Sample chapters

Chapter 1

 

“Nothing happens unless we first dream.”

                                       Carl Sandburg

 

         

 

 

I am Vixtan!

Words came into Jamie Richards’ mind as clearly as if someone had spoken them aloud. She was instantly awake. Nausea swirled in her belly. Pins and needles prickled her skin. She sat up against the trunk of the old apple tree and looked around Macungie’s orchard.

“Who said that?” she asked.

Afternoon shadows had lengthened since she’d laid down to nap. The sky was mirror clear except for a puff of cloud suspended lazily above. 

I must collect you!

The voice startled her again. It was so clear, so distinct. She scrambled to her feet.

You do not require a mortal shell to house your spirit as we travel the strings. I will provide a duplicate of your physical when we reach our destination.

“Who’s speaking?” she shouted. “Who’s there?”

She spun around and noticed someone lying beneath the apple tree with their hands pillowed behind their head and a math book beside them. She recognized the face. Fear spiked.

“That’s me!” she shrieked and looked down.

Nothing was there. Her body, her legs, her feet, everything was gone. Her unseen hands swished through empty space where her chest and stomach should have been.

The cloud dropped and enveloped the orchard in dense mist. The mist swirled and condensed into a single, basket-ball size ball of spinning fog.

Your spirit will only be away from this dimension for a few seconds. Your body will be safe.

Jamie looked at herself asleep under the tree.

“Is this a dream?” she asked.

Dream worlds are as real as the physical.

The cloud enveloped her consciousness and they bolted into the sky. It was a weird feeling, as if she were stuck inside a helium balloon let loose. Her belly swooned. Borders of the orchard disappeared as they reached the bright white haze of the upper atmosphere. A moment later, she felt Vixtan’s consciousness leave her own. Dots of multi-colored light appeared, swirled in a tornado around her, and assembled into her body, complete with the brown button-down shirt and blue jeans she’d been wearing. Air beneath her feet became a solid, yet marshmallow-consistency. She patted her face, her sides, wiggled her fingers and toes; ran a hand through her long, brown hair. It all felt real. 

A humanoid being, small and rail-thin, stepped toward her. Two enormous, pupil-less black eyes stared at her from above a small, knobby nose and horizontal slot of a mouth. A gray body suit covered its entire body like skin. It had hooves for feet.

“Vixtan?” she questioned.

“This is what my people looked like before we evolved into pure energy,” Vixtan replied.  

“What is this?” Jamie asked, her voice quaking. “Where am I?”

“Not where,” Vixtan corrected. “When. This is the city of Phelastia, which exists three hundred thousand years in your future.”

Mist cleared as if wiping a fogged lens. Huge, ivory-colored spires jutted into the pearly atmosphere and sparkled in the ultra-bright light shining from a pinpoint sun. A clear spheroid dome formed a soaring roof above the city’s other geometric-shaped buildings and encased the entire metropolis within a colossal, arcing, transparent shield. To their left, a shimmering, silver path cut through the swirling cloudscape and led into the great city.

Jamie stood stunned, slack-jawed, and stupefied. She scratched absently at a mosquito bite on her arm.

They stepped onto the shimmering path, which jiggled like gelatin as they walked. Dozens of beings nearly identical in appearance to Vixtan rose from the cloudscape and knelt as if she and Vixtan were passing royalty.

“Those who are able wanted to greet you outside the city despite the danger of drifting patches of Ru,” Vixtan said, and quickened his pace. “Most have never seen a pre-nova human, especially the chosen Fen Ta.”

Jamie kept up beside him and nearly stumbled into one of the kneeling figures before regaining her balance on the wiggling walkway. She glanced back along their path. The crowd of Phelastians followed a few yards behind and formed an entourage that swelled in size as they neared the city.

They approached two ornate iron gates guarded by Phelastians wearing full, knight-like body armor. The armor-wearing Phelastians bowed and waved them into an immense courtyard constructed of opalescent marble. A massive three-tiered fountain situated in the center, bubbled glacial-clear water that bounced and refracted brilliant winks of light. Manicured bushes covered with various shades of blue and green leaves grew in gold cylinders along the perimeter. Thin wisps of cloud-haze pooled in the uneven grooves and corners of the floor.

“This is amazing!” Jamie stated.

Vixtan nodded. “Our great city of Phelastia was our pride and joy.”

Jamie cocked her head. “Was?”

Vixtan continued through a smaller gateway, across the courtyard, and into an ornate cathedral with high, ivory walls. Crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling.

They entered a wide columned hallway patterned with varying shades of white and gray marble. Pictures of orange trees ripe with fruit lined the walls. The hallway ended in a spacious room draped with elaborate tapestries of vivid color. Four Phelastians sat around a rectangular table carved from a huge purple gemstone. The Phelastian at the farthest end stood up.

“Welcome, Fen Ta,” the Phelastian greeted. “We are honored by your presence. My name is Shooka Ella. I am High Chair to the Council of Phelastia.”

An alarm blared. Mood instantly electrified. A dozen Phelastians clad in full armor marched into the room and lined up against the wall. Each held a metal tube about the size of a baton. Vixtan ushered Jamie to stand beside Shooka Ella.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

Phelastian soldiers aimed their metal tubes at a set of tall double doors at the far end of the room. Handles jiggled and the latch appeared to strain outward, as if something huge were pushing against it. Odors of raw onion overspread the room.

The doors burst open and a towering, albino, gorilla-like creature with long arms lumbered through the doorway. Fine, translucent fur covered its burly body. Knife-size talons poked from its thumbs and three fingers. It wore a brown tunic.

The creature faced Shooka Ella and then its enormous, pupil-less black eyes glared down at Jamie. A shiver raced along her spine.

“Is this the pre-nova human?” the creature growled.

“Yes,” Shooka Ella replied. “She will be the Fen Ta at the signing as Delegate Zare agreed.”

“I am Core!” the creature announced. “Leader of the Dwellers and successor to become overlord.”

Core lurched back from the table and the Phelastian guards targeted their metal tubes at his head. He curled his lips, exposing long, yellow, plaque-encrusted, canine teeth and laughed a sound like a pig slaughtered.

“No need for this aggressive display,” Core said. “If I wanted to destroy you, Shooka Ella, you’d already be a pile of dust sifting across your beautiful courtyard. We meet two hours before lights end at the Shrine of Bella to sign the treaty and formally end the hostilities. This is all I came here to say.”

Core loomed over Jamie and glowered. Fear prickled the small hairs on her neck.

“Your generation is weak, human!” he stated. “It sickens me that I evolved from you.”

He strode through the double doors and two soldiers moved quickly to close and lock them.

Shooka Ella turned to Vixtan. “Take the Fen Ta to the nutrient replenishment structure and then show her the places we discussed. Bring her to my chambers for a final briefing when your task is complete.”

 

Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

They crossed the courtyard and entered a huge, octagon-shaped building. Identical-looking Phelastians sat four to a table in dozens of long rows. Each table had a large crystal about the size of a bowling ball placed in the center. Bowls of different colored sauces graced the tables. Slurping was the only sound.

“Please, sit.” Vixtan said. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really,” Jamie whispered, and took a chair.

“You do not have to lower your voice. The others are involved in their own telepathic conversations. Pre-nova verbal communication is not an intrusion to them.”

“Why is everyone saying that? Pre-nova?”

“Pre-nova is the period before the sun collapsed into a neutron star, after which we base our linear time. Much like your cultures’ system of A.D. and B.C.”

Jamie’s attention piqued. “When does the sun collapse?”

“Not for tens of thousands of years after your generation.”

Vixtan stared at the crystal, which then flashed as if a match had ignited inside. 

“I ordered nourishment,” he said. “It will strengthen the cohesion of your spirit and allow you to remain on this time level for a longer period.”

A Phelastian approached and placed a silver tray containing two golden bowls of brown sauce onto their table. The Phelastian also put down two spoons and two crystal goblets filled with clear liquid.

Vixtan lifted a spoonful of sauce. His lips morphed into a straw and he slurped the contents. His lips retracted.

“Please eat the Jiji broth,” he said. “It is important that you consume.”

She dipped her spoon into the bowl, lifted, sniffed, and then sipped. A flavor similar to diluted beef gravy hit her tongue. She drank some of the clear liquid, which tasted like water, and then cleared her throat.

“Who are you?” she asked. “What is all this?”

“Phelastians are the final great mutation of humanity,” he said, poising his lips to sip. “The last evolutionary stage of mortal consciousness on this dimension.”

“You’re human?”

“We were.”

Vixtan finished the Jiji broth and rattled the spoon in his empty bowl.

“Consume your broth,” he said. “There are some unpleasant sites you must visit before you fulfill your role in these proceedings.”

She guzzled the remainder and then got up and followed Vixtan across the courtyard and into a mammoth square building. They walked down a long, white hallway toward a dead end. The closer they approached the dead end the more the air smelled of bleach and antiseptic.

“What is this place?” she asked.

Vixtan pressed a button concealed in the wall and the end slid open. Jamie’s mind exploded with Phelastian telepathic despair. Emotions of sadness and agony blew over her like a physical wind, knocking her back a step. She grasped at the entranceway for balance.

Inside a huge, warehouse-like area, hundreds, possibly a thousand beds lined up like the tables at the nutrient center. A Phelastian cloud swirled in each bed. Instead of being white, their cloud mist was slate gray. Dozens more wearing body suits scurried around tending to their needs.

“What’s…” Jamie struggled to speak. Psychic anguish pounded in her head. “What’s wrong with them?”

“They are casualties of war,” Vixtan replied, sadly.

Jamie noticed a Phelastian on a bed close to her trying to swirl its wisps into a more solid form. Its color was almost black. In a strained, telepathic projection, the Phelastian communicated; Save…  

A piercing headache slammed into Jamie’s mind. She winced against the pain.

Us.

The Phelastian settled back onto its bed. Its lower half flared white and then turned to dust. Explosions of agony jarred Jamie’s consciousness. Her eyes filled with tears. Her knees weakened and she stumbled. Vixtan steadied her and then led her quickly out of the room and down the hallway. 

“Azaria has ended,” Vixtan said, his voice morose. “I will miss her.”

“That Phelastian just died?” Jamie asked.

Vixtan nodded. “Yes.”

“But you didn’t even try to save her!”

“There was nothing we could do. Our medicine supply in the city is depleted.”

“What’s wrong with them?” 

“They are infected with the Ru, a synthetic disease manufactured by the Dwellers. Dweller terrorist groups concoct ways to fly up here and pump Ru into the city. Those Phelastian citizens are the casualties from the last wave of attacks, before the treaty and the agreement to end hostilities.”

They stepped outside. Jamie felt relief from the psychic bombardment, but emotionally drained.

Vixtan leaned close and his voice grew soft. “We’ve kept our casualties hidden from Dweller spies but we don’t know how much longer we can keep them a secret. We still possess a few units of a medicine that acts as both a vaccine and a cure for the current virus. It comes from the juice of an extremely rare fruit. We don’t have enough to treat those already infected, but the immediate population is protected for now. Dwellers believe we have become immune to their laboratory diseases. We can’t let them know we use this medicine. Core would never have agreed to this treaty if he fully realized the advantage the Dweller Empire has. He needs only to manufacture a new strain and he could end the rest of us.”

Jamie looked skyward. The translucent outline of the dome protecting the city reflected the stratosphere like smears of rainbows on glass.

“What am I doing here?” she asked. “And what’s a Fen Ta?”

Vixtan’s face set into unreadable lines. “Only Shooka Ella can tell you the information you seek.”

“When will I speak with him?”

“Soon. There is one more place that I was instructed to take you.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

 

 

 

 

Vixtan led Jamie to a large, triangular vehicle with a tinted glass roof. The vehicle hovered on a cushion of air about a foot off the ground. Silver doors flipped up like bat’s wings as they approached.

“Is this a car?” Jamie asked.

“It’s called a speeder. Originally, developed for Earth combat they proved useless against the planet’s terrible windstorms and raw, jagged terrain.”

Jamie lowered into the bucket seat. Except for a few buttons, a flat monitor, and flashing green LEDs along the dashboard, the interior was sparse and spacious. Vixtan settled beside her and the doors closed. He pushed a button.

The speeder jerked into motion and jetted silently across a vast, unoccupied area of the courtyard. Jamie stared out the windshield as they cut through misty wisps of drifting cloud and approached another industrialized section. She watched buildings pass, each a different geometric shape from the next: rectangles, high cylindrical skyscrapers, various size octagons and hexagons.

The speeder slowed and stopped in front of a smaller gray building, the only structure in the city not colored white, which fostered the illusion that the structure was somehow more ominous than the others. Vixtan pressed a button and a shelf underneath the speeder’s console flipped open. He took out a small metal tube, placed it into a holster, and strapped the holster to his side.

“This is only a precaution,” he said.

Doors opened and he unfolded from the seat. Jamie followed. Four armed Phelastian guards stood on either side of a large, gray door. They nodded to Vixtan as he and Jamie approached. One typed into a device mounted on the wall.

A click sounded and the door opened.

Cankerous odors of rotting onion invaded Jamie’s nostrils. She gagged and covered her mouth and nose with her hand. A guard handed her what looked like a blue motorcycle helmet.

“This breathing device is also for your protection,” Vixtan said. “If the occupants in here knew you were the Fen Ta, they would tear the place apart to get at you.”

She put on the mask and cool oxygen replaced the putrid smell.

“Where are we?” she asked.

Vixtan stood a little straighter.

“The Dweller Detention Center,” he replied. “Our prison.”

Their footsteps echoed through the dimly lit hallway. Vixtan led her down three flights of stairs, where six more armored Phelastian guards stood at another door, this one heavily bolted. A guard typed into the wall and the others stationed their weapons.

Locks clicked open with a pinging sound. Three guards escorted them inside. Hundreds of barred cells lined a seemingly endless stretch of hallway. Each small cubicle housed a single, isolated Dweller. The creatures stirred as the group walked past, a few snarled. Jamie practically felt their dark eyes and harsh stares as they examined her.

These are terrorists and murderers, Vixtan projected. The worst Dweller criminals.

He led her to a cell some distance from the others. A huge Dweller emerged from the shadows and lumbered up to the bars. Jamie stepped back reflexively. The Dweller appeared old and decrepit.

“Greetings, Vixtan,” the Dweller grunted. His ancient, grapefruit-sized eyes shifted to look at her. “Is this the one?”

Vixtan nodded. “Yes.”

The Dweller lowered his head.

“Greetings, pre-nova Earthling. I am Zare, Emperor of the Dwellers and chief negotiator for the peace treaty.”

“Zare is here for his own protection,” Vixtan added. “There are still Dwellers who do not wish for peace. Who would assassinate him to destroy the negotiations.”

Zare poked a talon through the metal bars. Jamie reached out to touch it but her hand passed through as if it were a hologram.

“My time of ending is near,” Zare said. “These final negotiations must be resolved quickly. If Core knew my poor state of health he would cancel the treaty, wait for my end, and seize control of the delegation.”

 “Core has agreed to meet this evening at the Shrine of Bella,” Vixtan said.

Zare nodded. “This is good news. Has the Fen Ta been told of her duties?”

“Not yet. Shooka Ella wanted her to meet with you first to show that not all Dwellers are like Core.”

Zare motioned for Jamie to come closer to the bars. She leaned in.

“This war started centuries ago by a fearful race because of their insecurities about their own evolution,” he said. “Times have changed. This senseless destruction no longer has relevance or meaning in our two societies. Only the ignorant still hate without reason.”

He growled low, in obvious pain. “Core is one of the ignorant. He wishes only that the Phelastians would end.”

Zare staggered to the far side of his cell, leaned against the wall, and slid down to the floor. His imaged dimmed. Jamie saw dirt smudges through the outline of his semi-transparent form.

“Go now,” Zare groaned. “We will meet again at the Shrine of Bella.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

 

 

 

Shooka Ella sat in a plush purple chair behind a huge, white marble desk, in the center of a palatial room that had the décor of a Victorian castle. Gazing intently at a thin scroll of paper, he glanced up as Jamie and Vixtan entered.

“Now you know the horrible atrocities caused by this war,” Shooka Ella said. “And why it must end.” He rolled up the scroll. “Vixtan, please leave us.”

Vixtan bowed and stepped away. Shooka Ella stood and walked to the only window Jamie had seen in the city. Heavily barred, it overlooked the courtyard.

Shooka Ella indicated the chair. “Please sit, Fen Ta. I assume your first question is, why are you here?”

Jamie nodded, but remained standing.

Shooka Ella spoke; “In the simplest terms, the Fen Ta is an arbitrary witness to the signing of a treaty legalizing it into a binding document. In the truest meaning of the title, the Fen Ta must exist on a different time level or be from another planet and have no former knowledge of or opinions about the histories between the two parties. You are to be the Fen Ta at the signing of a peace treaty between the citizens of Phelastia and the Dweller Empire. As the Fen Ta, you will hold the treaty until all participants have arrived, then carry it to the table. You will stand beside Core; Zare will stand beside me. After Zare and I have both marked our insignias, you will take the treaty and follow us around the perimeter of the Shrine of Bella, where we will both put down our weapons. You will then pour the Krishka, a tannic liquid distilled from the petrified remains of field grasses, for the traditional drink of peace, thus ending the hostilities forever.”

Jamie stared at him with disbelief. “That’s what I’m here for? That’s why I traveled through time? To pour a drink?”

“There is always a great risk when one attempts to make peace,” Shooka Ella replied. “Every measure no matter how seemingly insignificant must be taken to ensure success.”

“Why me? Of the trillions of people throughout time that you could have chosen, why did you choose me?”

“Both sides agreed the Fen Ta must be from pre-nova, since that era in history is when humans possessed equal primal and intellectual capacities and emotions. Zare was the one who officially chose you, and Vixtan"”

“Why did Zare choose me?”

“Ask him that question yourself after the signing.”

Jamie stepped beside Shooka Ella and looked over the courtyard toward the seemingly boundless, misty horizon.

“Who started this war?” she asked.

Shooka Ella locked his hands behind his back and straightened his shoulders. “There was a time when all creatures on this time level, both physical and formless, lived on Earth as one great civilization devoted to intellectual gain. Those who were born without bodies could ride the strings and travel"”

“Strings?” Jamie interrupted.

“Everything in creation from atoms to stars are made from one ingredient, tiny vibrating strands of energy we call strings. Vibrations from these intense, microscopic energy rings are what build reality, including time levels, quantum dimensions, and parallel universes. Phelastians have learned to travel along these vibrations. Our travelers explored deeper and deeper into various Earth pasts until they discovered pre-nova, a period in humanity’s evolution when emotions such as greed, lust, and anger were a part of everyday sensations. Travelers relished these primal feelings. Raw emotion is undeniably a more powerful aphrodisiac than thoughts and ideas. When the travelers returned they described these new sensations to those who could not ride the strings, those with material bodies. Initial excitement mutated into jealous envy. Those with bodies broke away from the collective and formed savage groups where they lived free of law and intellectual pursuits, exploring their own deviances. Calling themselves Dwellers, they preferred to reside in caves rather than abide by the rules of the world culture.”

Shooka Ella stepped back to the desk and picked up the scroll. “Dwellers soon realized that immersing themselves in primal emotions comes at a steep price; total and complete anarchy. Many longed to return to our society of spiritual and intellectual pursuits. To decide if a merge was possible, those who could travel formed the Council. They voted negative. Dwellers had become so violent the Council had no choice but to turn them away from the culture, back to the dead and blighted soil outside the city-state. In revenge, Dweller scientists developed the Ru virus, a synthetic bacteria that destroy the energy cohesion of those without bodies, turning them into dust. Dwellers released it upon the city-state without warning, ending over a million in one day. That’s when the war began. That’s when we moved into the sky and built Phelastia. Now, both sides have sustained immense losses and pushed our civilizations to the brink of extinction. We have the technology to end the Dwellers forever and they have the ability to end us. Mutually assured destruction. We are at a stalemate in our political ideologies. We must move forward in peace.”

Vixtan and two Phelastian guards marched into the room. One carried a white robe, which it placed over Shooka Ella’s shoulders.

“It is a gesture of good faith to arrive early,” Vixtan said. “It shows our eagerness and willingness to sign.”

Confusion stirred Jamie’s thoughts. “Where are we going?”

“Earth,” Shooka Ella replied, his voice dropping from oratory to determinate. “It is time to finalize the treaty.”

The group headed through the courtyard, the city gates, down the silver walkway, and into the puffy cloudscape. They approached a path of white flagstones that led to a hole in the cloud surface perhaps eight feet in diameter. Jamie stepped to the edge and looked down. The opening tunneled through the thick, cloudy interior. Far below, she saw patches of brown earth framed by dried out gullies and rocky dunes.

Shooka Ella lowered his head and touched his chin to his chest. He jerked his shoulders and his uniform detached and fell to the ground. His cloud hung in the air with his robe still attached by some unseen force. Two Phelastian guards also detached their uniforms. Vixtan stuffed the uniforms in a pouch in the robe, stepped away from the group, and headed back to the city.

The robe is made of a special material that allows it to bond with my energy, Shooka Ella projected into Jamie’s mind as he floated beside her. Step into me.

“What?”

It is the only way for you to travel to Earth.

She glanced down the hole again, summoned her bravery, and entered into the cloud of Shooka Ella. Her body exploded into sparks that quickly faded. She raised her hand in front of her face and saw nothing.

They lifted off the ground, floated over the opening, and dropped like a water-filled sack. At first, the interior cloud lining was a clean, milky-white, but as they lowered into dirtier stacks, the tunnel walls turned gray. Black soot darkened the last thousand yards.

Jamie/Shooka Ella exited the hole and flew through warm, soupy air saturated with an onion odor similar to the Dweller prison. Blue bolts of lightning tore across the gray, griddled expanse. Thunder rumbled in the distance. From their vantage point in the sky, Earth was the color of dried blood and littered with treacherous rocks. Petrified skeletons of broken wood stood where trees used to be. Twisted black branches sprawled like stone snakes. Jamie examined the western sky. Mountains loomed dark against the horizon. Turbulent squalls of cloud rolled around their peaks.

Shooka Ella sped over crests of boulders toward a flat area high atop a summit. Jamie’s sight tracked the mount. Cliffs plunged down around clusters of jagged stone that protruded like sharks teeth around the perimeter. Patches of prickly grass were visible against the granite face of the cliff.

As they got closer, she saw a large oval table centered in a ring of flared torches. The table’s smooth black surface reflected the flames like a witch’s cauldron.

This is the Shrine of Bella, the holiest place in the Dweller Empire. Dwellers released the first Ru virus here. Dweller Emperor Bella started the war, and he died fighting in it. It is only fitting that we end the violence at this location.

Shooka Ella settled to the ground.

Core and Zare will arrive shortly.

Jamie separated from Shooka Ella and watched millions of multi-colored specks curdle and form into her body. She patted herself to make certain she was solid. Shooka Ella and the soldiers sifted into their uniforms and handed her the treaty.

Core emerged from behind a column of rocks accompanied by two armed Dwellers. They strode to the table. Core towered over Shooka Ella, Jamie, and the other Phelastians, but Shooka Ella kept his regal composure.

“Where is Zare?” Shooka Ella asked.

“Don’t you know?” Core growled. “Zare ended in your prison. I will admit it was clever of you to hide him there.”

Core eyed Jamie and twitched his lip into a snarl. Saliva dripped from his jaw in a thin, pus-colored strand.

“Fen Ta, are you ready to perform your duties?” Core asked.

Jamie nodded and felt blood drain from her face.

Shooka Ella looked at Core and spoke calmly, “Let us proceed.”

Core stood at one end of the table. Shooka Ella stood at the other.

“Who is taking Zare’s place?” Shooka Ella asked.

“No one,” Core gurred. “I alone speak for the entire Dweller Empire. Fen Ta, do you have the treaty?”

Jamie glanced nervously at Shooka Ella. He nodded assuredly.

She concentrated on keeping her hand steady as she placed the treaty on the table. Core snatched it from her fingertips and looked it over hastily. His eyes crinkled.

“I am not for signing this treaty!” he stated. “If I had my way, Phelastia would be a pile of rubble and its citizens rotting from Ru!” Core glared at Shooka Ella. “And your Ru-plagued body would be kept in a glass jar at the entrance to my cave.”

Phelastian soldiers tensed. Dweller soldiers shifted to offensive postures.

“Nevertheless,” Core continued. “I am the leader of my people, and to be a great leader one must follow the wants of the masses. And they, for reasons I do not understand, have forgotten the divine principles behind this ancient war.”

“Peace is the only way our two civilizations can survive,” Shooka Ella said. “You know as well as I that the fighting cannot continue. It is time to ring in a new era. Let us benefit from each other and learn from each other, instead of taking away.”

“Learn from each other!” Core roared.

He punched his fists against the table and spilled the flask of Krishka. Phelastian soldiers raised and aimed their weapons. Dweller guards raised and aimed theirs.

“I would fight to my end to destroy you!” Core roared. “You, who sit safe atop the clouds, existing forever on the simple pursuits of knowledge and discovery! You prejudge and discriminate against us because we are not blessed with your infinite life spans and ability to ride the strings! You frolic in your sky-palace while generations of Dwellers succeed each other on this miserable, dead and blighted planet! You have nothing to gain from peace except for us to stop producing Ru!”

Core turned to Jamie and smacked his claw against his chest. “We should be next line in the evolution of humankind, not Phelastians! Humans are primal animals who thrive on the struggle to survive; this struggle is what makes us unique in the universe. We are not meant to become gas clouds living forever in the sky!”

Core stomped from the table, his eyes blazing.

Shooka Ella widened his arms. “Peace will allow both our races to evolve separately into two unique but different species.” His voice was strained but steady. “It is not logical to want to destroy something that poses no threat.”

“I agree,” Jamie muttered.

Core spun around and curled his lips, exposing teeth. “You know nothing, Fen Ta! Phelastia’s very existence is a threat to us! It is only a matter of time until Phelastians see the Dwellers as pests and exterminate us without conscience.”

“We would never commit an act of genocide!” Shooka Ella stated. “We are a peace-loving society!”

“How can the Dweller Empire be certain?” Core said, and lumbered back to the table. “I am bound to sign this treaty because I represent my people and this is what they desire. There is no other reason. Peace will reign, but it will be an uneasy peace, until Phelastians have proven trustworthy.”

“Fen Ta,” Shooka Ella said, firmly. “Your role is to observe the signing. Move to the left of Core.”

Jamie puckered up her courage and edged to the side of the huge beast. Core glanced down at her and bared his teeth. Fear of the creature boiled within. Shooka Ella stepped around to the other side of the table and refilled the flask of Krishka.

“Stop!” Core stated, and spun around to his guards. “Watch them!”

Dweller guards aimed their weapons before the Phelastian guards had a chance to raise theirs.

“Core, what are you doing?” Shooka Ella questioned. “We have worked so hard for this. Would you sacrifice your position, your people, for your own ego and personal beliefs?”

Core stomped around the table and up to Shooka Ella. His face twisted in contempt.

“My job is to protect my people,” he growled. “I will sign this scrap, but only if you allow my empire free and total access in and out of Phelastia. That is the only way we can be certain of your sincerity.”

Shooka Ella’s smooth face formed into jagged lines. “That was not part of the agreement.”

“Agreements change! You have the means to visit Earth at your every whim, should we not also have the same right to visit your world? Total access to your great city will prove to my people that you are genuine in your quest for lasting peace.”

Thunder boomed in the distance. Core retrieved a hunk of raw meat from a pouch on his belt and bit off a chunk.

“Take all the time you need to think it over,” he said. Scraps of pink flesh stuck in the spaces between his incisors. “But if any of you leave the Shrine of Bella, I will consider it an act of war.”

Shooka Ella took Jamie by the arm and led her away from the table.

I cannot allow Core access into Phelastia, he projected. The risk for sabotage is too great. Dwellers are pure, primal beings with no regard for any life but their own. Uniting must take time, generations… if ever.

“What else can you do?” she whispered. “You don’t want the war to continue.”

The price for peace may be too high. “Core!” Shooka Ella shouted and spun around. “Let’s talk!”

They returned to the table. Core glanced at his guards and they relaxed their aggressive stances.

“Do we have an agreement?” Core asked.

Shooka Ella took the treaty and walked to one of the torches. He held the paper close to the flame while glaring at Core. “Would you destroy everything we’ve worked for by making demands that you know I cannot honor? I cannot, and will not, agree to free access to Phelastia by the Dweller empire. This treaty aims for peace, not cohabitation.”

Core snarled and a drop of saliva splat onto the table.

“I have an idea,” Jamie offered.

“This issue is not one that requires the Fen Ta,” Shooka Ella said, sharply.

“Let the Fen Ta speak,” Core growled. “Speak, Fen Ta.”

Jamie’s whole body trembled. She looked at Shooka Ella, cleared her throat, and prepared her thoughts to explain the concept of integration. The process of slowly introducing the culture of the other so citizens can gradually understand and accept the differences. She’d recently learned about it in social studies class.

Fighting fear, she drew a deep breath. “I think allowing access is possible if…”

She heard what sounded like sedate rainfall and felt drops hit her face. She looked up but saw only a thick layer of clouds. More raindrops kissed her skin. She touched her face; it was dry. So was the surrounding ground.

An invisible, steady rainfall pelted her. She looked at Core, then at Shooka Ella. Nausea slapped her belly, and then the feeling of pins and needles washed over her flesh.

“Fen Ta!” she heard Shooka Ella shout. “You must not go back! Fight it! Fight the urge to wake up!”

She looked down and watched her legs disappear up to her knees. Her thighs and waist vanished next in quick succession. Her vision blurred. She glanced up, barely able to make out something that had stepped around the rock perimeter: a human being about her size wearing a brown shirt and having a mane of brown hair. She could not make out the face.

“Two Fen Ta’s!” Core roared. “What trickery is this? This is war!”

If you enjoyed this sample, please purchase the book using the link below or for all other ereaders at my blog. Thank you.

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006F2AGUQ

ALWAYS WRITING

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com