Harvest Time

24 - Angels

"Thank you for coming for me," I whispered.

"Oh Toquin," Emla whispered, defying her orders not to touch me by kissing me gently on the forehead. "I would have died myself if you hadn't come back alive."

With what little strength I had, I squeezed her hand.

Emla had been told not to talk to me but to just sit and be company. Although I loved the sound of her voice, it was true that even the act of listening was tiring to me.

So, she sat there, her hand touching mine. I imagined that she was holding me to this world by her determination. It might even have been true. But, eventually, I knew I couldn't hold onto consciousness for much longer.

"Tired," I whispered.

"He needs to rest," I heard a nurse say to Emla.

Emla nodded and stood, reluctantly.

"I will be back again soon," she said as she left.

I felt my head loll to one side as the darkness of exhaustion forced me unconscious once more.

The next time I found myself fully awake, I was told I had slept for two more days. The stinging sensation had diminished to an annoying tingle and my skin was less red than it had been.

I called to a nurse, saying, "Can you tell Emla that I'm awake again?"

"She's visited you six times since you were last conscious. From what I hear, you wouldn't even be here if it hadn't been for her."

"Has Kelsonna or any of the other elders visited me?"

"Kelsonna is no longer on Nervanna," the nurse replied.

"What? Where is she?" I said, just as Emla ran into the room.

"Toquin," she shouted with glee. "Oh, you are looking so much better."

"He's still fragile," a doctor warned Emla. "No hugging or kissing or anything like that."

Emla made a face behind the doctor's back before she sat on the chair beside the bed.

"They told me it was you that brought me back here," I said.

She nodded. "Yes. Obviously, you don't remember any of it."

"No," I said. "That damn stuff was all around me. I thought I was going to die."

"You very nearly did," she said with a sniff, a tremor in her voice.

"Tell me what happened."

"Are you ready for this?"

I forced a nod. I wanted to know how I'd escaped a fate that should have resulted in my death.

Emla took a deep breath and started to tell me what had happened. "After the Harvester returned me to the jungle world, I jumped out and shouted for the troops there to board a fully charged up one and accompany me straight back to Earth, if that was what it really was. Thank goodness I'd recorded the location. We arrived back in the same place, but you were nowhere to be seen."

"Was I still on the rock?"

"On a rock? No, one of the troops, Taylah, saw something moving back towards the sea within a long sheet of that slime stuff. Seeing no other sign of you, I realised there was a good chance you were inside it. The bulge was the right size for a person and, the closer I got, the more I could see that the shape definitely resembled you. I was screaming by that point – and wasn't sure if you were alive or dead. I got the troops who were armed with swords to cut the sheet of slime between you and the sea – it was like cutting plastic and we couldn't get you free of it. Three of the troops were wearing gloves and I ordered them to carry you, still encased in the muck, back to the Harvester. It was a battle."

"Why?"

"The stuff was writhing all over you and was trying to attack the troops while I was setting up the pattern for Newhold. Someone on lookout at the top said that the entire sea was starting to come towards us. Then, I shouted to close the top hatch and started up the engines."

"How did you get the stuff off me?"

"As we went through Between, the troops below said the slime turned to dust and just fell off you. But, then we saw what state you were in. Some of the troops, even the boys, screamed in horror. If you'd been in that stuff for any longer, then I-I don't think..."

Then Emla was openly crying.

Nurse Tantria came and wrapped her arms around Emla, holding her, saying, "He will recover. But only thanks to you. You are both heroes."

"No," Emla gasped. "It was my idea to try to go back to Earth. I shouldn't have insisted. This wouldn't have happened if we'd come straight back."

"Well," I said. "At least we now know that Earth is no longer somewhere we can live. Maybe one day we will find somewhere new."

"We already have," Emla said, brightening up.

"What?"

"Yes. Languill's found a new world. People are moving there already. Kelsonna and several of the other elders went about ten days ago."

"Languill?"

Emla smiled properly. "Yes, Toquin. Once you are well, we will all be going there."

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