Banished To Earth, Book Two, Dreamscape (31)

Chapter 59

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 ‘I did that?’ Davin thought…  ‘Not so dead after all. How? He made me mad. I lashed out. I just don’t know how. Anyway I hurt his head… But more importantly I touched the outside. And I had to get through all his darkness to do it…. I not only found a weapon. I found a door. I’m not just inside. I’m connected. This is great. Can’t let him know I’m here, though… He manifested as a shadow at Trudy's house, gave himself away. Gotta be smarter than that. Pry saw it first. Pry. Oh Pry, you thought you were doing good. Turns out, you were. I’m dead, bodiless anyway.  But I’m right where I need to be.

    What’s that old saying about keeping your enemies close. Well I'm sure doing that all right. But she can’t be doing good to herself. I know her. She’s gotta be wracked with guilt. Sure wish I knew for how long. And what’s this about Stayner. They know about him. How. Changed again? What does that even mean. It means it is what it sounds like, I guess.

   It also means I gotta watch out for his blood. Mutagens, must be. A  shark ate him, then became him, wild, scary wild. He was bad enough as a human, but now. If he’s become some sort of hellish nesting doll, he could be anything. That’s not good at all. What was the last monster that attacked us?  Oh no, it was that leviathan dragon thing. The thing breathed fire and was huge, and it was on the same beach as Stayner. Oh crap, please be wrong Davin, please be wrong.

I need to reach out to Pry, maybe my dreamscape, worth a shot, can’t do it now though. I gotta watch Chase eat. Yay!

    Chase had not bothered to look up for any significant length of time, had he, Davin might have had a clue about the Transit Authority’s ‘people’ at least their appearance.

    The hallway, quite wide and like the room, dull yellow, nothing unusual stood out about it, just a spiraling incline.  

    Silence amplified the sound of their heavy hard-soled boots as they walked. Surely the ships had engines, but they felt not the slightest vibration. They said nothing, smelled nothing, felt nothing, but the usual trepidation, as they continued walking up the ever curving incline until they finally entered the massive ornate archway at the end of the hallway. It swallowed them easily; it could have swallowed a small house.

    ‘….why so big…’Davin wondered. Then…

   “Come my children.” The words boomed and screeched like rusty metal grinding against granite. Thunder in the distance.

     Swirling mist swirled far ahead of them. Nothing but vast emptiness and the fog lay before them. Behind them the archway loomed. Before them their Gods…

     They looked at each other, saw uneasiness, swallowed hard, joined hands and started their long trek across the cavernous 'dining' room.

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    Neither of them knew exactly why, their benefactors chose to make them walk such a distance. They could only guess. Was it to impress upon them the significance, the privilege of being in their presence? Most likely. A great prize that must be earned, and an act of faith walking far, through impenetrable mist compelled by nothing more than their words, their invitation.

    Of course, Mother and Son knew full well, this was no invitation. It was a summons. Yes they would eat the food provided for them. But like their lives, easily taken away for the slightest provocation or whim.

    They had emerged from the bio-generation chambers that had repaired Chase’s body and reconstituted Mabel, knowing this. Compliance or death a simple contract they dare not break.

       Ten minutes later, the mist slowly thinned. Their nostrils welcomed the sweet familiar scent of bacon and sausage.

   A large white crescent shaped table slowly emerged as the ship’s fog dissipated. Perfectly positioned within the table’s curved interior, two yellow deeply cushioned chairs sat waiting for them.

    At first glance they might have thought they were at any breakfast buffet on Earth. No exotic unidentifiable foods could be found.

      Eggs, scrambled and fried, rested in glass bowls, waited to be devoured. Beside them sat platters of sausage, bacon, fruit of every kind, toast, white whole grain and muffins. There was even a big bowl of grits.

    All the necessary utensils and beverages; cups glasses, a coffee urn, a pitcher of milk napkins and water, completed their breakfast display.

     There was no doubt the Transit Authority knew all about Earth. Message received. Lesson learned.   

    Looming before them, a wall that appeared not to have a ceiling curved around them, not unlike the Hoover dam as seen from a canoe far below. Their skin prickled. Every hair on their bodies stood to attention. They were coming.

    The yellow wall slowly lost its smooth solid appearance, the fore wake of a massive shift portal forming. Two thrones seemingly carved from giant pearls, rose like mountains as they rushed at them from the massive wall of distorted air.

    Gaunt grey skinned figures, cloaked in white flowing garments, looked down at them from the thirty-foot-tall hovering thrones.  Wisps of grey hair straggled long and stringy over skeletal heads, that housed black pits that could be nothing but eyes.

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     Fluttering skin slits, obviously serving as noses located just above lipless mouths that could have just as easily been bloodless lacerations smiled down at them, as the floating thrones, eased to a stop and settled down twenty feet from their breakfast table.

   The loose robes hid their feet as six fingered hands protruded from flapping oversized sleeves that were inhumanly long and bony. Grey skin stretched to the point of splitting covered their nearly fleshless bones.

   Though the tone of their voice had been entreating, nothing resembling benevolence exuded from them.

 

     Modestly dressed in a dull grey shift, that covered her arms and went an inch below her knees, Mabel as before, felt naked in their presence.

   The twenty-five foot tall, Fev, the larger of the two, possibly male, sat to the right of them. Sersa, likely female, leaned toward him on her throne.

   “Sleep well?” As before. They spoke in unison, as though they shared one mind and one voice.

    “Yes, yes we did.” Chase said.

   “We?” They asked.

   “Forgive. We are not joined. I slept well. I have no idea how my mother slept.”

   Sersa snorted, a thin line of mucus rolled from her left nose slit. “You may sit. You may eat.” They said.

 Chase and Mabel bowed their heads, until they heard them say, ‘now’. Then, they sat.

  

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    And so, it was.

    Powerful as Chase was, he knew even the slightest deviation from their will would result in agonizing pain and quite possibly death, from which he had no defense much less escape. His fear and resentment resonated all the way down to Davin. Not having a mouth to smile with, he grinned in his mind and listened intently, for yet another nugget, another stone to put in his sling as it were…

    They ate in silence. The Urgis, what they called themselves, studied the Terrans, with scalpel sharpness. Chase and Mabel sensed that every breath they took, every beat of their hearts were being measured, closely examined and judged. They were.

     Twenty minutes of agonizing scrutiny mercifully passed. Their stomachs full, they pushed away from the table and thanked the Urgis for a fine meal, with silent head bows.

   “Now.” Urgis’s voice was not only stereophonic but intense, “What of the infection. This Stayner creature. It may well be your replacement. We have not decided. It may prove to be a welcomed unforeseen development. Possibly a superior species, one, even we, have failed to produce. 

    “Your thoughts?” They asked with uncharacteristic respect. It was another test.

    Chase rose, having been taught speaking to them from a sitting position was a sign of deep disrespect. 

   His body tense, sweat rolling down his forehead. ‘replace…’ he thought. The word burned against his heart like acid. “Really?” His tone -soft, sweet with childlike curiosity, a sham to save his and his mother’s life. “And me and my mother?  You would waste such an investment.”

    “If you serve no purpose. Yes.” Urgis replied as their eyes narrowed and gauged the Terrans response. Mabel, her head bowed, hid her face.

    “And you Mother? Your thoughts?”

 She rose, head still bowed.  “Your will is without flaw. I gladly submit to it.”

  “It seems highly unlikely this new monstrosity would prove as civil and respectful as the two of you.  A test of strength, of will, resourcefulness is still required. Mabel will accompany you to the surface. Find Stayner, defeat him and cleanse the planet of his offspring, along with all the other beast, Terran and not. Fail and be replaced. A simple

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matter, clean and productive.

   We lost you for a moment Chase. You were not and then you were, his doing, he and his kind. He is gone; however he was not alone.

     An outsider, long dead from far beyond our Galaxy, yet still among us, hides on Terra. You will find her, end her.

     This alien witch masquerading as a monster and her alien infection polluting our world, corrupting our will, must be destroyed or harnessed. Fail and forfeit all. Succeed we leave the Earth in you and your Mother’s care.” They rose; it was like watching fully grown pine trees spring from the ground.

   “Thank you for your gracious gift of servitude.” Mabel said as she raised her head and smiled sweetly at them.

   “If you are superior you will succeed. If not, your presence, an incumbrance that must be eliminated. Do not forget this.”

    Davin knew he must find Pry, warn her and the others. They were safe. Maybe for now. He had not stepped beyond the barrier, so he had no way of knowing just how safe they really were. Nor did he know he must find a way to save Pry from herself…