Kyra looked around the lab. Everyone accounted, standing shoulder to shoulder in tight quarters. Oddly enough, the room seemed empty without Kieran.“I appreciate everyone coming down on such short notice,” said Kyra, her eyes moving slowly around the room. Trev stood to her left, everyone else directly in front.
“I want to start by congratulating Rog and Emy for a job well done. The mission to Neraj was a success. Risking life, they returned with the agent of retribution and Trev has administered the agent to Kieran.” Heads nodded in respect.
“Let me start with an update. I won’t beat around the bush. Kieran has fallen into a coma. The agent appears to be overwhelmed by the ferocity of the virus at this advanced stage. In short, it’s not working. Prognosis, it’s only a matter of hours, if that.”
Kyra paused to allow her comments to soak in. Surveying the room she noticed not a single pair of eyes had broken contact with hers nor was there a single tear, yet.
“At least that’s what science tells us.”
Kyra paused again. Her bearing, missing only the conductor’s baton, took command of the atmosphere. The room filled with the sound of breathing, the invisible umbilical cord to life.
“Well?” queried Rog, breaking the silence and birthing “well” with his eyes, cheeks and vocal cords as if it had three syllables and weighed ten pounds.
“I think you heard what she said,” snapped Trev before Kyra could respond, still smarting from his earlier encounter with her. “We’ve all done everything we could, no one is at fault. If he hadn’t been a child of the shells we wouldn’t even be having this conversation now.”
Rog rarely lost his temper but Trev had a way of getting under his skin and if he was insinuating or trying to absolve him of some non-existent guilt, well . . . the thought was cut off with a look from Kyra. Then she looked at Trev as if to say the floor is all yours but I think you’re going to need a shovel if you continue down that path.
“What I meant to say,” started Trev, until Kyra’s gaze told him it was time to shut up. “What I meant to say, is Kyra believes we still have a chance.”
“Is that true?” asked Em, her eyes as big as saucers reflecting a glint of fear. The lower lip of her eyes, with ever so slight a tremble, held back a flood of tears.
“I believe we still have a chance,” said Kyra.
“What’s the plan?” asked Rog.
Kyra sighed. Rog’s can-do attitude energized her resolve. “I’m afraid I need to go this one alone.”
“I’m not going to let--”
“I know you’re not Rog, which is why I love you to pieces. There is one thing you can do.”
“Consider it done.”
“Take the crew down to the chapel and pray like you’ve never prayed before.”
“Now you know,” Rog started to say.
“I know Rog. Recite the periodic table if you must; just recite like the words would unlock the map to our new homeworld. Can you do that?”
The outside corners of Rog’s eyes dipped to meet the upward curve of his closed lip smile. At times like this he wondered why not Kyra, until he felt Yul’s hand on his shoulder.
“I’m leaving my comm on. You call and I’m there. Are you sure--”
“I’m sure Rog. Now get going.”
As soon as the crew had left Kyra turned to Trev. “Get the scissors. I need you to cut these bandages off my hands.”
“May I ask why?”
“I can’t do what I need to do with them on,” said Kyra
“Would you mind telling me what you intend to do?”
“Trev, I don’t have time to explain. Would you please just get the scissors?”
“No.”
“What!?”
“Kieran’s as good as dead and if you walk into that room with these open cuts you are as good as dead too.” Kyra had never seen Trev quite like this before. Why he was digging his haunches into the ground like an angry bulldog defied her understanding.
“Kyra, I know you don’t blame me for Kieran’s,” Trev caught himself, “for what has happened to Kieran, but I will not be responsible for you foolishly throwing away your life in a, damn it, I need to say it and you need to hear it, in a lost cause.”
“Trev, listen to me.”
“I’m not letting you walk into that iso ward with open cuts. I’m just not going to do it.”
“Trev, what if I told you I would be in no danger?”
“Impossible.”
“Trev, will you at least admit if we stand here arguing, Kieran will die?”
“That’s a cheap shot and you know--”
“Damn you, answer the question!”
Kyra never saw it coming and apparently neither did Trev.
“I’m sorry sweetie, but that little snot-nosed dilettante had it coming,” said Rog.
“Rog, such big words, a girl might get the wrong impression if you keep that up.”
Rog thought for a sec, hesitated again, and decided he would let that one slide. “Give me those hands.”
24 comments:
Excellent! - I'm all sorts of excited to see what she is about to do, I have an idea what might happen, that direction or not, something wonderful is coming up, I'm certain :-)
I think we have to go back to Hyneria first and finish the meeting on the bridge to find out just what Papa had to say.
Then back to the iso ward. I'll say this, what happened in the iso ward was talked about for years with much speculation. We are going places the story has not gone and perhaps might not return.
When it does happen, I'll be curious to compare notes to see how close you were to anticipating what happens. :-)
:-) I'll likely know for sure after the bridge, huge all-important link there.
I wouldn't be too sure that the bridge chapter is really going to tell you what's going to happen in the iso ward. It will tell you what Kyra is going to attempt to do, but where it goes from there will be uncharted territory. I'll be surprised if you guess what happens.
Oh, I've no doubt whatsoever there will be a ton of surprises, what I have is an idea of the direction (an important factor) :-)
Well, three ways Kieran can go and although I think I know which way this is going now, that could all change by the time I write it. Wouldn't be the first time the story change before the ink was dry.
I think I have a pretty good idea of what will happen in there, but will STB until it is written. The world is your oyster, and do what you will.
Man oh man, and I thought I was going to take you guys someplace you didn't expect. Well, place your bets. Well see who gets it right. :-D
oooh can't wait to see what happens next :0) and I'll join the club and keep my guesses to myself LOL
excellent chapter as always darlin :0)
Have a happy, happy day!
morning sweetie, happy Tuesday (hugs)
Good morning hon. I very much like this chapter. It does stand on its own. Interesting frac too. Something very calming about it. Like never-ending movement.
I thought of you this morning while watching the news. Hope those nasty winds didn't disrupt your little part of the state.
Thanks for well wishes. I hope this silliness is all a distant memory soon.
(((((big-coffee-morning hugs)))))
Very interesting. You've definetly captured my attention. I have a hard time commenting because my words pale in comparison to the words you write. But I do agree with Autumn Storm in her comment "all sorts of excited" to see what will happen next :)
Meg, you are among friends here. I love comments and engaging others on the characters or the story so feel free to say whatever comes to your mind or heart. Many times a comment influences the direction of the story or sometimes my view of who I think a certain character is or what they are capable of doing. Good to see you again and hope you're not missing your hour too much. :-)
Oh, and thanks for the very kind and sweet words on this chapter.
Love it!! :-D Sittin' on the edge of my seat.
*HUGS* to you and Jack!
Aggie, waking up and seeing a comment from you is like having coffee and breakfast delivered to me in bed. Now if you want to be the one delivering, I'd be happy to be the one in bed. :-D
Thanks for thinking of me. The weather was pretty bad here but we seemed to have missed the worst of it althought the storms woke me several times a couple nights ago.
On the fractal, I wanted something that looked like scissors and as you know, fractals don't always cooperate with what you want. So, when this basic outline popped up after about an hour I was overjoyed that I now had my image to go with this chapter.
I do try and write each chapter such that it can, for the most part, stand on it's own. Of course, it's nice to know the background or history of the characters but I don't think, like a traditional novel, I don't think in this format it's necessary to enjoy each post on it's own. Catch up if you like, but I really don't think you have to.
Ooooh, now I can't get the image of you in a small pleated skirt and white blouse delivering my coffee and breakfast to me in bed. :-D
Tree, the story has gotten better as you've gone along. Don't you ever feel tempted to re-write some of the beginning chapters?
I really like this image. Not only is it abstract enough to stand on its own but it's not TOO GOOD (if you know what I mean) that it overshadows the story.
Morning Karen. I'll try not to keep you on your seat for long. Now if I just didn't have to work for a living I could really get this story moving. :-D
Hope you have a great day. Jack says hello too. :-)
Jack, that's a good question. If I were starting the story, the beginning chapters would look a lot like these last ones, which is to say they would have characters and dialogue and cliffhangers and such.
Keep in mind, this is a story that was never meant to be a story. I put together a few fractals that kinda fit and tied them together with a common theme. When I started with Caribbean Canopy, that piece was written as a stand-alone to support the fractal. Really a mood piece that was a lot of fun to write. Then another fractal came along that I thought fit the island theme so I thought I would to a couple more. At the end of the day I never envisioned the "story" leaving earth or lasting more than three to five postings or so. I think we are close to 100 chapters now if not more. Really hard to believe actually.
Second thing to keep in mind is I have never written before and if you go back and compare what I'm writing now and what was written then I think it's pretty obvious. That is not to say that what I'm writing now is great stuff but I will say I think what I'm writing now is great fun. That has been the key for me--having fun and not taking the images, my writing or the story too seriously. I don't blog for a living, nor do I create the images or the story to support myself. All is done in fun, to touch joy as I like to say, and as long as I can continue to touch joy and have fun and explore concepts like peace and love and compassion and joy, then I see the story living on. I do think I need as least one reader--not sure I would be writing this without comments and feedback. Perhaps the story will end when I realize no one is reading it anymore.
I think I know exactly what you mean on the image. As the story has moved to the forefront the images have taken a bit of a backseat. I've enjoyed my grade-school sketches of Kyra and Trev and look forward to doing some more. I do like the wabi-sabi sense to this image.
Good to see you stopping by again Jack. All the best my friend.
I like her innocence yet she's got a good grasp on reality. It doesn't take much to amaze her. :-)
It is too bad we all work for a living, imagine the fun we'd have, but I'm afraid we wouldn't appreciate the fun after a while.
Have a great day, *HUGS* to you and Jack.
Afternoon Karen. Yep, Kyra is a special and interesting one. Innocent and worldly all wrapped together in a fairly nice exterior. :-D
I couldn't stop reading yesterday, but I knew that I was too tired to comment on the chapters that I was reading, being the chapters that they were. Just now, writing that quick comment on the whole of March, I unintentionally left out the very chapter where the comment was left, the chapter where Papa and Kyra stand before the three moons and she learns for the first time of her own very special abilities. Making a little use of this one storyline, reading this story one is fated to accept that it goes far beyond words written and that as such there will never be a way in which to say it was met there, a way in which to explain just how it stretches the imagination, thrills and excites, intoxicates and leaves one wholly enthralled, how at times it seems like the heart swells so much it could burst, doing so because the characters evoke such sympathy, such affection, how each of those characters endeared themselves so greatly that they are carried along, just as loved ones, near and far.
:-) That's what this has been and is, something we are always grateful for, another opportunity to love. The more, the more. To be a writer capable of creating so many diverse characters and making them each complete, not to be misunderstood as our knowing everything there is to know about them, so full, so real as to make them genuinely lovable for mistakes and positive traits and secrets and history. Not explaining that well and I have attempted it many times, your characters though they grow and extend, share more and more of themselves with us, though they show different sides of themselves, not only are they true to the core details that first introduced us to them, but they are just as people that we love in life complex, vast, not this and not that but a changing, evolving mass of everything that went before, of thoughts, of feelings. Again not saying what I wanted to say. They, as with us (people) are not loved in spite of their faults but because of them, because of every part of them. Still, no. Anyway, my point is though it all, your talent for creating characters is to understate (see above:) awe-inspiring!
I like Rog.
Been kinda fond of him too. :-)
Post a Comment