“We’ve got incoming!” yelled Rog, his strained voice rising in disbelief, moments before the Tranquility absorbed a rain of multihued death as beautiful as dangerous. Bones shook and ached in step with squealing bulkheads, pain matching sound. “Frail, frail, frail!!!”“Put the shields up!
“They are! I think.”
John staggered over to the panel, looking drunk with shock as his legs quivered under a moving floor, his arms wailing as one on a tightrope about to lose balance.
“Mommy, what is happening?” cried a tearful Ariel, curling in her mothers arms tight as baby in womb, seeking the last refuge of a child scared.
“Some bad guys have made a mistake. Your father is about to explain--” a bellowing concussion silenced mother and child alike under flickering lights appearing as photon confetti in still eyes. (the camera pans above the dark two shapes, one wrapped within the other, the ship shakes in contrast to the peaceful sleep of bodies unmoving)
“Who is attacking us?” barked Von.
“Rog?” commed Yul, her voice sounding unYul like, “what’s going on?”
“Not now!”
“I’m scared.”
“Rog, the shields! Now! Now! Shiott!
Light filled the forward bridge such to render colors mute and sound ethereal. Heads throbbed and eyes burned (symphonic music plays as we see lips move without sound, of faces contorted with effort, everything in slow motion; from her quarters we see Kyra on bended knee, a halo of light around her bowed head)
Trev rushed into the hall, disheveled, of cloth and hair and directly into the unlooking arms of Mairi, the two falling in a tangle of limbs upon the forgotten cold floor. Fear squeezed out the past, suffocated it in the urgent and in what seemed odd, trembling lips sought comfort in simultaneous tenderness as arms sought release in grip tight.
Em sat in her quarters, not moving. “Ms Em,” intoned Pinky. "Ms Em? Ms Em!”
Em just sat, still, cane in her left hand, her right hand on her thigh, back straight.
“Goldie?” Pinky called again. “Goldie!?” There was no answer.
“Von, I need your help.” John’s voice sounded placid, which, in and of itself, lent an air of unreality to the cacophony of sound and light. “See that panel to your right?”
“Yes.”
John’s eyes looked heavy and words failed him.
Von turned his head.
John’s lifeless form puddled, still as night in a meteor shower.
Rog looked at Von like the second string quarterback looks at the second string tight end with eyes that say, what do we do now.
“Prepare a boarding party.” If the voice could have smiled, he would have. “And Taren?”
“Yes, my lord?”
“I want you to lead the way.”
15 comments:
Every chapter puts us in that place, where we wait to see what happens next, regardless of what is happening. Chapters in the current time frame slightly more so, this is neither past nor future, but right now and we can only really be sure that Kyra, Rog and Yul, whom we have seen on Earth, the rest, as Kieran did, could be lost to us at any time. So though every chapter puts us there, and every now chapter does so even more, these action packed chapters, where they come under attack, which cannot be easy to write, but that you make seem so effortless, are fast-paced and full of suspense.
I like very much that we get to see (or at least hear mention of) not just all the characters, but Pinkie and Goldie too, which through simple yet very clever means reminds us that they are all in this together. Whatever their relations may be like at the moment, whatever they may be dealing with on personal levels, Kyra's decision to turn about and whatever happens now really does effect them all. Except for Em, who yet sits in her room alone in the darkness, though Pinkie is there the lack of an answer leaves her that way, there is already a sense of them coming together to face whatever is ahead. Kyra too, I know is alone, but unlike Em, she has a light around her and without knowing what it is, this is Kyra, if it is bad, she can take care of herself, if it is good, then it'll be good for everyone.
Several other parts that I really loved within, Cait in her role as mother, consoling her daughter, attempting to make the situation less frightening for her, until it becomes impossible for her to do so. Trev and Mairi being thrown together, with a sense of the inevitable in as much as how would they have approached each other if not in a moment of crisis, though there be such a significant connection between them, not pleasant, but great. Fear squeezed out the past, suffocated it in the urgent is one of the most notably brilliant couple of words within, but most certainly not alone.
The writing throughout is brilliant, a nail-biter of a chapter, full of action, full of suspense, and still though one wants to rush, to read what happens next, still there are parts where one is still looking behind at an excellent phrase or a particularly clever use of metaphor, wowing over what went as one wows over what comes. :-D
Seems I like set pieces, to capture a mood, a moment in time where a single thought or a single emotion takes center stage, begging to be explored, discovered, embraced, tasted and tossed in the mind of limitless curiosity.
So how's the popcorn? Maybe I'll take you for a soda after the show and we'll walk hand in hand down a tree lined blvd. to the oblivious lights of other worlds heading to their own warm universes.
How does one spell the "ooooooo" sound in Same Mistake? That is what I'm singing here. :-D
Omg... I have GOT to catch up on your blog. This is great stuff!!
--snow
Thank you Snow. The door is always open. Enjoy. :-)
Such an exciting new chapter -- well written, evenly paced, nice hooks, and a bit of a cliffhanger. Well done, my dear.:)
Thank you SJ. :-)
Oh how Sad, Tree... I mourn, and I didn't even know him except for your words....
Oh Annie, I was afraid using the word "lifeless" left the door open to thinking John was dead. Please accept my apologies. John is just unconscious, but still very much alive. If I'm going to kill Johnny Disco off, it will be in a much more spectacular way--trust me on that one. George Clooney won't have it any other way (he plays John in the movie) :-D
A walking soul? It's alive and it moves...
Chicky, :-)
Ok, so here is the repercussion of turning the ship around I guess. Everything is going Topsy turvy. Everyone is panicking except Em. I guess because of the hope she has, to be able to see her mother & also get back her vision. & how pray are you going to being that back. Is her dying mom going to donate her eyes ? :D
Mona, the return to Kulmyk is to rescue Dr X, A Kulmykian prisoner (of) who saved Yul from certain death on the operating table and who has also formed some sort of relationship with Mairi, which is interesting in and of itself since he was the one that "tortured" her sometime back. But it is Dr X who has the ability to restore Em's sight and this is why they are returning.
As to why Em is the one that seems calm, outside of Kyra, well, I would say several factors. First, without sight, she cannot see what is happening so she is still listening rather than panicking. Second, and perhaps more to the point, she is fully aware that the ship under attack is probably due to the decision to turn it around, a decision made because of her, so she is sitting as if guilt were lead in her butt, but also because she knows, that whatever the crew is doing to save themselves that she could not help and would probably only inflame passions with her presence. So she sits, praying and waiting for new information. Third, having grew up on a ship, she has experienced more than anyone but Von, the need for calm in the eye of a storm, a lesson from her father.
I see... I can't wait to hear what happens next!
Me too. :-D
Oh, and forth, Em is stronger than we think. :-D
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