(Excerpt from The Chronicles of Han Storm, Preserving Creata)
So, how does it feel when your body is stolen?
Panam interrupted
the homecoming. “Have you had anything to eat since you woke up this morning?”
Racewater looked
at me too.
“No.”
I was not
impressed with the quarters. It was cramped and I would not be able to stay
here for long.
“Are you feeling
like anything to eat right now?” Panam was concerned.
“No, thank you.”
I changed the
subject and voiced my complaint. “I am really not comfortable with this room.”
Racewater agreed.
“Neither are we, but this is the best we have at the moment. As I said, if you
can find something better, please do.”
I had to be
satisfied with that and sat down on my bed. Sleep was very far away. I had just
woken up from a three day snooze. Why should I be feeling tired?
Panam was digging
in a bag. I had nothing better to do but watch him. He brought forth an energy
bar, covered in chocolate. It was the berry type I favoured. I knew it was for
me and my mouth suddenly watered for it.
This was the
first time since acquiring this new body that it responded in this way at the
sight of something edible.
I was as
surprised as everyone else by the barbaric manner in which I saw my body grab
the bar from Panam and gobble it up. It just made sure the wrapper was opened
wide enough to get the snack out.
I was so
embarrassed by this sudden inexplicable lack of control that I kicked off my
shoes and buried myself under the blankets on my bed.
I really did not
want to face my friends. This was absolutely humiliating.
I heard Panam sit
down on the opposite bed, facing me. “Maybe we approached the situation all
wrong with the nutritional requirements of your new body? Maybe it needs more
fruit sugars? I want you to look at me.”
I refused to do
so physically. I was well aware that I was looking at him with a part of my
consciousness outside myself.
Panam looked over
at Racewater, a silent question in his eyes. He had another bar in his hand,
already unwrapped.
My body could not
help itself and, without looking and with lightning speed, left Panam with
empty hands, the wrapper falling to the floor. It gobbled that one up under the
blanket.
Again, surprise
registered on both their faces. I wished to die of embarrassment, but did not
get so far.
Warm comfort
enveloped me. There was no way the energy bars could be drugged, but that was
the response it had on my body. It fell asleep.
This was so
weird. Half of me was asleep, the other half felt that I needed to return to my
body too, to give it the rest it needed. Like a naughty child I defied the call
of the mother, trying to stay awake when I was already asleep.
Panam checked my
vitals, sitting down when he had finished.
“I really do not
know just what had happened now, but he is sleeping like a small child“ he told
Racewater. “I will ask Sandra to test the response of the energy bars on his
bloods. There must be something in there that he responds to as a natural
knock-out.”
“In the way he
grabbed the bars, it was if he had absolutely no control over his body“
Racewater replied. “Did you see the surprise and hurt in his eyes? I hope he
can forgive himself come morning. Maybe we must simply ignore the whole
incident and act as if it never happened?”
“We could, but it
is not going to help us find out why he responded in this way. He always showed
great control over himself. I am scared he might be falling apart.” Panam was
frightened.
He had good
reason to be. He had seen first hand what can happen when psychics ‘lost’ it.
It was not a pretty sight.
I resolved to get
a grip on this body. I was its master. It had to listen to me. Starting right
now, I refused to give up this part of my consciousness to join the sleeping
part of myself. This was the first step to independence.
Locked out of my
body, I had nothing else to do but eavesdrop on Panam and Racewater. It was
boring entertainment, with both preparing for sleep after a hard day’s work.
Panam confirmed that Racewater had dinner. Racewater took a shower and turned
in.
Panam checked my
vitals before taking his turn to shower. He made himself some coffee before
retiring to bed. I was left alone with only the bathroom light on for company.
Both men were
sleeping almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows. I had a closer look
at my silent, sleeping body. It looked small and vulnerable on the bed. Even
the features took on the look of a very young child.
I stayed in front
of my body the whole night. It stirred from time to time, and at one stage said
something in a language I did not recognize.
I asked for a
download. A feeling of saturation brought the necessary knowledge. My body had
clearly said “I’m coming mother.”
Come morning, it
woke up, a joyful smile on the lips. Two very bright and shiny black eyes were
looking about the room with a mischievous glint in them.
I was definitely
not in control any longer.
Realization
struck.
Somebody else,
with a very strong personality and spirit, had surreptitiously taken over my
body and most of my functions. I was so surprised that you could have knocked
me over with a feather.
I had to get my
conscious side back in my body to enable me to help the small child that had
taken it over. Either for him to find peace, or at least to move on to another
plane of existence.
I wondered how
Panam and Racewater would perceive this sudden crisis. For this was a crisis.
I was supposed to
start work this morning, and there was absolutely no way I could deal with
anything until I had my body back. It was simply far too dangerous having a
toddler at the controls of a psychic weapon.
I gently
re-introduced my consciousness into my body. My body went rigid for a second as
recognition of another was felt throughout.
“Who are you?”
the voice of a small boy asked out loud in the language I now understood.
The voice woke Racewater
who sat up and looked at me. My body was now sitting up in bed too.
“I am Han Storm
and this is my body, not yours. May I please have it back?” I felt Racewater’s
surprise. I spoke Creatan. The child understood me, but answered in his own
language.
“No. You left it.
It is mine now. Finders, keepers.” Your typical toddler’s response. This was
going to be more difficult than I had anticipated. I could still think as an
individual spirit, but had almost no control over my physical functions.
The new owner
made my body jump up and down on the bed.
Racewater knew
now what was going on. He went around my body and woke Panam, whispering to
him. Thank goodness they would not think me mad any longer.
Panam whispered
back to Racewater “This is a huge problem. We will have to stall everything
until this is resolved. Go get Quill, we need their input.”
Racewater left me
jumping on the bed, sneaking out to find re-enforcements.
I tried again to
speak to the child. It was amazing that my voice came out as usual, but when
the child said anything, it was definitely
a child’s voice.
“Please stop
jumping. This body is big and can break the bed, hurting both of us.” The boy
stopped jumping, sat down and stared at Panam, who calmly went about his
morning business, ignoring us.
“What is your
name?” I ventured in Creatan.
“Daijon” I
received back from my own body in a child’s voice.
“Where do you
come from?”
“From here. I was
alone for a very long time. Everyone went away, and then people came again and
I was not alone any more. They do not want to give me food. They also do not
talk to me as you do.”
My body went over
to Panam, Daijon was interested in the coffee that he was preparing. “I want
some.”
Panam did not
understand the language. I translated helplessly “He requested some coffee.”
Panam firmly
replied, as if he was a teacher “No, this drink is only for grown-up people.
Little children cannot have this. It is not healthy for them.”
“But this body is
big already. Give me some.” He stamped a foot to enforce his request.
Panam ignored him
and addressed me. “How can he understand us, but answers in another language?”
“I estimate him
to portray a toddler of four or five, just coming fully into language skills.
It would be hard to learn to ‘speak’ another language. It is easier to
understand than actually speak it.”
The boy responded
“No, I just do not want to.” I did not bother to translate to Panam as
Racewater, Quill and Bulwark arrived. Racewater locked the door behind him, as
if afraid that my body would escape.
Quill took one
look and started laughing. It was not a funny situation at all, but it was
hilarious if you thought that I was supposed to be trained in preventing this
from happening.
Bulwark gave a
wry smile. Racewater went livid with anger, but managed to keep his tongue.
Panam showed his surprise by almost dropping his coffee.
Daijon did not
appreciate the laughter.
He lifted my arm
and hand, but that was as far as it went. Fortunately some of the knowledge
residing in this powerful entity had permeated into my consciousness. He was
well gifted in the art of illusions and could enforce compulsion. This I found
directly from his memories, that somehow was filtering through to me.
I managed to
freeze my body with a self-compulsion. No matter how hard Daijon fought me, I
refused to let my body move.
My face must have
given the inner fight away. I could feel it contorting with the effort to keep
the power from spilling out of my body.
Daijon suddenly
gave up. My body slumped forward and then sat down on the floor.
“I want to go
home” Daijon said. A sniff escaped my body and then large tears rolled down my
cheeks.
Quill came and
sat in front of my body.
“Stop crying.” He
said, taking my chin in his hand, making Daijon look up into his eyes. “Where
is your home. We will take you there.”
Quill understood
the language! Yet he replied in Creatan, as I was speaking to the child.
Daijon stopped
crying and wiped the tears with my sleeve. He answered all excited. “I will
show you where I sleep. Come.” My body jumped up and went to the door. I was
now only a passenger!
Racewater caught
the nod from Quill and unlocked it. Panam and Quill rushed after my body.
Daijon took us to the elevator and then to the
top floor. This turned out to be the main site of the Dig and was of gigantic
proportions.
It had one main
feature.
The Planetary
Portal!
This portal was
so huge, it dwarfed the portal that used to stand at Batista. Flashes of memory
wanted my attention simultaneously.
I saw a travel
craft arriving through the portal. Similar craft were queuing, ready and
waiting to take the journey to another planet. People and goods were secured
inside these travel craft. I knew they were called something else, but the name
was eluding me.
Daijon supplied
the missing information. They were called Toowins. The craft were adaptable
aircraft and could be used as normal aircraft transport carriers. At the moment
their wings were tucked into their sides to facilitate easy portal travel.
With such a big
portal, the tunnels should also be of gigantic proportions. Where are we going
to get enough energy to start this Portal, if we manage to rebuild a suitable
and stable enough worm-hole or tunnel?
I had not even
started the actual work of unravelling the mystery of the Portal, and I was
already panicking about getting it to work.
Daijon told me to
stop fretting.
I had almost
forgotten my immediate crisis. Daijon was pained by the thought. So he was
already telepathically linked to me. I tried to open a link directly to his
spirit, but found him blocked as if he was a non-telepath. I let it go.
He led us to the
back of the cavern, skipping as he went. I wished I could vanish into the
earth. Daijon laughed at my embarrassment.
Several side
tunnels led from here. He took one that looked as if work had only recently
started within. The tunnel was clear, but seemed to lead to no-where.
Daijon activated
the light by instruction, as I did at Batista. “The other people cannot get it
right. They always bring their own light-source. They are so silly.”
Daijon took us
right to the back of the tunnel where we reached a dead end consisting of
panels. He held my hand over an activation panel and life-force was released
into it.
Whether it was my
life-energy, Daijon’s or a mix of the two, I did not know, but the panels moved
apart, revealing another tunnel. He asked for light and we moved into this
tunnel. The doors sealed behind us. Time to worry about that later.
This tunnel ended
in a landing. There was absolutely nothing further that we could perceive. Daijon
was very excited. Allowing my body to hang over the railing, he pointed down
into the black nothingness.
“Look there, next
to the crystal. That is where I sleep. No-one ever comes here to look for me. I
still sleep there, but I want to go sleep with my mother now. She is in the
caves at the other side of the city. Can you take me to her?”
He was definitely
linked telepathically with me, for as he spoke, I saw exactly where his
mummified remains lay where he had fallen as a small child. I also saw, in his
memory of falling, the immensely huge crystal he had shattered his tiny body
on.
I have found my
energy source to generate the Portal!
Right now, there
was no way anyone, except me, could retrieve his remains. I needed my own body
available to me, without any interference from him.
I opened the
telepathic link on my side as wide as I could. I needed him to know that it was
time for him to let go, that I could not collect his body and take it to his
mother unless he allowed me to.
He understood.
After receiving a mental hug from him, I felt a light electric shock passing
into me as he left.
A small boy with
dark hair and eyes was standing in front of me. His skin presented as very
pale, like mine.
This was Daijon,
as he had perceived himself for hundreds of Creata years. How lonely this child
spirit must have been, stuck here in this place for so long.
I immediately
brought my psychic shields up to safeguard my body from accidental or wilful
takeover. I will not allow this sort of thing to happen again.
I had grown
complacent in my day to day dealings with the Other Side, forgetting that I was
as vulnerable as the next person where individual entities were concerned.
Daijon backed up
a little way. He looked like the naughty little boy that he once was, being
caught in one of his games.
I was unable to
follow this new development. Quill touched my arm hesitantly.
“Han, are you
with us?” he asked.
“Yes, all the way.”
Ω
Copyright © H Gibson Chronicles of Han Storm 2009-2015
