‘Why stop there?’ Zeven asked. ‘Blow the whole damn thing, I say. Then we need to shut down the gateway you both opened.’
‘What!’ Kalayna exclaimed. ‘Why?’
‘I’ll explain when we are far from this place.’ Zeven didn’t trust it, and knew Khalid and his crew could return in a heartbeat.
‘Ever blown up a ship before?’ Taren asked and Zeven’s smile broadened.
‘Nope, but we learnt the drill in flight school and it’s certainly on my top ten list of things to do before I die.’ He grinned. ‘I can head round to the bridge and set it up now, while you get these two back to base.’
‘You’re powerless at present,’ Taren pointed out. ‘And Khalid has you on the top of his kill list — I don’t think so. I don’t need a procedure to blow this vessel to pieces from the safety of home.’
Zeven shook his head at her plan. ‘You don’t want to check that we’re not parked off Heavensgate, or some other major Sermetic city, first?’
‘There is that.’ Taren was forced to see things his way. ‘Aurora, send Jazmay,’ Taren instructed her remote viewer who was monitoring their progress, and seconds later Jazmay appeared.
‘You called?’ Jazmay glanced at the two new recruits and smiled, remembering Telmo from past adventures. Telmo and Kalayna were looking rather wary of the Phemorian.
‘Take these two back to base,’ Taren requested, handing the container housing Chironjivi’s remains over to Telmo. ‘We will join you there shortly.’
‘Kale?’ Kalayna squeaked, worried about going anywhere with the huge warrior woman.
‘It’s cool,’ Zeven reassured Kalayna. ‘She’s an old friend of mine.’
Jazmay looked to Zeven with a deep scowl of disapproval.
‘Did I say old? I meant to say young and fearless friend of mine,’ Zeven amended and Jazmay smiled, appeased.
‘Tell Aurora to keep her eyes on this room and get word to me if anyone appears, or if anything disappears,’ Taren instructed before leaving and Jazmay nodded.
‘See you back there.’ The Phemorian stood in between Kalayna and Telmo and, slapping a hand down on each of their shoulders, she vanished with them.
As neither Taren nor Zeven had ever been to the captain’s bridge on this vessel, they had to find it the old-fashioned way — on foot.
‘Telmo seems to have matured somewhat since I last met him,’ Zeven commented as they ran, following signs to the bridge, before ducking into a lift.
‘Well, I suspect he has an ageless Time Lord’s memory and Powers suddenly at his disposal,’ Taren advised. ‘You know, Taliesin, from the Earth scheme?’
‘No.’ Zeven frowned.
‘Did you not view any of the memory orbs on Kila, documenting our past lives in that universe?’ Taren was almost appalled he’d let such an opportunity pass.
‘I didn’t want to find out who my soul mate was, remember?’
‘Well, Taliesin saved our arses many times in that other universal scheme,’ she enlightened him. ‘He knows everything we don’t know about the ethereal worlds and their occupants.’
‘That’s good,’ Zeven replied, ‘because I have no bloody idea what you’re talking about?’
‘I’m talking about Khalid’s ghosts, the Phemoray and all those disembodied beings that have remained as something of an enigma — even to those who created them,’ Taren said, as the elevator doors parted onto the control bridge.
‘I’m pretty sure that vat Khalid took with him has a large part to play in his downfall,’ Zeven surmised, entering the bridge and looking about to get his bearings.
‘I agree.’ Taren followed Zeven to the control deck, where he could take a reading of the ship’s coordinates. ‘But it’s not going to be as easy as simply destroying it, I think you’ll find, and that’s where Telmo can help.’
‘So the kiss proved to be a premonition after all,’ Zeven figured. ‘When Telmo first told me about it, I just thought he was having a little fantasy … he admires you quite a bit.’
‘Well, he’s no slouch himself,’ Taren replied, as Zeven took a seat behind the control panel and looked it over. ‘So, where are we?’
As Khalid had updated the ship’s system, Zeven had no problem recognising any of the readouts in the cockpit. ‘Well, we’re not anywhere near Sermetica,’ he advised Taren, appearing perplexed. ‘We’re on the outskirts of the Phemorian system.’
‘Why?’ It only took a moment for Taren to figure the answer. ‘Because Amie told Khalid that the origin of our Juju is Phemorian.’
‘But —’ Zeven went to say something and Taren covered his mouth to prevent him disclosing anything.
‘Don’t say it, don’t even think it,’ she said. ‘Theorise once we get home, let’s just blow this antique back into history where it belongs.’
‘Affirmative.’ Zeven brought the self-destruct program up on the work station and Taren psychokinetically hacked their way through the security codes.
‘We’ll have a two-minute countdown,’ Zeven advised, ‘once I hit the return key.’
‘I’ll only need two seconds to get us out of here.’ Taren gave the nod. ‘Do it.’
The transpersonal teleportation experience was far more comfortable this time than it had been with Khalid. The warm, light-filled sensation passed, and Kalayna found that she was in a large conference room.
Directly before her, Aurora was seated at the end of the long table, staring down at the tabletop. A man was seated beside her with one hand upon her shoulder, his eyes closed in quiet concentration.
They’re all psychic! Kalayna guessed, and was immediately comforted by that thought — being that she had recently been outed as a psychic herself. She’d thought that to be the worst thing that could have happened to her, career-wise, but perhaps quite the opposite was true?
‘Welcome aboard AMIE,’ advised the Phemorian, as she let go of her shoulder and Telmo’s. ‘We’ll formally welcome you once we are not in the middle of a crisis.’ She walked away to speak with another man, who Telmo recognised.
‘That’s Professor Lucian Gervaise, captain of this vessel.’ Telmo seemed awestruck. ‘But I’ve known him by many other names too.’
‘You’ve changed,’ Kalayna noted, as she retrieved her weapon from his possession. ‘Since that kiss you seem more fearless, more knowing, more everything …’
‘I know.’ He was as astounded as she. ‘It’s like I had amnesia and now I remember everything!’
‘Telmo Dacre,’ said a good-looking soldier type, who was beaming with delight as he held out arm bands for both of them — like the one Kalayna had taken from Zeven and later returned. ‘The boss wants you to put these straight on, to protect against psychic attack.’
Now given leave to take a closer look, Kalayna saw the stone inside and was fascinated by it. ‘The Juju,’ she murmured. ‘This is what Khalid is seeking with the huge camera.’
The warrior nodded. ‘But with your cooperation he will not find its source.’
‘It’s in the system we just opened the gate to,’ she gasped, suddenly horrified by their achievement. ‘That’s why we have to close the gateway down.’
The blond-haired, blue-eyed warrior nodded, sporting a knowing smile and he reminded her of Telmo.
‘I know you …’ Telmo gripped the warrior’s wrist to gain his full attention. ‘Actually, I recognise every soul in this room. But, in this life, you in particular I feel I should know.’ He frowned trying to recollect why.
‘I’m your big brother, Yasper Ronan,’ he said, and the news made Kalayna gasp, considering her observation just now.
‘My brother.’ Telmo made it sound like it was obvious and yet comforting, as he nodded calmly. ‘I didn’t realise I had any family in this life, beyond my mother, who died giving birth to me.’
‘I was told of her death,’ Yasper admitted, ‘but not about you. Not until recently.’
‘I thought you remembered everything?’ Kalayna queried Telmo’s
prior claim.
‘Well, I cannot remember information that has not yet been forthcoming in my existence.’ Telmo posited why he might have a problem in this instance.
‘Anselm can confirm the truth of our kinship,’ Yasper assured Telmo.
‘I don’t doubt it.’ Telmo smiled to confirm. ‘It’s just nice when life surprises you with news so grand as this.’
‘Our father is on board also,’ Yasper advised, sounding not as sure that Telmo would be pleased to hear that.
‘Really?’ Telmo was intrigued and excited. ‘Then it would seem I have found my home.’
‘You certainly have, little brother.’ Yasper ruffled the younger man’s hair, and Yasper did seem a hunk of a bloke in comparison to Telmo’s scholarly frame. When the brothers embraced, Kalayna feared Telmo might be crushed, but he was merely overjoyed.
Kalayna was all caught up in the touching moment, until she noted the object in her hand lighten.
‘Where is it?’ Kalayna had been holding her new weapon only seconds before!
He doesn’t need to come back to steal it to himself, she recalled Zeven’s associate explaining not long before, and having briefly searched the area surrounding them, Kalayna sounded the alarm.
‘The psychic neutraliser. It’s gone!’
No sooner had Zeven hit the return key to begin the countdown than Taren was blasted from behind by a force that sent cold chills surging through her. It wasn’t a psychic attack — the only similar force she could think of was a blast from Kalayna’s weapon. The shock passed over Taren, leaving her feeling completely ordinary and she physically ached as she felt a disconnection from her soul source — cosmically speaking, she’d been taken off-line. ‘What the?’ She turned about, appearing affronted as she eyed the room void of occupants apart from themselves.
‘You okay?’ Zeven cautiously eyed the surrounding area, picking up on her concern.
‘Khalid knows about Kalayna’s little invention …’ Taren replied through gritted teeth — she should have destroyed that too. ‘Don’t you, Khalid?’ she asked rather loudly.
‘Fairly impressive, considering it was invented by a woman.’ Khalid was heard to chuckle, but he did not come out from behind his invisible mask. ‘I’m guessing that you’re Anselm’s hidden bastard, here with Spyridon’s lost, supposedly dead, bastard … how nice that all us bastards could get together before our death … which unfortunately for you two is little more than a minute away.’
‘Shit, the countdown.’ Zeven looked back to it, but without Taren’s PK to override the system or get them out of there, they were toast.
‘You fucking coward!’ Zeven lost it, but when Khalid suddenly made an appearance, Zeven simmered down.
‘Five years in psychic prison does not a coward make!’ Khalid spoke up.
‘Like you didn’t deserve to be there!’ Zeven retorted. ‘You tried to kill me in my cradle!’
‘Well, you threatened to kill me before you were even fucking born!’ Khalid ended the argument and, in so doing, calmed right down. ‘I promise I will pass on both your final regards to the rest of your relatives, before I dispose of them also. Ta-ta!’ He gave them the finger and vanished from sight.
Once Khalid left, all the power faded — except for the detonating system that was illuminated with red warning lights — the Insurrecto was left floating dead in space.
Taren ran past the spot Khalid had vacated to get to the lift, but when she pressed the button nothing happened. ‘Oh no.’ She ran to the stairs but that door was locked closed also. ‘No, no, no!’
‘Where are you going?’ Zeven obviously hadn’t thought beyond shutting the countdown off.
Taren ran back to him to whisper her concern. ‘I told Aurora to watch the other room … no one is watching us.’ She pulled back to look him in the eye, and now Zeven looked as terrified as she did.
They looked to the countdown, which read fifty-three, two, one seconds left. They turned to each other, realising they were at the mercy of fate. Zeven pulled his Juju from his armband — it had not been hit by the psychic-field scrambling weapon as Taren’s had, and he clutched it tight. Taren placed her hand over his and focused on Azazèl-mindos-coomra-dorchi to beg him to help them.
Zeven attempted to will them both back to base, but even with his Juju to boost the healing process, his own field had not yet rebalanced. ‘I’m still defunct,’ he was sorry to advise.
The countdown had hit twenty-eight, seven, six …
‘They’ll come for us,’ Taren assured him and he nodded in accord, masking his doubt as badly as she was. ‘They need to wait until the very last second to ensure Khalid has fled,’ she reasoned further, as they watched the countdown drop to eighteen, seventeen, sixteen …
‘I think,’ Zeven piped up, ‘that under the circumstances —’
‘If you suggest sex —’ Taren threatened to hit him, but he disarmed her with his sincere smile.
‘— a hug might be in order.’ The look on his face seemed to convey everything he wanted to say in that instant.
‘It’s been far too awesome to end like this.’ Taren was glad to hug him and await their fate.
Nine, eight, seven …
‘I agree.’ Mythric startled them with his appearance, and wasted no time grabbing hold of them both.
Three, two, one …
When Taren found herself back in the boardroom with all their crew, she gave a sigh of relief. ‘Thank you, Mythric.’
He accepted her gratitude with a nod.
She then swiftly moved away to expend her anger — they’d lost Khalid and she wanted to kick herself. ‘Idiot!’ she cursed, and thumped her foot.
‘I don’t know how you could have played that any better?’ Zeven reasoned.
‘I should have blown it from here, he nearly killed us!’ she protested. ‘And now we’ve lost him!’
‘We would have lost him anyway!’ Zeven pointed out, appealing for her to give herself a break; she was exhausted and freaked out, so Zeven turned to Lucian for help. The look he got back from the captain was peculiar — Lucian knew that Zeven had something to do with his wife unexpectedly giving Telmo the kiss of enlightenment. ‘Okay, I told her about the kiss, it was my fault entirely!’
‘He was supposed to tell her,’ Telmo fronted up in Zeven’s defence. ‘I knew, or at least my super-conscious knew, that Starman being Starman, wouldn’t be able to keep the vow he made to me back on Kila.’
‘Hey —’ Zeven took offence, but then choked. ‘You remember Kila?’ Taren, Lucian and Jazmay were surprised as well.
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but my link to Akasha was very weak then. Yet my super-conscious still knew that in this future we were about to create, Dr Lennox, ah, sorry, Gervaise, would acquire the power to awaken my connection to my Grigori, who has the knowledge to help you deal with your spook problem.’
‘Whoa.’ Taren was amazed.
‘Sorry if the directive caused any tension,’ Telmo took responsibility, ‘but just giving me the Juju would not have been fast enough, we might have lost our redeemer.’ He motioned to Zeven, and the pilot was surprised by Telmo’s title for him. Telmo then looked to Taren. ‘Your PK, directing me to remember who I was, had a quickening effect.’
‘I was really hoping it would.’ She smiled, as it was comforting to hear someone else talking about occult matters with confidence for a change. Still something else was playing on Taren’s mind. She diverted her attention to Aurora and noticed that their other remote seer, Ayliscia Portus had also been called in to assist with their retrieval — quick thinking on Lucian’s behalf. ‘Did Khalid take the technology?’
‘No.’ Aurora stood. ‘I saw it go up with the ship,’ she advised and then ran to hug Zeven, so pleased that had not been his fate.
‘Well, at least Khalid will have to start again.’ Taren was thankful to have caused Khalid some inconvenience.
‘He knows who you both are now.’ Aurora was concerned about that.
r /> ‘He cannot find us any easier than we can find him,’ Taren argued.
‘But he just did?’ Aurora didn’t understand.
‘No, Khalid found his ship, not us,’ Taren clarified. ‘AMIE has protection now, so he cannot find us here. Khalid’s protective source is now mobile, so we cannot find him either.’
‘Even though we know what the vat now looks like?’ Zeven queried.
‘Khalid knows what our ship looks like but the Juju blinds him from finding it. In the same fashion his vat of ghosts cast his whereabouts into shadow … thus, stalemate.’
‘Then for the moment we are at an impasse.’
‘Not quite,’ Taren was sorry to say. ‘Once Khalid gets that big photon-camera up and running, he will start searching for the source of our Juju.’ She looked to Kalayna and Telmo. ‘Shutting down that gateway will considerably lessen his chances of finding it.’
‘I know exactly what needs to be done,’ Kalayna said, volunteering her services. ‘It’s going to make me look like a complete flake, but hey … fame is fleeting. I’d much rather work for you guys.’ She raised both brows and gave a cheeky grin, and Telmo grinned to concur.
‘You’re hired,’ Lucian decreed, pleased they were eager to join the crew and did not need recruiting. ‘Your first assignment —
‘— shut down that gateway,’ Kalayna and Telmo chimed in at once.
‘I think with the crew you have, captain …’ Kalayna looked them over. ‘We will not even need to leave his room to achieve our objective.’
‘Tomorrow,’ Lucian insisted. ‘It will take Khalid years, if ever, to find what he is looking for, so for the next ten hours this entire crew is on R&R.’
Everyone gave a cheer to second that motion.
‘Mr Dacre, Miss Zuri,’ Lucian addressed his newest crew members. ‘We have crew quarters assigned for you, Aurora will show you to them.’
‘A shower without ghosts … heaven,’ Kalayna proclaimed in her utter delight.