believing Zeven was only joking around about his father.

  ‘Oh …’ considered Mythric, enlightened, as he took a seat behind the steering wheel, ‘… that is me.’

  The response stunned Kalayna a second and Zeven laughed as Mythric shifted into gear and made for home.

  They had no sooner hit the jetty than Mythric was whisking Zeven off out to the greenhouse for a little chat. He let Zeven go once he had him inside the glasshouse. ‘Explain.’

  ‘She is one of us,’ Zeven summed up his reason for bringing her home in a hushed whisper.

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I felt it when I shook her hand, just like I did with you.’ He added before Mythric could tell him he was dreaming, ‘And I’ve known this girl before.’

  ‘Another ex?’ Mythric guessed, exasperated. ‘How many bloody exes do you have? Didn’t we get in enough trouble when you hooked up with the last one?’

  ‘It’s not like that,’ Zeven protested.

  ‘Are you going to tell me that you didn’t sleep with that voluptuous, curvy, blonde in there?’ Mythric was not going to buy that in a million years!

  ‘Ah no, I did sleep with Kalayna, but —’ Zeven held up a finger to point out, ‘— in my own defence, Aurora did join in.’

  Mythric was lost for words a second. ‘I don’t know what to say to that … apart from, you lucky bastard.’

  ‘It’s one of the main reasons I keep time-hopping with Taren,’ Zeven confessed, ‘I wouldn’t want to lose that memory.’

  Mythric raised both brows in empathy. ‘So besides satisfying your sentimental streak, why is she here?’

  ‘Ah, several reasons. Firstly because the guys at pod-link are giving her a hard time, and as her dad is away on assignment this week and she wanted to study, I invited her back here.’

  ‘To be safe,’ Mythric summarised.

  ‘Yeah,’ Zeven concurred.

  ‘Safe, alone, with you and me?’ Mythric raised both brows.

  Zeven frowned also. ‘So, I might not have completely thought that out. But better with us than the guys at work following her home. See, Kalayna isn’t gay now, and she was when I first met her in the future.’

  ‘You seduced a lesbian?’ Mythric held a hand to his heart, giddy with pride.

  ‘BA, that’s not the point I am trying to make,’ Zeven said, smiling at his father’s obvious adoration and envy.

  ‘I get it,’ Mythric said in all seriousness. ‘Good call.’

  ‘Hey, guys?’ Kalayna called, as she approached the greenhouse and entered. ‘Is there a problem? ’Cause I completely understand if you think me staying is going to crowd you a bit.’

  ‘No, no,’ Zeven insisted, ‘we were just agreeing that it is a great idea. You’re smarter than me, and I can use all the help I can get.’ This was completely true.

  Kalayna smiled at his flattery, but looked to Mythric for his consent before getting too excited.

  ‘It will be an absolute pleasure for us to have you stay any time,’ Mythric assured her. ‘But, as to how pleasurable it will be for you, I cannot say.’ He tipped his head and gave a broad smile.

  ‘I can cook,’ she offered.

  ‘I know …’ Zeven was blissed out on the memory of eating her cuisine back on AMIE, when Mythric hit him. ‘… that I’m terrible in the kitchen! Opening a packet of cheesy puffs is the extent of my culinary skills.’

  ‘Wow,’ Kalayna looked around the greenhouse, ‘you’ve been busy.’ She complimented his father’s green thumb, but Zeven knew Mythric’s psychokinetic ability to manipulate the molecular structure of living matter had a lot to do with his quick success.

  ‘Thank you.’ Mythric accepted the praise and shot Zeven a sideways wink, as Kalayna was distracted, smelling the herbs. ‘I caught some fish today …’ He handed her a basket. ‘Shall we go shopping?’

  ‘Sure thing.’ She accepted the basket and was off. ‘Are they passion berries?’ Her eyes lit up with excitement, as she darted off to take a closer look at the next bed.

  ‘Have fun.’ Zeven felt this his cue to go take a swim. ‘But not too much fun.’ He cautioned Mythric on the quiet.

  ‘I’m the father, you’re the son,’ he reminded Zeven. ‘I don’t need to be cautioned …’ he said sternly ‘… I have this on my arm.’ He pointed to the Juju that bound them all to good behaviour and gave a crooked smile.

  ‘Aw, yeah.’ Zeven grinned, feeling confident to leave. ‘I forgot about that.’

  ‘You’re the one with no guidance right now,’ Mythric pointed out, raising both brows in caution. ‘So …’

  ‘I know,’ Zeven nodded, heeding the warning, but he knew his father’s heart was in the right place. ‘Believe me, it’s all good.’

  For the next few months, Jadik and his cohorts backed off a little. Kalayna took to sitting up the front of the classroom next to Zeven, and although they worked together, they never mucked about or even joked with each other. They went to the study hall at lunch, sat near each other, but never conversed. They kept everything on a professional level, so that no one could get the wrong impression — not even by mistake. At Zeven’s suggestion, Kalayna had taken to wearing glasses that she didn’t really need to make her appear more studious, and less like a love interest, and overalls that were a couple of sizes too big and very unflattering.

  Kalayna’s father, Trayan Zuri, was one of the senior engineers at pod-link. He really appreciated Zeven and Mythric keeping an eye on Kalayna when he was called off to tend emergencies at other pod-link systems on and off the planet at a moment’s notice. What was really great about the friendship
Zeven had struck up with Kalayna’s father was that Trayan’s hobby was rebuilding vintage aircraft. On the odd occasion that Zeven took a weekend off, he’d take Trayan’s craft out one after the other, to keep his flying skills in order. Trayan was a pilot too, but he marvelled at Zeven’s skill and appreciated the help maintaining his collection — Zeven just loved being in the pilot’s seat again.

  On the study front, Kalayna was making it much easier for Zeven to comprehend the work, and he was surprised by how focused he was. Kalayna, however, was increasingly more amorous toward him, often pressing herself up against him when she leant over to explain things. Zeven pretended not to notice how nice it felt, or how good she smelt.

  ‘So where is this girlfriend of yours?’ she asked Zeven out of the blue, while they were studying out on the veranda on a day off. Kalayna was lazing around in a bikini and a large sunhat, looking mighty fine.

  ‘On Sermetica, working, I expect,’ he answered without looking up, because basically the sight of her was giving him a hard-on.

  ‘So when will you get to see her next?’

  ‘How does that matter to you?’ Zeven snapped, and was immediately regretful.

  ‘I care about you, okay?’ Kalayna justified her question. ‘I care if you are being treated right.’

  ‘Look, I have more important things on my mind right now than getting laid.’ Zeven was shocked by his admission. ‘Did I just say that?’

  ‘You sure did. And I get it.’ Kalayna began to pack away her gear. ‘I should be getting home, anyways.’

  ‘Please, don’t be offended,’ Zeven just hated that he was passing up sex and no one felt good about it.

  ‘No, I’m not.’ She forced a smile. ‘We’ve just been living in each other’s pockets for months now so … time to take a break.’ Her voice broke over the words and Zeven knew he’d hurt her.

  ‘I’ll drop you back —’

  ‘It’s cool,’ Kalayna declined, ‘your father already offered.’

  ‘I won’t get to see her until we meet up on that project I’m going to work for,’ he answered Kalayna’s question finally, and took some of the sting out of the air.

  ‘That’s five years away!’ Kalayna exclaimed.

  ‘Four and a half,’ Zeven corrected. ‘And I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d think I’m nuts to wait so long —’

  ‘No,’ Kalayna assured him, ‘that’s insanely romantic, but not stupid. I don’t think so, anyway. Sorry about all my flirting, I’ll try to turn it off.’

  ‘I’m sure my father doesn’t mind,’ Zeven sat back down again, but Kalayna did not. ‘You don’t have to go yet.’

  ‘Yeah,’ she said with a little regret and sadness still lingering in her tone, ‘I do. So, I’m going to go find “alone, good-father man”.’ She made a joke of it and headed indoors.

  Shit! This was getting difficult already, and he wasn’t even the problem! What they needed to find was Kalayna’s male twin-soul, then she wouldn’t look at him twice. Only Taren knew who that might be, and she wouldn’t tell Zeven who it was — she wouldn’t tell him who his twin soul was! But then, he had specifically asked her not to tell him. Not that he was really allowed to make contact with Taren now, in case he screwed something else up.

  ‘See you at work tomorrow, Kale.’ Kalayna gave him a wave on her way down the jetty with Mythric; no cuddle and kiss on the cheek, like Zeven usually got from her in leaving.

  ‘Say hello to Trayan for me.’ He stood and waved back, feeling shitty for doing the right thing.

  He waited patiently until their boat took off across the harbour before turning about and kicking a hole in the wall. ‘This sucks!’ A quick burst of anger and Zeven reeled his emotions back in and collapsed back into a seat. ‘I just don’t get why you all are making this so difficult!’ He appealed to the heavens in frustration. What if there was no redeeming himself? What if Aurora had forgotten all about him, and was off with another man? What if all this study was just a waste of time?

  Then he considered what Taren had said on that count. ‘The first thing you need to do, is accept that you may never get your supernatural powers back. Once you have accepted the worst, ask yourself if you still wish to serve the Zagriata? If the answer is yes, you will find a way to quietly achieve that. You must do this because you would do it anyway, not because you might be redeemed, for then you will be truly living the way of the Zagriata.

  ‘Do not ask what is in it for you. Just do what you know is right.’ With this resolve Zeven felt lightened of his worry and his bad mood, and was able to sit back down and study.

  Besides the small spark of recognition that Zeven had felt when he’d first met Kalayna, he’d not really felt any connection to the Juju stone that he still wore on his arm. But what started as a dull ache in the muscle, where the Juju made contact with his skin, built into a rather painful pulse that ignited a panic in Zeven’s gut. ‘Have I done something wrong?’ He placed his hand over the ache to acknowledge it and focused on the pain. Kalayna came to mind and he knew she was in trouble.

  Mythric had not returned from dropping her back yet, and wouldn’t, by Zeven’s reckoning, for another ten minutes. ‘That’s going to be too late!’ The frustration of the moment overtook Zeven a second — their boat was about the fastest to be had on this island. In utter desperation he dropped to his knees and did something he’d never really done before; he went deep within himself to seek assistance. Sammael … No, he thought better of beseeching his Grigorian guardian, who was in as much trouble with the cosmos as he was at present. Zeven decided that he was going straight to the top. Azazèl-mindos-coomra-dorchi, I know you hold sway over the entities who are repressing my powers and I know their punishment was deserved, but I really need you to believe me when I say I have learnt my lesson. Please, give me the power to get to Kalayna now. Zeven had never willed for anything so hard and he didn’t have to open his eyes to know his appeal had been granted, for he felt the sweet, unmistakeable, light-filled sensation of travelling without moving.

  Even though Kalayna knew her father would not be getting back from assignment until late this afternoon, she didn’t regret leaving for home early — she just couldn’t spend another day with Kale only seeing her for her mind! She’d tried everything to arouse his attraction but nothing worked! This girl of his had to be something amazing if she was worth waiting five years to be with! Kalayna was so jealous; what she wouldn’t give to have Kale feel that way about her — she wouldn’t make him wait for five years! Was this other woman deaf, dumb and blind?

  Bitch, Kalayna thought, as she pulled her ugly work overalls on over her beach wear.

  ‘Are you planning on going into pod-link?’ BA asked, appearing a little concerned, as he shut off the motor and pulled into dock.

  ‘It’s cool,’ She forced a smile, as he jumped onto the wharf and tied off the boat. ‘Jadik and co have the day off too. Dad arrives in a few hours, so I thought I’d meet him, and do dinner before we go home.’

  ‘I could wait with you?’ he suggested, jumping back on board.

  ‘What is it with you men, that you feel you have to hold my hand every second? I’m not twelve.’ Kalayna rolled her eyes, not wanting company right at the moment. ‘I’ll be fine, really.’ That sounded so weak she wanted to kick herself.

  ‘Did you and Kale have a falling out?’ BA picked up on her mood — and she wasn’t surprised.

  ‘Why is he so hung up on some chick he’s not even going to see for five years?’ Kalayna figured if BA was going to stick his nose into their business, she may as well pump him for information. Still, he appeared lost for words. ‘So what’s so great about her?’ She helped him out.

  ‘You don’t want to know that, surely?’

  ‘How can I compete with a woman I know nothing about?’ Kalayna asked.

  ‘Oh, I see.’ Mythric forced a grin, and appeared to have a headache.

  ‘Well, do you think I stand a chance at least?’ she appealed
.

  BA just looked like a scared animal caught in the headlights of an oncoming craft. ‘Um … if it were me, I’d say definitely yes. But Kale?’ BA shrugged, scrunching up his face as if in pain or indecision, ‘he and Aurora —’

  ‘Is that her name?’ Kalayna jumped in.

  ‘Did I say that?’ He winced.

  ‘What’s the big secret?’

  BA frowned, appearing very uncomfortable. ‘We just don’t mention her name very often. You have to understand, my son and this girl have quite a history, which has created a bond between them that, I fear, might be wrong to try to break.’

  ‘Oh.’ Kalayna had felt that BA held her in high regard, but perhaps not? ‘So, you like her too, huh?’

  BA shrugged and nodded, frowning in apology the whole while. ‘If my son loves her, then I love her … but that doesn’t mean we love you any less.’

  Kalayna sucked up her disappointment — she’d rather been hoping for BA’s support in her campaign, but now she felt more inclined to just give it up. ‘Thanks for bringing me back.’ She zipped up her bag and chucked it onto the wharf.

  ‘Look, I mean what I say.’ BA stopped her getting off in a huff. ‘We love having you stay with us, and you know Kale doesn’t stand a chance of completing his degree without you?’

  ‘I know.’ She nodded, gave him a quick squeeze and got off the boat. He doesn’t want me, he doesn’t love me, but he needs me and likes me a lot. I feel so fulfilled … She cast off the rope for BA and waved goodbye … not.

  Pod-link was a very large institution, and rather than taking the route that the passengers took to the public arrivals lounge, Kalayna decided to use her pass and cut through the campus to the space port. She would wait in the staff arrivals and departures lounge, as her father would come through there before heading out into the main port.

  After going through security and entering the main campus, Kalayna had the most eerie feeling that something wasn’t right, and she put it down to the fact that she was used to seeing these halls filled with people. On a free day like this, most escaped into the real world, but the place was still open for students to access the facilities and study hall.