The simple test had yielded useful results. To Jorh and his two friends, it meant the young human child could feel, and manipulate, energies no other species but Kahnus could. She could interact at a higher telepathic level than any of the adults. Why? They still could not tell. It also meant a physical connection with the rest of the group would be necessary for what they had in mind, as they had expected.
“What does it mean? What do you want with Chasma?” Vera wasn’t so sure her daughter’s abilities were such a good thing. The mother in her couldn’t help but worry.
“It is not what we want with your daughter that matters, Vera, it’s why she is able to channel universal energies while none of you can. Only Kahnus can connect with a Zarfha. We have studied your kind, and we are baffled as to why she can do so,” volunteered Gahneo.
Vera looked silently at Chasma, pensive.
“Chasma was born here, on Mars. She is the first human ever born on this planet. Could that have something to do with it?” asked Dedrick.
“It is possible that helped in some way, but she is still human, regardless. Something else must be at play here…” He paused before turning his attention back to the platform in front of them. “I told you we had something to show you…”
From a delicate swerve of the hand, Jorh pushed the only empty chair to the back of the room and brought everyone closer. They were now all within arm’s reach of each other. Another intricate hand movement made a much larger sphere appear in the middle of the seated group, and Jorh reached out for Mahhzee and Gahneo, on each side of him. Their flexible tubular fingers interconnected and began to glow mildly of various colors. Jorh addressed the humans once more.
“We have ‘heard’ many of your questions. We believe this will answer most of them, if not all.”
As they all turned to look at the sphere now spinning faster and brighter, Mahhzee and Gahneo extended their free hands to the two colonists next to them.
“Please join hands,” asked Mahhzee, looking in turn at all of them.
At first a bit perplexed and hesitant, the eight humans soon complied. For François, who was the one seated closest to the female alien, the hesitation had been quite comprehensible. The long and tentacle like fingers of Mahhzee, each grabbed one of his fingers, as a tubular suction device would have. It instantly reminded him of a milking pump he had seen used on cows back on Earth. The sensation was foreign to say the least, but not unpleasant, he thought to himself. Directly across from him, at the other end of the circle, Liu, seated next to Gahneo, was going through the same odd experience. They both smiled at each other, feeling a bit strange and euphoric, like two drinking buddies sharing one too many drinks. The relaxed sensation soon went across everyone in the circle and was quickly replaced by a strong need to sleep. As the group slowly began to fall under, beautiful light waves of multiple colors began to swirl all around the sphere, extending progressively to the entire space around all of them. Dedrick tried in vain to fight the irresistible feeling of drowsiness, struggling to keep his eyes open on the beautiful light show taking place in front of him. It was a futile effort. Soon they were all asleep, but their minds were not.
Sabrina felt like she was falling in slow motion towards an invisible bottom, down a giant well surrounded by complete darkness. Although the sensation was unknown, she was surprisingly unafraid. She felt supported in some way, by something or someone. And with her eyes closed, she could “see” in this strange dream state. Soon, she was floating in space, countless stars surrounding her. A strong sensation of forward movement took over her, as if she was racing across the vast emptiness. Comfortably resting in her seat, she could see her colleagues floating along with her, their weightless bodies in their oversized flying chairs, slowly spiraling across the vastness. Flashes of light from stars zooming by appeared to flow right through them at times, giving the explorers a sensation of euphoria. It was an experience no word could describe, a feeling beyond any they had ever felt. And they soon realized something else. Their thoughts were shared as one and heard by all. The connection felt impossible and yet totally natural as well, almost comfortable and reassuring by its familiarity, and they could not help but feel a sense of calm and happiness they could not explain. They also knew they were not really there. It was a dream, a fantasy they were now experiencing in another dimension, occupying the abstract state between time and space. Their minds were adrift in a space they did not know, but felt reassuring and inviting, nonetheless.
Back in the spaceship, Jorh was in control of the ten beings asleep next to him. Mahhzee and Gahneo had the same ability to both be in the present and the past during a viewing, as they called it, but were passive spectators in this instance, sleeping conduits between him and the small human group. Of course, all three were capable of mentally exchanging similar viewing experiences without the need to be connected physically as they were all now, holding hands. They didn’t need to be asleep either, but Jorh and his companions had judged correctly that the humans would be telepathically limited to thought exchange only. To show the colonists visual memories or events, the three had to be physically connected to the humans by performing a melting, an ancient practice that had not been used for thousands of Kahnu years but was proving particularly effective in this instance. Jorh slowly opened his eyes and fixed a point on the ceiling above. Within seconds, the light around the room began to dim to a darker shade of purple, and the hovering spinning sphere in the center of the group began to display a light show like no human had ever seen. Unfortunately, none were watching. The group was now in a controlled state of sleep. On the platform in front of them, countless colorful lines, forming in and out of the sphere, flares weaving their vivid and luminous colors in countless shapes, moving like thin scarves flowing in an invisible wind, were now projecting a fantastic color light display across the entire white room.
Jorh, still controlling the sphere in front of him, sent a colorful burst of energy down his arms to his fingers, channeling through Mahhzee and Gahneo, on down to every individual in the room. Shimming through their unified awareness, a thousand small bells rang inside their heads, like countless droplets of water hitting a giant harp, and the blinding light of a million stars exploded in the infinite emptiness in front on them. As if sucked away by a powerful vacuum, their thoughts, feelings, bodies, and minds, helpless witnesses to an incredible experience they could no more control than resist, were now being taken on a ride along universal energies no other human ever knew existed.
Chapter IX
Kahnu
Floating silently into the emptiness of space, stars, and familiar celestial formations were beginning to become recognizable to them. Landmarks like the Orion Belt and the Big Dipper, which would have been better called sky marks, were easy constellations to spot for Dedrick’s team, after their countless years training with the Mars First space program. To their left, they could all see a larger body of light, a familiar celestial object they instantly recognized as the sun. They also soon noticed another bright body, far in the distance. They didn’t feel the sensation of pull anymore, but they were still floating in space, in their oversized egg-shaped chairs. Liu had just noticed, and so did all, that she could not see her own body; only those around her. Her hands and feet were there, she could feel them move, she could touch her chair with them, but she could not see them. They were completely transparent, as if missing. It was the case for all of them; a very strange realization. They did not dwell long on it. Vera was staring at the rapidly growing round object, when they all realized at the exact same time that they were approaching Kahnu, the alien’s home planet. This strange ability to sense and feel together as one was the most profound experience any of them had ever had. Although each individually retained the ability to think and look at what he or she wished, all of them thought and saw the same thing as well. Everything was instantly shared and understood by all, as if they were one entity, one individual, one mind. Within seconds, the large planet was taking most of the view in front of them, revolving slowly on itself, suspended in the darkness of space. If Earth was called the Blue Planet, this one would have deserved the Purple Planet title, without a doubt. Its atmosphere was almost completely free of clouds, giving the observers an unobstructed view of its geology. The alien world was one giant purple ocean, surrounding a single large, and mostly icy, continent.