‘I have heard of you, Tiger Courage,’ the lord asserted on behalf of his men — Tiger Courage was what her name meant, and Taren’s consciousness was waylaid by the information — her exotic past was indeed enchanting. ‘They say you have a sister who is a white tiger, but how can that be?’
‘Mortal men are not expected to understand all the wonders of Heaven,’ she replied.
‘Timekeeper return.’
Taren’s consciousness spun around, and before her was the bridge. I know my name! and the excitement that accompanied that knowledge indicated to her just how much she wanted to return to this strange and mysterious place.
‘So what is to become of me?’ Khalid asked, as he took a seat in the amphitheatre, in the sun — Rhun and Noah sat down close by. ‘Obviously team fabulous downstairs are prepping for a mission of some sort … and as I am considered the enemy, and am now powerless, I gather I won’t be going?’
‘How did you lose your power anyway?’ Rhun changed the subject. ‘Did the Orions shoot it out of you, too?’
‘I never had any real power of my own.’ He shrugged, deflated. ‘It seems what power I had was borrowed from the angry spirits of my father’s self-sacrificed crew.’
‘The dark arts.’ En Noah was familiar with this kind of unnatural magic. ‘Still, usually the spirits of the dead only enhance a person’s own untapped talents?’
‘What are you implying?’ Khalid was very interested.
‘Back to the subject of what is to become of you.’ Rhun found Khalid’s probing unsettling, but he did not show it.
‘They’re time-travelling, aren’t they?’ Khalid voiced his understanding. ‘And if I stay here, and they keep shifting timelines, I will become lost in time in this parallel universe.’
‘No,’ Rhun assured him. ‘When we succeed, you’ll just wake up one morning in your rightful place and will remember none of this.’
‘But team fabulous will remember,’ Khalid summarised, smiling to acknowledge how clever their plan was. ‘Which gives them the advantage over me next time around.’
‘Well, that’s what you get for being one of the bad guys,’ Rhun concluded coolly.
‘I didn’t ask to be a demon spawn!’ Khalid countered. ‘You think I wouldn’t choose to be the fucking hero if I had any say in the matter?’
Rhun grinned — he actually kind of liked this guy’s black sense of humour. ‘Well, you know, the thing about team fabulous is that they are a fairly forgiving lot. If you really want to earn their favour, you shouldn’t find it too difficult. Just be part of the solution instead of the problem.’
‘How can I?’ Khalid appealed. ‘They won’t let me do anything to prove myself.’
Rhun, who strived to see the positive in everyone and considered himself fairly good at judging character, wasn’t completely convinced that Khalid was sincere. ‘The best way to prove your worth at this point is just to cooperate.’
‘I have been cooperating!’ Khalid said, and grimaced. ‘I don’t want to be left behind! I don’t want to go back to my rightful place, because my rightful place is fucking possessed!’
‘Okay, I got you.’ Rhun urged him to simmer down.
‘Once the others are safely away, I can probably help you regain your lost talents and teach you how to combat your demons,’ Noah offered.
‘Bullshit?’ The prisoner was wary.
‘No, I can,’ Noah reaffirmed. ‘But in order to do it, you would truly have to become one of the good guys, otherwise my means will not work for you.’
Khalid had a think about this. ‘Well, I am probably about due a lifestyle change.’
‘We can begin as soon as the Timekeepers leave.’ Noah smiled, obviously pleased to have a project to focus on whilst he awaited the outcome of the mission.
‘I think I can squeeze that into my schedule.’ Khalid grinned, content.
When Taren awoke from her trance state, she fumbled her way to standing way too quickly, eager to see who else was back with a name.
Only Telmo stood in the corridor beyond her quiet sanctuary and he looked to Taren, eyebrows raised in question.
‘Jiang Hudan,’ she announced with glee. ‘Whoa.’ Taren marvelled at how at home she had felt in the body of her Wu incarnation — it had felt as real and natural as occupying the one she was in right now. ‘That was completely fantastic! Am I the first one back?’
Telmo gave a nod as Zeven emerged from his chamber, and they both looked his way to hear his news.
‘Ji Song,’ he told them, appearing very pleased with himself. ‘And I am definitely going back there!’
‘Why?’ Taren was curious. ‘Where did your memory take you?’
‘To a bathhouse,’ he grinned, ‘where a bunch of lovely ladies were —’
‘Got it.’ Taren held her hand up to prevent him elaborating any further. ‘The universe certainly knows how to get you motivated.’
Zeven knew she was having a go at him. ‘Why? Where did you go?’
‘Oh my heavenly bodies, that was amazing!’
All eyes turned to Ringbalin, who leant in his doorway, appearing dazed but excited.
‘She was there,’ he said, ‘Ayliscia … and she was in the most amazing garden I’ve ever seen!’
‘I’m not the only one the universe knows how to motivate,’ Zeven commented to Taren, who smiled to agree.
‘It was she who was calling me by name,’ Ringbalin continued his account, lost in the happiness it inspired in him.
‘And that name was?’ Taren prompted.
‘Fen Gong,’ he stated.
‘Xi Wangmu,’ said Jazmay, and added a big cat growl on the end for effect.
‘You’re the White Tiger?’ Taren piped up with a guess, and Jazmay winked at Taren in response. ‘We’re sisters …’
‘That is the impression I got,’ Jazmay concurred, as Jahan emerged from his chamber.
‘Ji Shi,’ he introduced himself.
‘Excellent,’ Telmo said, as Jazmay gave Jahan a thump on the shoulder for doing so well. ‘So, there is only Lucian remaining.’
They all looked to the captain’s door, and after several minutes when he did not emerge, Telmo entered to see what had become of him, to find Lucian collapsed on the floor.
Taren teleported herself to his side to check for a pulse. ‘Nothing?’ She was panicked, and began positioning him for resuscitation.
‘That won’t do any good,’ Telmo told her, annoyed at himself. ‘His spirit has fled. Damn it!’
‘How could a meditation have killed him?’ Taren appealed, tears welling in her eyes.
‘It didn’t kill him, per se,’ Telmo explained. ‘He’s just made the jump already, and left this physical body behind.’
‘But what about the trigger word?’ Taren wondered if they could still call him back.
‘I used the trigger word on him, just as I did on all of you,’ Telmo said. ‘It is to make him remember his mission, but I cannot make him come back. Perhaps he didn’t want to risk being unable to get back to the past? Or maybe he just wanted to make the jump so badly that he accidentally launched his soul and not just his consciousness back to Zhou?’
‘Shit!’ Taren was a little annoyed at him for jumping the gun, but at the same time she was pleased to know he would be waiting in the past. ‘Now how shall I know who he is?’
‘I know who he was.’ Rhun had returned, but Khalid and En Noah were not with him.
‘Where is Khalid?’ Zeven didn’t want him overhearing what they were up to. ‘Did he give you any trouble?’
‘Not at all,’ Rhun advised. ‘He’s back in his cell.’
‘What are we going to do with him?’ Zeven asked Taren.
‘Khalid must stay here with En Noah. When we change the past, his soul-mind will be returned to the future we left behind, and for him, none of this will have taken place.’ She was more interested in Lucian’s past-life identity. ‘You were saying, about Lucian?’ Taren reminded Rhun, struggling to
ignore the fact that her husband was an empty shell in her arms.
‘He was one of my younger brothers, Ji Dan,’ Rhun enlightened Taren and she gasped, having just spoken with this man during her past-life visit.
‘Now there seems to be no question of whether or not I should do this.’
‘Count me in.’ Zeven seconded her course of action.
‘And me,’ Jazmay spoke up.
‘Yo.’ Jahan raised a finger to volunteer.
Taren looked to Ringbalin, who was still wearing a delirious grin on his face. ‘I have to go back there,’ he admitted — he’d been seduced by the exotic foreign world too.
‘Then let’s do this.’ Taren rose to usher everyone out of the captain’s meditation chamber, as she intended to make the jump from Lucian’s side.
Zeven moved in for a hug before leaving. ‘See you on the other side of the light field.’ He referred to the blast of light that accompanied every teleportation experience. ‘You can’t miss me, I’m a prince.’
‘Well, la-de-da,’ Taren joked — Zeven’s ability to land on his feet was just ironic. ‘No,’ she relented. ‘You always were a prince.’ She kissed his cheek and let him go. ‘And I’m going to miss you.’
‘Not if you can’t remember me.’ Zeven’s eyebrows shot up a couple of times. ‘And as I’m probably not related to you back there, you’d better watch out.’ He disappeared into the corridor before Taren could object to his intent.
‘Later, boss.’ Jazmay, as lacking in sentiment as ever, left with Jahan in tow, whereupon Taren turned to Ringbalin. ‘Sure you want to do this?’
He smiled and gave a decisive nod. ‘At least I’ll still be hanging with the old crew.’ Ringbalin smiled and departed for his own cell.
‘See you there.’ Telmo backed out.
‘Aren’t you going to tell me your name in the past?’ she asked and Telmo shook his head.
‘I’ll find you.’
‘Oh, come on?’ Taren thought him being overly secretive. ‘What’s the big deal, if I’m probably going to forget all this anyway?’
‘You will call me Shifu,’ he said, ‘which means —’
‘Master-father.’ Taren frowned, curious that she had retained her understanding of the language of her past-life incarnation. ‘But —’
‘No buts.’ He waved as he stepped into the corridor. ‘See you in one thousand and forty six BC Earth time, or thereabouts.’ Telmo gave her the thumbs up as the door closed and isolated her.
‘I thought my past-life persona was living in an all-female monastery?’ Taren aired her query anyway. ‘How am I supposed to find a Shifu there?’
From what she’d garnered from Jiang Hudan, Wu was an all-encompassing word that meant shaman, oracle, healer, seer — they were the mistresses of all things supernatural in the ancient world, and were only ever female. This was how the balance of power between the sexes was maintained in ancient China: men were the masters of Earth, and women were the mistresses of Heaven. This world was very intriguing to Taren, who stood to learn much from the experience. What did not thrill her, however, was the very strong possibility that she was a vestal virgin and bound by oath to remain that way.
Her attention shifted back to Lucian, and she joined him on the floor of the chamber. ‘Something tells me that in Zhou, our close association is not going to be as permissible as it has been in our past.’ Again she felt a twinge of annoyance at Lucian’s early departure; she would have liked to have said goodbye.
‘Never mind,’ she decided. ‘We had last night and there’s always our true reality awaiting us at the end of all this. Happy travels, my love.’ She kissed his cheek gently and laid down beside him. ‘Here’s hoping all roads lead back to you.’
She closed her eyes and returned to the misty bridge inside her mind’s eye.
As she commenced the crossing, Taren considered that she could fully appreciate why Lucian had not returned to Kila; standing in her Wu incarnation’s shoes, she’d not wanted to leave either! She did not consider this a sidetrack from her work with AMIE — it had always been their goal to investigate new worlds and states of being. Still, a stint in the ancient history of a planet in another universe was far beyond any exploration aspiration she’d ever had, and she could only be grateful for the opportunity to venture where no soul had dared before.
Her steps quickened as she headed down the far side of the bridge. But this time, when Taren leapt into the void and was enveloped by the great light barrier between the mundane and etheric worlds, she felt her soul-mind tear away from her physical form, before being spirited forth to her next life quest.
‘They’ve all gone,’ Noah announced to Rhun from the pit at the end of the corridor, where the meditation chambers were located. The historian had come to a stop in front of the door on the end. ‘I guess it’s safe to let Khalid out now.’
‘By all means.’ Rhun motioned for him to go right ahead. But as the door dispersed, Noah looked to Rhun, distressed, and then rushed inside the cell.
Rhun was up and in there as fast as lightning. He found Khalid dead on the floor of the cell, just like those on AMIE’s crew that had just made the time jump.
Noah looked to Rhun, fear in his eyes. ‘Do you think he has followed them?’
‘What’s that?’ Rhun plucked a communicator from Khalid’s hand, and pressing the play button on the screen, the communicator played a recording of Telmo’s regression session with the AMIE crew. ‘Shit! He must have left this in his cell recording while we took him for a walk.’
‘Do you think he means them harm?’ Noah was worried.
‘He obviously lied about not having any psychic power, so who knows?’ Rhun was furious. ‘I can’t believe he played us all!’
‘You’re assuming he has bad intentions,’ Noah warned Rhun.
‘I’ve got to go.’ Rhun backed up to the door. ‘Wish me luck.’
‘I’ll see you off.’ En Noah rose to accompany Rhun down to the chariot’s vault and as they passed through the pit, there were attack transmissions being broadcast. ‘It’s Tarazean,’ Noah informed.
‘None of this is going to happen,’ Rhun swore, as they headed for the teleporter plate. ‘This time I know exactly where I’m going, and it’s certainly not anywhere near where I landed last time … everything will change.’
‘I have faith that it will.’ En Noah joined him on the teleporter plate.
Once they were clear of the pit’s security measures, they both teleported to the vault beneath in the Institute of Immortal History.
Rhun was quick to assume the control seat in the chariot and fire it up. ‘I’ll see you back there … and then back here,’ he added with a grin.
‘You will,’ Noah affirmed. ‘I can hardly wait to do some past-life regression and see how you are all getting on.’
‘I’m confident … I’ve got the best team history has to offer.’ Rhun shook his dearest advisor’s hand.
‘All the same, be careful back there.’ Noah let Rhun’s hand go and stepped back. ‘I’d sure hate to wake in a worse reality than this.’
‘Trust me, you have nothing to worry about.’ Rhun flashed Noah a confident grin and then focused all his intent on his desired destination. As he recalled ancient Zhou, he couldn’t help but smile when he considered the adventure that lay ahead. ‘Yahweh Shyamal!’ he called out, his vibratory rate rising as he was engulfed by the etheric light the chariot exuded in passage. ‘The Timekeepers are coming back to Earth, and we’re are going to KICK YOUR A —’
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bletzer, June G., PhD., The Donning International Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary, The Donning Company Publishers, Virginia, USA, 1986.
Laszlo, Ervin, Science and the Akashic Field — An Integral Theory of Everything, Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont, 2004.
McTaggart, Lynne, The Field — the Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe, Harper Element, London, 2001.
McTaggart, Lynne, The Intention Experiment, Ha
rper Element, London, 2007.
PLANETS OF THE UNITED STAR SYSTEMS
Maladaan
Capital City: Esponisa
Ruler: President Woodford Tallak
Climate: Polluted
Landscape: Overdeveloped
Highrise modern cityscapes
Known as the technology capital of the USS
Frujia
Capital City: Kotan-Bathaar
Ruler: Chief Matan-tu-hoo
Climate: Hot, tropical
Landscape: Scattered island archipelagos
Small tourist colonies
Known as the pleasure capital of the USS
Sermetica
Capital City: Heavensgate
Ruler: President Jabez Anselm
Climate: Controlled
Landscape: Desert-mineral rich
Mobile-airborne cities in the clouds
Known as the mining capital of the USS
a.k.a. the Planet of Men
Phemoria
Capital City: Tonissia
Ruler: Queen Qusay-Sabah Clarona
Climate: Moderate
Landscape: Forest and ocean rich
Beautiful ancient cities, unspoilt by time
Known as the cultural capital of the USS
a.k.a. the Planet of Women
Oceane
Capital City: none
Ruler: Azazèl-mindos-coomra-dorchi
Climate: Wet and steamy
Landscape: Largely ocean and small rocky land masses
Unknown to the USS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As mentioned in the dedication I have many people who help me to keep my web presence alive and kicking, and apart from the aforementioned ladies, I owe a very big thank you to my husband, David, for my new website traciharding.com. I also want to thank our great kids, Sarah and John, for their love and support all year round — even when I am ignoring them to write books.
A very special expression of appreciation to Lindsay Tomasic for her kind permission to use lyrics from her song ‘Starman’ in chapter 4: The Sermetic Royal Lines from her album The Most Amazing Dream — which I discovered on iTunes. I was so thrilled to be able to include these lyrics, as they were just so perfect for the scene — and if truth be known the song influenced the storyline! You can find Lindsay on the web at: lindsaytomasic.com