Cry For Tomorrow (31 page)

“Now that’s where all those poor people you call
freaks
come in.” Rainor had a sick look on his face. “When successfully merge with the ghouls, they become very compliant, physically powerful workers, like the dry-landers you met earlier, and they breed like rabbits.”

“So that’s how they plan to solve the fertility problems?” I asked incredulously. The image my mind was broadcasting was so horrible that I was afraid I was going to throw up. “And just what is it that you get when you breed these ghoul-freak creatures? Are they human?”

“Not exactly,” Rainor admitted. “But they
are
easily managed and trained, which is just what your Company wants.”

I stared at Rainor’s face. How I could have been so wrong about a person? Did he truly support this campaign? I shook my head in dismay.
I had to be wrong
. Rainor just didn’t
feel
like a bad person. In fact, he seemed at least as upset as we were about the whole business.

“Rainor, why would you do this?” I demanded softly, but an answer was already forming in my mind. “Misty told us that there’s been a plague killing the adults here—is that true?”

“Yes, it’s true. We are all dying long before our time.” He waved his hand around the streets at the people moving about. “What do you see? I’ll tell you what you see, a lot of children and young adults. Have any of you seen a person over the age of thirty?”

“No, now that you mention it, I haven’t,” agreed Ben. “What’s causing this?”

“It’s something to do with the radiation from the large mass of your world and the lack of full sunlight. Even before we were drawn into the shadow of your world, we were never in the full light of the sun. Our orbit keeps us always in the shadows,” Rainor told us. “If the merging fails, we will die.”

“So your people are dying and our civilization is fading away,” Ben laughed dryly. “Heck of a mess now, isn’t it?”

I was still trying to come to grips with everything our guide was dumping on us as I walked to the side of the small flitter. I was pleased to see that it was a close duplicate of the ones so common on over-world. After a turn around the flitter, I returned my attention to Rainor. “So, what I still don’t get is how, and
if
we agree to help, how are so few of us possibly going to affect this merging? We don’t have that much power.”

Rainor joined me at the side of the flitter before answering. “The plan originally devised by the Source involved bringing as large a group of the psis as possible to the palace, where they were each to be given one of the energy crystals. The crystals were discovered a couple of years ago in a mine beneath Zodiac Six, which is one of our smaller under-sea colonies. Because the crystals magnify telekinetic energy, it is believed that the psis can use them to increase and focus the magnetic energy of their minds to slow the merging enough to allow the membrane between the dimensions to be absorbed rather than ruptured.” He paused in his narrative as if collecting his thoughts.

“So, what’s happened to change that plan?” asked Ben.

“Another crystal was found,” Rainor shook his head in dismay, “and this one is large enough and powerful enough to be operated by one psi—the
right
one. They call it the
mother-stone
because it is the largest of its kind ever found. In the hands of a psi, the stone has the potential to magnify the electrical charge to a magnitude that would be the same as a million lesser psis, which is why scientists on both worlds have been searching so determinedly for just one
sane
telekinetic with the ability to emit an electrical charge of a magnitude great enough to activate the crystal.” He raised his head and forced himself to look me in the eye.

“And the world which controls the telekinetic, also controls the outcome of the merging,” I supplied when he couldn’t say it. That sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was back with a vengeance.

“I’m sorry, but when I heard them talking about you at Headquarters, I knew you were just what we’d been looking for. Unfortunately, those fools on over-world had no idea
why
they were hunting you, they were just following orders to detain you at any cost. If I had not interfered, that moron of an agent that I had attached myself to would’ve killed all of you and never understood what he’d done.”

“So you were intentionally hunting me?” I asked incredulously. “What if I hadn’t listened to you or refused to come with you?”

He shook his head sadly. “If I had failed in my mission to convince you to come to the under-world with me then I would have had to return empty-handed to face my fate—and the fate I had doomed my people to. I, and the people of my world, or at least
most
of the people of my world, do not believe in forcing anyone to do something they do not wish to. I would not change that no matter the consequences.”

“Wow, you mean that we’re responsible for deciding the fate of a whole world of people? That’s really a lot of responsibility to dump on a person,” Kelly said as she studied my face, looking for some kind of reassurance. I wished I had some to offer—I could’ve used it right then.

“Well, actually, it’s the fate of two worlds, and they only need Halie to activate the crystal,” Jake supplied when no one else would.

Everyone was watching me as if I’d just sprouted a tail or something, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. Who was it that had decided that something like this was
my
fate to choose? “Well, you know what? I think I would like to meet this person, the Source, who seems to feel that she has a right to make this kind of decision. I want to hear what she has to say before I make
mine
as to whether I will accept this or not.”

Jerking the lever, I opened the hatch on the flitter and climbed in. Leaning out the side, I called, “Dusty! Come!”
The dog eagerly leaped through the door and settled on the front passenger seat beside me.

Now that we were airborne, it was possible to see the whole island stretched out below us. Nearly circular in shape, it looked to be about ten miles across. The streets and canals had been laid out across the natural landscape like a giant spider-web. At the center of the web, crouched like a great spider, rose a sprawling, multi-storied building that was obviously the royal palace. Even in the pale midday light, the composite elements of the building’s curved coral walls flashed brightly. Several tall towers sprouted from the main sections, reaching for the clouds with flapping streamers of colorful flags hung from every window and precipice.

A steady stream of the city’s inhabitants could be seen flowing busily along the streets and canals that comprised the strands of the web. The large knots that periodically marked the strands were in fact more of the big depots like the one we had arrived at.

“The whole place looks like a giant park,” exclaimed Kelly as she studied the city passing below us. And it did indeed, for it seemed that every exposed inch of the city, even on the porous coral walls of the buildings, was dressed in a suit of greenery, boasting jewels of flowers and fruit.

“Yes, we have so little land above the sea that we cannot bear to let even the smallest space open to the light go to waste.” Rainor’s love for his home world was clear in the sound of his voice. He circled the palace once before aiming the nose of the flitter toward a small landing deck on one side.

Setting the flitter gently down next to an open port, he turned off the engine and let it glide into the shelter before bringing it to a total stop.

Jake and I were closest to the hatch on the passenger side, but when Jake reached a hand to open it, Ben’s hand was on his shoulder restraining him. “Let me go first,” he said softly and nodded at the empty hanger and the men barely visible in the shadows. “Our man Rainor didn’t choose this secluded docking space without cause.”

Nodding, Jake moved back to let Ben open the hatch, and I was very much aware of his hand on the weapon concealed under the waist of his sarong.

Exchanging glances, Ben and Rainor emerged from opposite sides of the flitter and moved to meet the men converging on them.

“Prince Rainor, we have been awaiting your arrival,” announced the first guard to reach them. He gave a quick bow and came to attention. Five more men emerged from the shadows, closing in from all sides as we began jumping from the flitter.

I kept a sharp eye on our escort as I took a position between the two men so I could get a better feel for what was going on here. I tried to be discreet, but I noticed that the guards stiffened, as if made uncomfortable by my examination. These guards were outfitted in uniforms of deep, royal blue sarongs just like the ones that had met us at the depot but, in contrast, they were much more heavily armed. Leather belts criss-crossed their chests and they wore taser weapons as well as knives and daggers of various sizes sheathed at their waists. The tridents they each carried looked seriously dangerous, and though they seemed to be of the same policing force as the first, these differed in their attitude and the stern, threatening way they looked at us. These men were not Rainor’s friends.

Last out of the flitter, Kelly jumped to the deck and reached back to help the frogg untangle his fat feet from the straps of her backpack.

“Come on, Ralph, just give me your foot so we can get you out of there!” Kelly grumbled at the awkward creature. Trapped behind the frogg and anxious to rejoin Halie, Dusty playfully nipped at Ralph’s backside.

Croaking in surprise and insult, Ralph leaped for the deck with the dog on his heels.

The two guards closest to the flitter spun about and aimed their tridents at the two animals.

“
No!”
Rainor and I both shouted as we leapt to defend our pets.

The commander waved a hand at the two guards who immediately lowered their weapons.

“Sir, I apologize if we have offended you, but you know how strict the Source is about unknown entities on the palace grounds,” grunted the commander, “especially the froggs. We all know that they have been used to conceal weapons in the past.”

“That is understood, Commander,” Rainor growled back, “but these over-worlders and the two animals are in my company, and they will be accorded full courtesy during our visit. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sire!”

The guard’s answer was prompt and appropriate, but I was watching his eyes and body language when he responded, and I didn’t like what I saw. This man’s muscles and stance were much too stiff and his steely eyes never met Rainor’s.

Jake and Jennie must have felt the danger and deceit in these men as well, for they moved in close enough to touch my arms and exchange anxious glances with me. They, too, felt like we were walking into a trap.

“Her Excellency awaits you and your guests in her personal reception room, Sire,” the commander insisted. “If you and your companions will follow me, please?”

“I do know the way, Commander,” Rainor snapped at the man. He shifted his pack to one shoulder, leaving his right hand free.

I nodded my head at my friends, indicating that I would bring up the rear of our procession. I wanted to put some space between me and Rainor. There was something in the way he was moving that made me believe he had not expected this type of reception. He was stiff and watching the men escorting us very closely and his hand was hovering over the exposed butt of his taser weapon.

Ben gave a quick, suspicious glare to the guards and slowed his pace to walk with me. He wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me close, giving the casual observer the opinion that we might be lovers.

“Something is very wrong,” he whispered in my ear. “Stay on guard and be ready to get out of here if they try to unarm or confine us in any way.”

I leaned into him and tilted my head in a barely detectable nod.

The guards led us through a maze of windowless tunnels and stairwells and up three levels before we were ushered into a large, garishly decorated chamber. The room was poorly lit, with only flickering clusters of candles and two small windows fixed high in the outside wall for light.

The first thing I noticed, when my eyes finally adjusted to the dimness, was the large, ornate throne standing on a high dais to the right-hand side of the room—a throne that was conspicuously unoccupied. The throne and a narrow, chest-high cabinet were the only furniture.

Ben nudged my side and nodded in the direction of one of the guards stationed about the outer edges of the room. “Wonder if they’re here for the sake of the missing occupant of the throne or for the protection of that?” he whispered in my ear.

I didn’t answer, but I did turn my attention to the cabinet, wondering what might be concealed beneath the dark blue cloth draped over it. I was reaching with my mind, trying to find a hint of what it was, when the commander snapped at us to follow him.

“This way, please.” He led us toward a wall of billowing curtains of the usual royal blue and a nearly invisible doorway behind the throne. Nodding at the two guards positioned in the shadows at each side, he told them, “Prince Rainor and his guests are expected.”

The nearer guard nodded and drew the drapes aside while the other reached to throw open the door.

Nodding in acknowledgement of something that was obviously customary, Rainor turned to the frogg hopping along at his heels. Pointing one finger at him, he ordered, “Stay here, Ralph.”

After the dim, poorly lit halls and throne room, the chamber we entered was brilliant. Tiny silver and gold-tinted glow-globes had been strung together and hung in curtains over the plain polished coral of the inner wall and tinkled softly with the movement of the air in the room as we passed. Obviously part of one of the many turrets we had observed from the air, the outer wall of the room had been constructed of giant glow-globes instead of coral. The light gathered and magnified by the curvature of the globes produced an effect that was almost welcoming.

Unfortunately, all the soft light and billowing curtains in two worlds could not have made the image of the creature holding court at the center of the room welcoming.