DG 17(9) The Dreams of Gliese

In this chapter Domiarn and friends are called by Eva to Gliese 581, where Eva asks for help.

     DG 17(9) The Dreams of Gliese

Ahead of us is the corridor, and doors are on both sides of it. Logically, the second level repeats the pattern of the first one. With only one difference, all the doors on the first level are unlocked. I walk down the corridor, and push the doors. None opens.

A hand touches me.

-          Demi, I lost Iris… - Amaranta’s voice is weak, but she is full of determination to find out who is crying in the dark.

-          I’m here! �" Lio catches up with us. �" I lost consciousness, for the first time in my life, I might add. Where are we going any why?

-          We need to find this child! If you guys are too afraid to help, I can do it myself!

-          There is no one here, my dear. It is a ghost. They fly around, make noises… - Iris sighs impatiently. �" There could be a lot of explanations to the whimpering in the sublevel, but…

-          Quiet! There… over there, you can see in the dark �" what’s in that corner?

We stop, and I study the outlines of the walls. Nothing. Usually I can see the sound of the generator, too. But I can’t see anything. The length of the corridor is unknown. We’re going to be engaged in this wild goose chase all day. But if we do not walk all the way to the end, the stubborn girl is going to come back here alone, fall while pregnant… Oh, gosh.

Several more footsteps, made by us create an echo, that reverberates throughout the whole level.

-          Look. �" Iris touches me suddenly, pointing to the row of locked doors to the right of us. There is light coming from under one of them.

Amaranta notices that too, and runs to that door. But stops short of opening it, and freezes in frightened silence.

-          Whatever it is, it is not my mother! We can handle the rest! �" I smile and open the door together with baron.

The silver whirlwind lifts us up, and carries down the bright waves, full of light. This only lasts for a second, and it is as short, as amazingly pleasant.

There is still stone under our feet, but now this stone is not the floor of a dungeon, but a cliff, that ends abruptly, revealing a precipice on the left. A little bit to the right is a huge, loud waterfall, full of shiny long streams, intertwining between each other in weird, beautiful patterns.

-          Finally! I tried all the frequencies, including the binary signal, but you boys were unable to hear me! Only the girl heard my call. And not with her ears, but with her heart! �" A woman with long hair in a light jumpsuit is coming towards us. She smiles, and opens up her arms to embrace us.

-          Who is this? �" Iris whispers, but does not reach for the sword. The woman is way too fragile and too friendly, to represent any danger.

-          That’s Eva, Ari’s girlfriend. �" I answer in whisper, too, admiring her, afraid to scare her off, like a vision of beauty.

Eva hugs me, then comes up to Amaranta and takes her hand.

-          Where are we? �" The girl studies Eva’s face, and looks intently at the dark spot on her forehead, where there is a biological ultrasound generator, lodged in her brain, the same organ Iris and I have inherited.

-          Gliese 581. Its waterfalls are renowned for its stunning splendor. �" Ari’s girlfriend pets Amaranta’s hair, and I notice tears in her eyes.

And there is a huge, about three times bigger than mine, spaceship hanging over one of the waterfalls. It emanates the power and confidence, hard to describe, if a machine can be described as confident.

-          I knew it was a trap!! �" Iris takes out his sword with a loud screechy noise, and jumps at someone, hiding in the shadows. His growling and swearing is drowned by the noise of the waterfall.

No, really, the young man needs some anger management classes. We’ll send him there right after I’ll deal with my own anger issues…

Iris’s sword, blinding and fast as a lightning, goes right through the one it was aimed at, and I am stunned to recognize Ver, the activist of the Green Front, the alliance of sians, fighting for the fair treatment and freedom of humans.

It is impossible not to recognize him �" the human expression of his face is distorted by the waves, characteristic to the moods of a sian, his eyes are more human, than you could imagine in a hybrid, and his body is huge, just massive. His is dressed into some clothing, made of a thin stretchy material, and he does not react to the attack in any way.

The wind comes from nowhere, catching the streams of water, and the splashes fly into our faces.

-          Do not pay attention to that… It is just a projection of my mind. �" Eva’s voice trembles with pain. �" I have forgiven Ari, but I was unable to let go of Ver. His power over Ari is still disturbing to me. I can’t… get incarnated anywhere else because of that. The jealousy got the best of me. Ergs said that it is better for me to be incarnated on Earth. It is just about the only place in the Universe, that still teaches the ancient lessons of the illusion of pain. Everyone else had progressed ever since.

The picturesque beauty of the landscape around us changes, and suddenly we’re surrounded by trees, shedding multicolored leaves. One of the leaves spins in the air right in front of me, and I catch it in the palm of my hand. It is wet and cool to the touch.

-          How can we help you, Eva? �" Mesmerized by all the apparitions, I finally ask the obvious question. Not in vain did she call upon us, right?

-          I don’t have anyone else closer than you on Earth. �" Ari’s girlfriend looks at me with an unexpected tenderness. - You are Ari’s grandson. All the family I have left. And this girl… She is pregnant with a descendant of Triana, the senior biologist from Ari’s team. She was my friend. I can’t bring myself to be born in a human body. But I need the lessons. I talked to the boy, who was about to be born to Amaranta. He let me take his place… Forgive me! �" All of a sudden Eva falls to her knees in front of Amaranta.

Iris and I watch in awe, unable to say anything. The decorations around us change yet again, but now the famous waterfalls of Gliese transpire through the trees of Earth in a whirlwind of spinning autumn leaves.

But Ver’s spaceship still hangs over a cliff as a sad reminder of Eva’s emotional trauma.

Who is not surprised? Why, it’s Amaranta. She smiles, and runs her hand through the woman’s hair, and then sits down by her.

-          I even sent you the doll, that used to belong to your aunt… I wanted to curry your favor in the worst way… - Eva bows her head, crying unconsolably.

-          It’s OK… I always knew that I was going to have a girl! �" Amaranta looks at us with a victorious spark in her eyes. �" You guys owe me twice �" for not believing that I was going to give birth to a girl, and for not wanting to follow me to the sublevel!

-          Teach me how to overcome hatred in my heart! Give me the gift of love! �" Eva sighs, and hugs Amaranta, her future mother.

-          Come, I’ll be expecting you. We will play with the doll together, allright? I’ll give you the name of Tisa, my aunt’s name. Because I need lessons too. I used to hate my poor aunt. We both need to learn about love. �" The girl kisses Eva on the cheek, and I see that a soundless cloud of autumn leaves, red and yellow, flies at us, covering us completely.

The soft cloud envelops me in a tender cocoon, blocking the faces of my friends, and Ari’s girlfriend, it whispers something nice and sweet, but I’m unable to make out what. It carries me back home from Gliese 581, a lonely planet, lost in the endless horizons of the Universe.

It is cold and gloomy around again. This dungeon is very much in tune with the soul of my paternal grandfather, a realistic reflection of his soul, cold, forlorn and distrustful.

I feel that Amaranta cuddles to me, crying. I get up, help her, and we follow Iris, who is walking ahead, leading us out. As we go up the steps, Eva’s dreams light up our way �" her memories of the worlds she visited while working on Ari’s spaceship �" the worlds of wonder, filled with color and things unknown.

I do not know how long we were gone. Natakruna, who got used to anything, while serving me in this castle, turns her head when the door of the sublevel opens, nods to us with an absent-minded smile, and continues to put steaming dishes from the tray to the table.

-          Is that breakfast, lunch of dinner? �" Iris rubs his forehead, and squints.

-          It’s food! �" Amaranta jumps at the table, without skipping a beat, and starts slurping some soup from the plate.

I sit down and watch her, thinking of all the twists and turns of what we call fate, while it is just that �" the intertwining of desires of every participant of this fantastic performance called “life”.

-          What did she mean when she said that she can’t be born “in a body of a human”? Who the heck am I going to give birth to? �" Iris’s girlfriend drinks from a tall tankard, and raises one brow, waiting for the answer from me.

-          Well, you’re going to give birth to a hybrid between the base model of homo habilis, represented by you, and an advanced caristal model, represented by Iris, with a recessive gene of a sian.

-          Do not listen to him! You are going to have a star child! �" Baron Lio gets up from the table, hugs Amaranta, and kisses her on the head.

He’s got love in his eyes. It should be enough for the three of them, because I feel that I’m not going to be around much longer.

 

Author's Note

Please note these chapters are being translated frm the middle of the book, so not all the characters will be familiar. I know it needs editing, never mind that. All i need to know - if it was interesting to read, would you buy this book if this was the only chapter you read?