Shadows Chapter X: Flight

Author's note: the Ng'chrit'kee are a genderless species, as such, the pronouns "he" and "she" are inappropriate for them, as is "it," which is a gender neutral word, not genderless. So I have elected to take from the Turkish their third person pronoun "o" which also has no gender. I will use it for referring to any Ng'chrit'kee, and its possessive "onun" in place of "it" or "its."

I really didn’t want to get out of bed the next morning. Cuddled up with her perfumed softness, the world just hadn’t seemed so right to me in ages. The moment was perfect and I just didn’t want to let go.

An invitation to share breakfast with Captain nonetheless necessitated a departure from this comforting cocoon, and so we made use of the shower facility, with some effort resisting the strong temptation to distract one another, and quickly dressed. By now I was familiar enough with the layout of the freighter and so had no problem leading Shanima to Captain’s quarters.

The scene that greeted us when we entered was certainly not anything I’d expected. The lighting was erratically flickering and Captain was on onun knees before Bosun, held in place by writhing black tendrils wrapped about onun waist and outstretched arms. Bosun’s head was thrown back and smoky shadowstuff roared forth from onun mouth, spilling toward Captain to engulf o.

Despite my shock, I hesitated only briefly before slapping a control panel near the doorframe, using it to infuse a weave into the lights, enhancing them – steadying and brightening them, extending the range of frequencies which the fixtures could emit. Quickly the room grew brighter and brighter, forcing me to clench my eyes shut against the glare. Soon we shared a space with a solar flare of brilliance, its intensity shining red through my eyelids. I did not see the disintegration of the ebon mists, but by the time I let the lighting fade and managed to blink away the after-images, they were gone. Captain was on onun hands and knees, the nictating membranes over onun eyes blinking rapidly. Before onun lay Bosun, a motionless heap. Shanima stood with one hand braced against a wall, her eyes slowly opening and closing, trying to blink away the after-glare.

“What was that?” She was the first to speak, her voice tinged with shock and fear. Bob translated for Captain.

Getting to onun feet and doing onun best to take control of the situation, o responded, “I have no idea. I’ve never encountered such a thing. A parasite, perhaps? Is it gone?"

“It was a Shadowlord,” I explained, “a being of pure shadowstuff from another reality where the rules of magic and physics allow for such a thing. I’m afraid it must somehow have followed me through to this reality. I’m sorry about that. I left their reality in rather a hurry. As you saw, they’re not exactly very friendly.”

“But is it gone?” o asked again.

“I believe so, yes. If that worked, I destroyed it. The real question is, are there others? And is your Bosun all right?”

O bent over the Bosun and placed a spindly hand on onun chest. After a moment, o spoke with audible relief, “O is still breathing, if shallowly. Computer, summon medical. O will need attention,” straightening and turning to me, o continued, “Will o recover?”

“I honestly do not know,” I responded. “I’ve never seen one ejected from its host. I have no idea whether there are any deleterious effects from the possession,” I paused, thinking. “I think we have a greater concern, however,” another pause as I put my thoughts together, the pieces of a puzzle falling into place. “The power fluctuations, or, rather, the lighting failures. I do not think you’ll find a mechanical cause behind them. I do believe that the Shadowlord managed to possess others. That there are more of it now. Nexus is experiencing the same difficulties. I think it best we shove off and put some distance in between us and that station as soon as possible. In the meantime, I will work on affecting throughout the entire ship what I did here in this cabin, to rid us of any other unwanted passengers.”

“Agreed. I will alert medical to be ready to receive more patients. I’m afraid we shall have to cancel this morning’s breakfast. If what you say is true, I want us underway immediately. If you will excuse me?” Our dismissal was evident in onun tone, and so we made our exit after a nod of acknowledgement. Shanima took my arm as we entered the corridor outside Captain’s cabin.

“I want to help you with this. What you just committed yourself to doing is going to take an enormous amount of strength – I don’t think even you have it in you to do it alone.”

I gave her a look of incredulity, started to open my mouth, but was cut short.

“Now you listen here!” Letting go my arm, she stepped in front of me, planting her feet wide, one hand on her hip whilst wagging her finger in my face. “First, don’t even THINK you’re going to get rid of me. Not when I’ve just found you again after so long. And second, didn’t I already remind you that you’re not the only one capable of learning? Hmm? You are going to need my help on this, I’m capable of getting it, and you’re going to accept it whether you like it or not. END OF DISCUSSION!”

With that, she harrumphed, spun on her heal, and proceeded to march down the hallway with or without me. I had no choice but to follow that magnificent woman.

The Gatherer was already underway by the time we reached my cabin, as was belied by the slowly crawling stars dotting the black blanket of space that filled my porthole.

“That Captain doesn’t mess around, now does he?” Shanima commented over her shoulder as she stepped up to gaze upon the starscape.

“No, no he doesn’t. Though I didn’t expect us to be away from the station quite this quickly. Amazing how we didn’t feel a thing. Quite a feat of engineering, this ship must be.”

Despite the haste with which we departed Nexus, our flight was surprisingly uneventful. The lighting continued to flicker erratically, however, and with increasing frequency, heightening my sense of urgency for implementing the purge. IF I could muster the strength to do so. I just couldn’t wrap my head around Shanima as a manipulator of magics. Not yet, anyway – it just didn’t fit with my memories, and humans, it seems true even across all realms of reality, aren’t very good at breaking out of established perspectives. I was no different.

And so I found my contemplation of the dilemma excluding her, nevermind her insistence she could help. Instead, I plopped my posterior down upon the edge of our oh-so-comfortable bed, and proceeded to brood over the problem. Shanima, in quite typical form for her, gave attention to more immediate matters and set about discerning the operation of the food dispenser located next to the viewscreen. And in my typical fashion, I completely failed to notice her doing so. Some minutes later, she brought over a steaming plate of sausage and eggs.

“It doesn’t matter how strong you are, or if you have my help. If you don’t eat something, you’ll fall over.”

I stared gape-jawed at the fare before me that shouldn’t exist in this universe.

“Stop your gaping. You’ll catch flies that way. And I told you you’re not the only one who can learn, didn’t I?”

Perhaps that was just the slap in the face I needed to help alter my perspective. Snapping my jaw shut, I nodded sheepishly and accepted the proffered plate happily.

It seemed, in my past, that I was continually running away from something. Enemies, difficulties, bad memories. A single confrontation followed by flight. This was my pattern. Deirdre and the crystal flower, Al-Shahar’s succumbing to his hedonistic gluttony, my psychotic lunacy after Tik-Tarale’s fatal naïveté, the disaster on the world of the Two Tribes, the draconian Saliri of Pollo-Tom-Rollo’s world. All these I ultimately fled. And now, again, I found myself fleeing the Shadowlords. For the second time. I thought I had left them behind in their world, but they had followed me, and, once again, I fled.

I was tired of running. I had to stop, somewhere. What good were my abilities if all I did was gallivant around the multiverse mucking things up and then absconding away, putting veils and worlds in between myself and the consequences of my actions? It was time I faced my demons. Time I took responsibility for what I had wrought. Time to fight. First thing’s first. We had to ensure that this vessel we were on was completely free of the Shadowlords’ grip. Yes, we. I had to accept that I could not do this alone, and further, that Shanima was more than competent to fight by my side. I did not need to shelter her from the upcoming struggle. SHOULD not try to shelter her. She was my equal – maybe not in magical expertise (yet), but certainly in wits and bravery. And I had better start acting like it.

To be continued