Meltdown Ophilion - Book One

21_REALITY II

She waited. Sometimes the agents would send an immediate reply. This seemed like an opportune moment, yet she felt nothing and sensed nothing.

After a few mec-tah she decided to review a text from Wisdom of the Wastelands which she had committed to memory.

"We know little of all there is to know. Let us be content in this – we will be all the more eager to explore and discover. Let us rejoice in every discovery – no matter how small – it is a vital piece of the great tapestry. Let us love and be loved – for love, in all of its forms, is the vital element of life. Let us give more than we take lest we succumb to the powers of greed and destroy what happiness we have. Let us meet each day with respect and with joy and with wonder; let us treat this day as a splendid gift, which it is. Let us live so that we are always ready to die with honor; then, let us take our Journey to the Stars."

These principles that Jenna had always taken as truths were being put to the test. She found herself wondering how relevant Aphias' Wisdom of the Wastelands was in the com zones. This was a big world with billions of citizens and scores of tightly controlled citizen centers which just might cease to exist in a single act of horrible folly. This had made sense to her in Filos-Paas, but now that she had spent two calah in a com-zone it seemed unlikely. The com-zones were, in fact, very stable; they worked like finely tuned machines. She had detected no cause for alarm in Kypro, nothing that could indicate that such an extreme catastrophe would even be possible.

At this moment Celli stirred and opened one sleepy eye, then the other. She was disoriented until she saw Jenna. "Where are we?" Celli asked groggily.

"I don't know," Jenna replied, "but we have about four mec-lan left till we reach Portos-Caas. How are you feeling?"

Celli sat up and shook her head trying to make sense of everything. "I'm not sure," she said with a weak smile. "I feel like I'm in a dream and that the life I knew before is in another world." She scrunched her eyebrows, "or maybe it's the other way around."

Jenna chuckled softly, "I know what you mean; I feel the same way." She turned and looked out the window again. "You can't imagine how strange it is for me to wake up on a huge transport flying through the air on the way to some unknown com-zone to meet up with someone I know so little about... to try to complete a mission that..." She shrugged and smiled then reached out and took Celli's hand. "Whatever happens, I'm glad we met, Celli."

"So am I."

The boys were still asleep so Celli and Jenna sat and looked out the window as the landscape was illuminated by their rising central star. Fel finally woke and propped his head wearily on his hand. He looked over and saw that the girls were already awake. "Hey, did you girls get any sleep?" He asked yawning. He pressed a button and his armchair moved automatically to out of bed mode into a sitting position.

Jenna and Celli nodded. "How about you?" asked Jenna.

"Oh, yeah," Fell answered, "slept fine; these seats are pretty comfortable, actually." He turned to look out the window. "What a view!"

Jenna smiled, "Yes, it is beautiful."

Orion was the last to rise. "Hey, you're all up already," he croaked, "I thought I was the early riser." His companions turned and smiled good morning. They all knew how important the next seventeen mec-lan were, and how uncertain everything seemed at the moment. For the time being they all just looked out the window at the beauty of the free zone and tried to prepare themselves for whatever this day would bring.

Without warning, Jenna felt a familiar probing sensation in her brain. She knew immediately what it was and felt both relieved and anxious. She knew that an agent wanted to contact her and that she would be required to translate for the others. She swallowed, feeling very inadequate at this moment. She looked up at them and the others sensed that she was going to say something important. They had come to respect her Regalan skills.