Curtain Fall - Chapter 18

Dulutha, one of Kadrapraba’s trusted agents, sat as she awaited on news from the protectors she’d sent to the river. The work the High Mother’s people had done had born the fruit they’d hoped. Her scouts had reported that the humans had acted as they’d hoped and had acquired the Asha and the women that had been dispatched for. Now her own retrieval team had been tasked with ‘saving’ the women from the humans. She soon felt her protectors tense in the darkness of the rainforest and she stood. Extending her awareness she felt the ‘rescue’ team now approaching. From one of her personal protectors that had gone on the mission, she could sense that he was unusually pleased. From this she deduced that they’d had no trouble with the women.

The team walked into view after identifying themselves and it was immediately apparent why the retrieval had been easier as all three women were apparently unconscious! She quickly stepped forward and was able to confirm that they weren’t injured, just drugged. “How were they drugged?”, she asked and was informed that the humans had done so in their efforts to take them captive. She nodded and directed the men to prepare 2 more litters to place the women on. Dulutha decided that keeping them unconscious was a smart way to bring them back so when they began their return to Beleyaavan she simply mentally reinforced the sleeping state when the human medication began to wear off.

As they travelled, Dulutha examined Asha’s condition and was shocked to discover she couldn’t feel save the most minimal trace to the child’s spirit. What had happened must have truly injured and traumatized the child to cause her to retreat so deeply into herself!

She looked at the two young women who had been tasked with finding Asha and understood now why they’d given reports that her spirit was simply gone. Only very talented healers would even feel what was there and exposed.

‘Well it is good she is finally being brought home where true healing may begin!’

With this thought, Dulutha urged the men to travel faster...

D. D. Feber stepped into his front office that morning to see his secretary, Sasha, speaking with someone on the phone tensely. He paused with an eye raised and she informed the individual on the other end that the director had just arrived and she would transfer him shortly. Sensing trouble, David nodded shortly and proceeded quickly into his office.

As he moved to the desk the phone rang and he answered, “Feber here.”

“D. D. Feber?”, the voice began, “This is Major Wilson, one of Colonel Thompson’s staff. I need to report a situation that has developed. It appears that Colonel Thompson has gone dark sir.”

With acid churning in his stomach David barked, “Dark how?!”

Wilson replied, “I mean he and the transport that was returning the Tarneerans has stopped responding. All attempts to hail them have been unsuccessful. We’ve dispatched a helo in spite of the threat of random Bubbles to find and track their progress but as...” Wilson paused as Feber heard voices speaking in the background. When he returned to the phone, his voice was grim. “Sir? The Huey has just reported spotting a PT. They say they can see bodies on the desk!”

‘Shit!’ , David thought. “What more can you tell me? Can the Huey get someone on the boat to check up close?”

Wilson informed him it was an S&R helo so they might get someone on deck. Feber waited impatiently for the next several minutes until the next report. When it came he was told that the sailors, soldiers, and Tarneeran males had been shot and killed. That there was evidence of CS being used below decks and that all the women were missing. Feber thanked him and told him to get CSI on location ASAP. He then hung up and screamed for Sasha to get the Director and the Sec. State on the line.

Pacing worriedly back and forth he snatched the phone when it rang, “Director? Mr. Secretary? We have a situation!”

“What happened?”, the Sec State Karl Pennon asked, “As you are calling I suspect it has to do with the Tarneerans.”

“Yes sir. It seems that the boat transporting them back to their home was attacked in the night.” He paused for a breath and continued, “All men on board were killed and the women were taken.”

While the Secretary burst out with a series of curses that would do a sailor proud in the background the NSA director asked, “Do we have an idea of who?”

“Not yet sir, but first reports suggest that the battle was a snatch and grab operation. The OpFor shot and killed all the men. Using CS, they apparently disabled and killed the Tarneeran males and then took the women.”

Secretary Pennon swore again with feeling and concluded with, “How fast can they be tracked down?”

“How sir?”, Feber asked, “By whom? We might have rangers who could do it but I suspect we don’t have many at hand. With the noises the Sec Def has made I’m not certain we can rely on choices he might make.” He looked worriedly to his superiors, “There is also the concern of the Tarneerans. What do we tell them?”

Karl asked back, “You’ve dealt with them the most. What do you recommend?”

David took a deep breath. “We need to tell them that they’ve been abducted. If we try to cover this up we torpedo any possibility of a trusting relationship in the future!”

David’s superior made to object but Karl raised his hand to stop him. “Every time David has made recommendations with regards to these ‘people’, he has been advocating the wise and correct choice. I for one have come to trust his assessment of these aliens.” He called out to one of his subordinates and then informed them that David had full authority on their response.

At that David broke the connection and called out to Sasha. “Sasha!”

“Yes Mr. Feber?”, she reponded promptly.

“Please arrange for an emergency SAT video conference with Lady Anarra; we have distressing new to giver her.”

“Right away sir!”

Within the hour David’s conference room came alive and he stood looking at High Mother Anarra and her sister, Lady Turi. Seeing David’s face, Anarra began speaking, “Good morning David. It is still a wonder to me, this, this technology that allows us meet face to face! I can only hope your day is filled with similar wonders one day. Let me also reacquaint you with my sister Turi. She is eagerly awaiting the return of her daughter. I was informed you must speak with me urgently?”

With a very troubled look, David looked back, “It is with regards to your daughter, Turi that I am making this call.” With pained guilt in his eyes, David took a breath and continued, “Last night the vessel returning your daughter and her cousins was intercepted by unknown elements. The vessel was attacked and your daughters taken. We don’t know the identity of the the kidnappers at this time, but as you seem to have no firearms we fear that a group of humans were responsible.” Seeing Anarra and Turi pale David braced himself.

Stepping forward to the front, and in broken English choked with fury, Turi spoke, “You tell us that you failed to protect my daughter and her cousins? That your people are so stupid and weak that your own violent enemies can overpower them?” Turi’s eyes burned with such rage that David involuntarily stepped back a pace.

Before she could unleash further, Anarra barked out in their native tongue. Turi wheeled on her sister and they argued loudly with each other for several minutes. As they argued David looked to the linguistic officer at his side. He was one of the team tasked to learn all that they could of the Tarneeran language. While not a knowing a great deal as yet they had begun to glean the basics of it. What he heard caused him to blanch. He quickly grabbed a pen and note pad and wrote, “not safe? judgement, retribution, death”. Then he wrote, “Turi wants to leave the dome and rescue her daughter by force? Anarra is counseling ... wait?”

With this David focused on the women. When the argument had temporarily stopped and Turi stormed from the chamber, Anarra turned to David. “Great harm has been done to our confidence in your American people, David. You should know that there are elements within my society who do not favor a relationship of equals with humans. That group will gain strength from this.” She looked down wearily a moment, looked up again into David’s eyes. Know this. Should my niece be injured or killed, I fear that any chance for a peaceful alliance between our people may be lost for a generation.

The connection terminated and David closed his eyes, breathing deeply to stave off a feeling that they’d begun heading towards catastrophe. The translator then informed him as best he could on the exchange the women had had.

At first Anarri had chastised Turi and pointed out that Director Feber had been honest enough to let them know quickly. Turi had fired back what good was it if her daughter wasn’t safe? Anarri had then promised Turi that vengeance and justice would be dealt to those who were responsible, deadly vengeance.

Hearing the gist, David grew even paler and then stepped out of his office and yelled for Sasha to get Major Wilson back.

When Wilson came back to the phone David informed him that learning what had happened and finding the women was absolutely top priority. Any and all resources needed were to be tasked to this. If he were to receive any resistance it was to be reported to his office immediately and the obstacles would be dealt with.

Over the next hours his people would learn that:

1. The attack was carried out using weaponry consistent with US Special Forces
2. A second boat, dispatched from the Dome base had been found where the troops had been killed by more primitive means (hand to hand and spear) closer to the base.
3. Several of the soldiers from the base had apparently been injured and bandaged prior to the attack that killed them for injuries sustained by a wild animal. There were also several bodies who had been savaged to death. Their bodies were in bags already.
4. There was evidence that most of the weapons on the second boat had been used recently. The caliber of these were consistent with the injuries of those on the first boat.

It was from this tentative evidence they could assert that the second boat had attacked the Tarneeran boat. The authority for this attack was as yet unclear. While they succeeded, several were injured. Then later this boat and its men were killed by another force.

‘Good God, do we have rogue elements at the base? And how high up did the orders come from?’, David puzzled. An additional question disturbingly cropped up, ‘And the second boat. Did the Tarneerans kill the crew; and if yes, why didn’t they tell us?’

Kadrapraba stood in the outer chamber of the high infirmary and looked at the three young women who lay quietly within. Attending her were her two closest advisors, Nabitha Mistress of Strategy, Kalpaina Mistress of Science and her daughter, Charu.

Still looking at the patients the High Mother asked, “I can understand why the young ones were so distressed when they came upon Asha. She feels empty, as if her spirit has moved on! But that can’t be because her body continues to live and even thrive. What is the nature of Asha’s illness, Kalpaina?”

Kalpaina winced and replied, “The extent of her retreat is truly unprecedented High Mother. Only our most gifted healers are able to feel anything of her at all. The reports I was given told us she had somehow initiated a nexus, which normally isn’t possible at her age, and with humans no less. Even more startling, this nexus was of more than a hundred participants! There was no way she wasn’t horribly injured and traumatized by that. She has withdrawn more deeply into herself than I ever seen. It will take a nexus on our part to draw her back.” She then shook her head sadly. There is no telling at this time the severity of long term damage.”

Kadrapraba eyes glistened as she thought about the suffering Asha must have undergone and asked, “She’ll be able to think? She’ll be a.. A person again?”

Kalpaina replied, “I believe so, but there may be terrible mental scarring.”

“Do we have enough medical adepts of sufficient talent to form the needed nexus?”, the High Mother asked as she worked political calculations. She suspected the answer was no. This would mean approaching the other Mothers and likely giving up on impressing the child.

As she thought on it, however, she realized that that her efforts in engineering the attack would likely already have been enough to poison open borders with the humans. Now might be the time to bring the others to awareness that she had recovered the girls. When Kalpaina replied in the negative to her question, Kadrapraba made the decision.

She turned to her daughter, “Charu, you must travel at to Tirielen and speak with Anarra. Tell them we have rescued Asha, Itimori, and De’elen from the humans. You will enlist her help by gathering their best healers. We will need them if we are to help Asha.” Charu bowed and took her leave....

The next day, Charu followed one of the Tirielen palace protectors into the gathering room of Anarra’s seat of power. She was nervous in her intent to present her news. As she entered the chamber she could hear a heated discussion between Anarra and Turi.

“And I say 2 days is enough!” Turi yelled. “We’ve given the humans long enough to learn where my daughter was taken!”

Anarra, at the end of her patience barked, “Enough! We will give them another day and then - “. She cut her exclamation off when she saw Charu. “We will continue this later. Charu. Daughter of Kadrapraba. Welcome among us. What news have you?”

Charu smiled and responded, “I bring tidings and wonderful news!” She focused on Turi, “We have rescued your daughter and those sent for her from the humans!” Focusing carefully on speaking only the letter of truth she continued, “As you know, my mother does not trust these humans and she expected threats from them. When we heard of your daughter returning, we sent teams to monitor the behavior of the humans. We were witness to two boats meeting on the river. The one not originally transporting our people and seemingly under guise of truce and friendship tied to the other. After the leaders conferred, warriors from the new vessel attacked and killed most of the occupants of the vessel carrying the women. The attackers then took our women captive and sailed back up-stream. We moved up river as well and found a place of ambush where we overpowered them and saved the girls. They are safe with us now.

We left none of the animals alive.”

Hearing this Turi fell to her knees crying with relief. Anarra was also greatly moved and Churi could feel waves of gratitude flow over her. Being partly responsible for the attack she could also not completely suppress some guilt at misleading Anarra. The High Mother sensed some of the guilt and asked, “Why the guilt Charu? You have saved my niece!”

‘Careful...’ she thought. Turning her eyes away Churi, responded, ”I’m sorry Mother, but we couldn’t save the protectors. They were surprised and killed before we were ready to move.” She then changed the subject.

“News of Asha being injured are also true. We’ve examined her but her needs exceed what we can do alone. That is the other reason I come. We would like the help of your greatest healers.” Thinking of reducing a chance at discovery, Charu continued, “Or perhaps we can bring her here with our healers. We offer our help in any way to bring healing to Asha!”

Anarra stepped forward and grasped Charu’s shoulders warmly. “You have our great thanks, Charu. Thank your mother and quickly bring our people to us. If the nature of Asha’s injuries are as you say, then we would welcome all help you can offer!”
Charu smiled and assured her she would return immediately to make arrangements...

Over the days following Carol’s return to Earth, Jill used the pool as much as she could to follow Carol back on Earth. Unlike others, who she still listened to and occasionally responded to, now that she had found Carol she was able to follow her just by following the bond. She watched as her love travelled along the river in search of a town.

She was amazed to discover that some abilities Carol had developed while with Jill had transferred with her. While the shaping of reality seemed to be limited to here much of Carol’s nymph related abilities went with her! She watched as her love discovered that her “Tree Walking” ability still existed. She laughed as she watched Carol play with it by bouncing from one side of the river to the other. The casual play stopped, however, when she found people in the form of a temporary military base. Remembering how aggressive the military had been with regards to Jill, Carol did not approach them directly. Instead she stalked them like she had done the animals in their ‘dream’ forest in order to overhear all that she could. Why was the American military here?

Using her ability to cloak herself in the plant-life she learned that this base was here (deep in the Amazon it seemed) in an effort to watch/contain the Brazilian aliens that Jill had been told of.

Carol also found that these soldiers were on high alert following the attack on the boat Carol had been on. All hands on the boat had been killed and the women removed! From this Carol learned the most shocking information, that Jill’s comatose body had been among them! The resulting response of Jill’s form and the Brazilians being taken had the aliens on guard and increasingly hostile as well.

An additional strange revelation was that there was confusion amongst the ranks. The attackers, apparently from this base, had only been sent out on patrol. There was no confirmed knowledge of why the soldiers had attacked. Only that their PT had been found somewhat some distance from the other boat with its crew slaughtered as well. This all suggested that the base was too volatile for Carol to feel safe approaching them.

As a result Carol decided to continue to stay on the outside. She also decided explore what she could over in the Brazilian area. When she first tried to enter that area, however, she was stopped by an invisible barrier. After fruitlessly searching for an entrance, she tried another way. She tried tree hopping and found to her excitement that the barrier wasn’t proof to that form of travel. Across, she proceeded deeper in to see what these aliens were truly like...

Jill, for her part, had been relieved that Carol was alive and well back in the real world, but learning that her living comatose body was somewhere even if she still had no connection to it she could perceive renewed her hope that she was still alive. When Carol and she’d first talked about it and they could sense Carol’s astral cord and not hers she’d feared it meant she’d died. Carol refused to consider it, but Jill had privately feared. Knowing her body lived somewhere spurred her to look harder for a link.

As days had past she also began to feel the isolation of where ever she was. Other than what she could divine from the pool, she was cut off from Earth and others. While Carol had been with her it had felt almost like a home. Now it was becoming a prison. ‘How to escape?’ Came to dominate her thoughts.

As she pondered, she realized she needed to understand what ‘here’ really was. For what felt like months, she had simply accepted the world she’d created out of what ever this place was. She’d existed in the pleasant dream that she and Carol had made together. She had until now ignored this realm from before she’d pressed her will upon it. No longer. The only question though, was how to reveal what was behind the facade she’d created?

She hypothesized she could just destroy her creations, and bring all back to the nothingness, but she didn’t want to do that if she could avoid it as “her” world was comforting and restful. To be systematic, however, she sat in a small spot of the forest and tried to do so in a very contained area. She eyed a boulder and tried to bring it back to its original state. She found she could destroy it, but once she’d created something the potential she’d felt originally was gone. This meant that once she used that potential for creation, she could continue to manipulate transform, modify or eliminate it but the random potential was eternally bound to the initial act of creation.

What she needed, then, was an exit point from her creation if she was going to learn about what it was outside. Ok where to make it?

Well from an emotional standpoint, something like this should be a doorway out. Where were doors? At the exterior edge of a room of course. By that reasoning her portal out of her creation should be at an extreme edge. With this in mind she closed her eyes and willed herself to what felt like an edge: a steep cliff rising on an enormous mountain. Once there she began to walk the cliff face until she saw a large crack that led into the cliff. With a strange and secret smile Jill slipped through the crack and entered the cave tunnel.

The tunnel slowly widened until two could walk abreast. In short order she was in utter darkness, a darkness she dispelled with but a thought as she created a golden fire in her hand. She continued slowly forward.

Eventually the path turned sharply to the right and as she made the corner and turned she found not 10 feet away a smooth archway made of opalescent stone. Contained within the arch was something shivering almost like a soap membrane you see in those children’s bubble wands. It was a chaotic white with subtle swirling colors. A white that somehow fed no light to shine off walls, only to her perception. Feeling a sense of vindication, she thought, ‘Thank you.’

Jill examined what she could see in an unhurried manner, looking at it from many angles and feeling it out with all her perceptions. As when she first arrived in this place, she could feel no will or presence emanating from or contained within the unformed whiteness. No heat, no cold, no sound. When she gingerly dipped her hand into the white she felt a gentle pulling and twisting reminding her of something just out of memory. It wasn’t uncomfortable, simply noticeable.

What she could feel was a mental tension seeping into herself from the white. The feeling she received was that emotional feeling you get from looking at the strings of a harp just before the musician strikes a note. A sense of potential, waiting to collapse into sound. Jill took a deep cleansing breath and stepped into the white nothing.

Instantly upon passing the arch everything physical was gone. Once again she was nothing but disembodied awareness in this place that was not a place. Her awareness could sense of the constant flux of her surroundings, however; the strange mix of energy, color, calm and violent currents. While she had no form to affect, she could still sense this unrestrained potential flowing all about her. It even moved through her. In her immaterial non-state it began to feel as if it was part of her!

She might at first have been concerned at first that her awareness might erode and flow away, but that didn’t happen at all. While she could feel this chaotic potential pull at her it never threatened to blur her sense of self.

Instead she could feel her awareness begin to draw on the nature of this chaos and add it to herself. Oh the possibilities! It soon felt as if with but a thought she could explode into an entire universe. Her mind laughed and sang as she swam like an otter at play in this madness.

Then finally she remembered where she’d felt the strange pulling; the urge to fold and bend had been when the Curtain washed over him! Was this what the Curtain had been made of?!? ‘I definitely need to think on this!’ , Jill decided. And suddenly she was through the arch and back to her realm.

“Wow!”, Jill exclaimed quietly with a gobsmacked expression on her face. She paused and after calling a full body mirror into existence, took stock of herself. She was once again in her female form. Strong and lean. Full hips toned thighs. Her breasts were still the smallish C cup breasts she’d had for a year. The same luxurious wavy chestnut hair to her waist and her exotic, not quite human face. She looked like herself again. Herself?

It suddenly occurred to Jill that, here at least, she wasn’t limited to this body. She could have, could still create a male form. Yet as she considered this she realized that she no longer desired that. She wasn’t a man anymore. She’d become truly comfortable in her female form and she loved the openness and sharing that women had. Her ‘rebirth’ as a woman had caused her to shed the perception that men often had that they were islands. Ones that viewed all as competition, threats in a way; and she decided she could never go back. When, not if she assured herself, she got back to the real world, she’d make a point of truly thanking all her loved ones for giving her the nurturing ground to thrive and grow into what she’d become.

Jill, chuckled to herself. This had certainly been an afternoon of discovery!

She then willed herself back to the pool and looked into it with new eyes. Perhaps the pool was also some permutation of the curtain. A more porous one to be sure, but still related? It looked like water (even if strangely immune to penetrating light) and felt like water. But was it? Perhaps if she reached out and sensed it like she had the chaos in the cave...

Jill slowly reached her hand and dipped her fingers. Once again she felt the soothing surge of energy that she thought was coming from people from Earth but this time she paid closer attention; trying to parse the sensation.

At first, nothing called out, but gradually she felt an underlying tremor. She could just feel that singing potential of the musical string. ‘Yes!’ Jill thought in triumph, ‘There is a link! This must be a sort of window constructed from the chaos of the curtain.’ She already knew that with effort she could affect the world seen but might there be a way to truly pierce it? ‘Can I find a way to step through it like in the cave? Or perhaps... Carol passed the Brazilian barrier using her tree affinity. Might I jump across like Carol hops trees?’...