When I opened my eyes, I found myself back in my hospital room, still secured to the bed by the neck and head traction. Everything that I had seen in my mind’s eye was now gone. The quiet, murmuring sounds of the subdued atmosphere of a hospital ward came to my ears and I knew that I was where I was supposed to be. Still, though, there was the echo of that thunderclap from my counter-spell wiping out the spell Wick had thrown at me. That, and the ozone smell from the explosive burning away of both spells. Now the echo and smell was causing a slight throbbing pain in the back of my head, but I was almost afraid to use my self-hypnosis trick to reduce the pain. However, the last time I did that 1 ended up inside Wick’s evil mind. I wasn’t ready to return to Wick’s world, yet. I decided that this one time I’d let medical science take care of the pain. So I reached for the call button and gave it a push, hoping the nurse would respond quickly.
A few seconds later, Nurse Mandell responded by entering my room. Three steps into it, she stumbled to a stop. Her mouth dropped open and then was covered by her hand. Her gaze was directed to the wall above my head. I craned my eyes upward, trying to see what she was seeing. However, because of the traction, I was unable to see any part of the wall above me. Nurse Mandell hurried to the side of my bed and placed her hand on my arm.
“Michael, are you all right? What happened in here?”
I looked at her, unsure what she was talking about. My voice must have confirmed my uncertainty. “Why? What’s on the wall?”
She looked up at the wall again before answering my question. “There’s a huge burned area on the wall. It looks a little like something exploded against the wall. Do you know what happened up there that might have caused that?”
I thought about that question for a long moment and then gave the only answer that I could give. “I—I think I can give you an answer for it, but it’s not going to satisfy you or anyone else. First, though, could you give me something, that’s not a narcotic, for a terrible headache? Then, if you’ve got a lot of spare time on your hands, I’ll try to explain something that seems to be a dream that’s more real than dream.”
She hesitated a moment, then, “All right, I’ll get you some pain medication right now. But your explanation had better be good. Maintenance is going to be very upset about this.” Then she walked back out of the room.
A little over a minute later, Nurse Mandell came back into my room. This time she was followed by another nurse. They were still talking as they entered.
“…looks just like someone threw a blob of ink against the wall, but it’s burned in.” The second nurse gasped in shock as she saw the area above my head. Then she walked up to where the bed met the wall and I could just barely see her stretching to reach the spot with her hand. Then she backed away, re-entering my vision, looking at her hand.
“It’s cold, real cold and it is burned.” There was the color of black soot on her fingertips. “How did this happen!”
Nurse Mandell had, in the meanwhile, approached the other side of my bed and poured a fresh cup of water. Then she held a small medicine cup to my lips, dumping two tablets into my mouth when my lips parted. When the end of the straw sticking out of the cup was placed between my lips, I pulled hard and got a satisfyingly cool drink of water to wash down the medication. She then addressed the other nurse. “Michael said that he might be able to shed a little light on what happened.” Then she gave me a questioning look with raised eyebrows.
I was still a little skeptical about telling them the exact truth, but I started anyway. “Uh, earlier you asked me about something you heard me say while I was unconscious. 1 told you that it was only a dream.” She nodded. “Well, I’ve begun to think that it’s a little more than just a dream.” I began at the beginning, when Lynarra first contacted me, telling me that I was Chalder, and ending with the explosion of the two spells. In the middle of my discourse, the other nurse left the room shaking her head unbelievingly.
Crash Landing
PRELUDE
The year was 2005. No longer was one country fighting against another country. All of the countries had abolished their respective governments and formed the World Benevolent Government: a worldwide government that served the people of the world. However, after ten years of peace and prosperity, conditions began to get worse. The resources on Earth were dwindling precariously low and the world population had grown too large for this small globe of earth and water to support. Raw food sources had to be augmented by man-made products in order to feed everyone. Chemical additives made sawdust taste like steak, but it hadn’t improved anything. The people thought up a nickname for the government: it became known as the ‘WoBeGone’ Government. The world leaders were unable to come up with any new answers to solve the problems of the growing population. Out of pure desperation, they began to look toward space and the possibility of colonizing other planets in the Solar System. Of all the planets, only Mars and one of Saturn’s moons could sustain life. But it was hard work there and not many people were that strong.
Then, in 2017, scientists perfected the process of suspended animation. They were then able to travel further distances. Small, four-man ships were sent to all of the neighbor star systems with the hopes of finding habitable planets. By 2045, great shuttles were taking off to three different systems. The ships would first make the trip from Earth to Sol Base-Saturnia. From Saturnia, they would travel in one of the three directions to their final destination. Each trip only took a few days in ‘ship time’. ‘Ship time’ involved the couple of days to leave the Solar System and then the few days to enter the destination system and the planet the ship was heading to. Actual ‘Real time’ could take anywhere from twelve to twenty years, depending on which destination they chose.
A few years after the Rigel System was opened to colonists, an alliance of scientists decided to make that their destination. The fourth planet out, CT-1030M, was named Panora and had been settled by a small colony. Panora was much like Earth, but had very little animal life on the planet. So the colonists were encouraged to bring their pets along. The alliance obtained four large ships to carry the technical, medical, and scientific staff along with other strong and hardy people. Also recruited for the trip was the designer of those ships and several of his co-workers and technicians. Doctor “Doc” Cephus Triskan had a very diverse background: Animal husbandry, physics, chemistry, architectural design and electronics were among the many fields in which he was conversant. He had also been the person who had designed and built the first somnambulance, or shipboard sleeping pods.
Doc Triskan decided to leave on the third ship and was given his choice of crew. It came as a surprise when he learned that the ship had been named after him: “The Triska.” As time to leave came closer, he interviewed all of the passengers that would be carried on the Triska. He wanted to know everyone that would be on board and which pets they would be bringing. He agreed with the policy that colonists bring their pets. The transition to a new home was made easier when those familiar were included in the move. He was bringing his cat. The love in his life was Doctor Phall Beccera. She was to be the medical person on the ship and she was bringing her cat as well.
The command staff, Captain Ross Kalm and his second, Kandyce Skandgel, were to be pilot and co-pilot. The navigation tech was a very accomplished young man by the name of Balth Mystral. These three had worked together before on runs to Mars and Saturnia. They had a close working relationship and it was rumored that they could read each others’ minds. At least, when they were working together each one seemed to know what the other needed without any words being spoken. And it had saved them before in many tense situations.