5
For two hours Terry tossed and turned trying to rearrange herself into a comfortable position. She couldn’t seem to get settled, her mind wouldn’t turn off; and as tired as she was, she could not fall asleep. Giving up she rose and went to the dining hall and found Amanda sitting at one of the tables.
“Couldn’t sleep, huh?” Amanda nodded and Terry continued, “yeah, me too! I guess it’s all caught up with us, I mean, it’s just too big to imagine.”
“Terry, this goes beyond imagination,” shaking her head back and forth Amanda continued, “and what makes it all so strange is that I feel there is something more.” She looked at Terry for confirmation, “I can’t put my finger on it, I just feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“I know what you mean; I thought it was just me!" Terry threw her hands up and her eyes got wide as she made a face, “You don’t suppose that they’re still alive, do you?”
Goldie came into the room and leapt onto the large stone table, both women jumped. She sat and meowed to Amanda, and then moved to Terry and did the same.
“What is it girl, do you want something to eat?” Amanda went to the panel to get food, but the cat remained on the table. “Okay… no food. What do you want girl, you’re going to have tell us something.”
“Maybe she wants us to follow her,” offered Terry.
Both Amanda and Terry stood up; the cat rose and jumped off the table and went to the landing, turning around she meowed at them to follow.
“Uh-oh…” Terry looked at Amanda, “...here we go again!”
They followed her down the hallway where she stopped at a wall and indicated that they should press a stone that was protruding from the wall. They did so and the wall opened inward revealing a long hallway. Goldie passed thru and continued on her way. They tagged along for almost an hour in silence, passing thru a series of locked panels that slid quietly out of the way, all the while going in a downward direction.
“You and your ideas, ‘can’t hurt to follow’,” Amanda chided Terry jokingly.
Sometime later Terry commented, “Hey Amanda, do you smell that?” Terry was sniffing the air, “it smells like salt water, I think we’re near the ocean.”
Amanda took a deep breath and agreed, "Yes, salt air...!?"
They stopped about twenty minutes later as they caught up to Goldie. She was sitting before a large door; there were no markings to indicate what lay beyond. Both women looked all about and could find no lever, or panel of any kind. Goldie rose and stretched out and pressed the door and it slid open. It was a small four by four room.
“An elevator!” exclaimed Terry triumphantly.
The door shut and it whisked them down for almost 2 minutes and then it sped along horizontally at a fast pace for about three or four minutes, Terry guessed. It stopped with a grinding screech and the door slid open. They were in a huge cavern, the walkway led from the elevator to a door built into the cavern wall. Terry examined the area and in doing so she looked below and realized that they were on a walkway high above the cavern and below was a pool of some kind. She could make out a large Dolphin swimming about.
Amanda and Terry followed the cat to the door, where she stretched and pressed against the door to no avail. She meowed piteously, as if she were calling for someone or something; Amanda tried to comfort her.
“Amanda, come here a minute,” Terry whispered, “shh… look below.” She pointed and Amanda looked and quickly snapped her head up staring questioningly at Terry. “Your guess is as good as mine; let’s see if we can get this door opened.”
Both women pressed on the door in several different places finally hitting on the correct panel. It slid open to reveal a long hallway arching around behind the walls of the cavern, again on a downward slant. Goldie ran by them down the hallway and quickly out of sight. They looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and started after her. They came to a series of rooms with large windows that allowed them to see in. Apparently these were their workshops as there were long tables and strange tools lying on them. Further down the hall was another room; this one held several devices that resembled prosthetics of some kind. On a nearby table they spotted the recording device.
“Amanda look..!” exclaimed Terry pointing.
“Terry, the device!” Amanda said at the same time.
“Lets see if we can get in there,” said Terry as she began pushing on the wall and looking about.
“Over here,” called Amanda with a wave of her hand. “This looks like the doorway, help me push here.” The door clicked and slid open into a slot in the wall. Both women went directly to the recording device.
“How do we get it to work? I don’t see any buttons,” Amanda said studying the device.
Terry scanned the room for a screen; to one side was a small table with a strange device on it. It was shaped like a large thick ‘U’, with a bar shape on the top, two small prongs extending from it.
“Amanda, take a look at the bottom of the recording device; see if there are two holes.” Terry looked at her hopefully, “I think it fits on this thing.”
Amanda picked up the recording device and looked, “yes! Okay, let’s see if it fits.” She placed it on the device and waited; nothing happened.
“No power?” Terry asked unsure. “Maybe we have to turn it on, or give it a command of some kind?”
“I don’t know,” Amanda was at a loss, “I don’t know what else to do. Damn it!” Amanda’s frustration was beginning to show.
“All right, let’s take a minute here,” cautioned Terry. “We’re both intelligent enough to figure this out; we just need a minute to get our thoughts in order.”
Terry stepped back and looked around the room. Ok, this was some kind of a workroom, she thought to herself, the recording device was here, so they had to have some kind of a screen so they could check out what they had recorded. There’s got to be something around here somewhere... She looked about and up at the ceiling, at the far end of the cave wall was a small dark indentation. Aha, this maybe it. She went over and inspected the ceiling carefully.
“Amanda, over here, take a look,” Amanda walked over and looked as Terry explained her thoughts. “What do you think?”
“See if you can grab anything to pull down,” urged Amanda.
As Terry was stretching and searching the ceiling for something to grab, she lost her balance and began to fall. She quickly reached for the outcropping next to the slot to steady herself, when she did so a screen slid down. Terry fell to the floor and both women shouted, “Whoa!” and grinned at each other.
Amanda went back to the recording device and lifted it off the holder, turned it around facing the screen, and placed it back on it. The screen came to life.
A very haggard looking Sha’el was facing the screen. She had a large jagged scar down the left side of her face. Her left arm was a metal prosthetic, like the ones they had seen on the tables nearby. DuGan was in the background and she looked no better; Sha’el was speaking.
“We lost Ku’el and Ta’ka to the beast two days ago; they are with our ancestors now. By giving their lives they allowed my children to surround the beast and push it to the depths of this ocean. It is imprisoned there, held by a force field. Our experiment has been a success; our debt has been paid.”
The screen now shifted to a differed room. There were four long golden tables in it, nothing else.
On two of the tables were the remains of the other two aliens. They were chewed up pretty badly, one was missing a leg and had a huge hole in its torso; the other had no face and both arms were gone. The picture went black and then it suddenly came back on, they were back in the workroom, Sha’el was speaking.
Amanda and Terry looked at each other, “My God, what a price they paid,” whispered Amanda.
“It has been five days since the last recording. DuGan, my faithful and gentle DuGan, has gone to our ancestors,” she took a deep breath and continued, “I fear I shall be following her soon.”
She suddenly had a coughing fit and held a towel to her mouth, when she pulled it away it was spotted bright green. She rose and poured herself a glass of some kind of pink milky liquid. She waited a few seconds for it to take effect, and Amanda could see that she was in terrible pain.
“The medicine barely helps anymore, and in a way it is a good thing. Jake has offered a healing, but I have declined. Perhaps I seek a penance of some kind for what I have wrought on this planet. I do not know anymore, and to be honest I look forward to the long sleep.” She began coughing again and ended with long gasps.
Amanda and Terry watched with tears in their eyes, feeling the pain the alien woman was going through.
“I have ensured that the island will continue, unseen by even the most advanced technology. If ever the beast should free itself; T’kai and B’nal will know what to do. Along with all our knowledge, I have given them very long lives. The dragons imparted part of their wisdom to these two and it shows in their caring for the humans and this planet. They are kind and gentle, yet do what must be done to protect. There is no way to impart how I feel about these two; they are truly amazing sentient beings. I go to my sleep in the knowledge that we did the right thing. These two shall protect this planet if ever the beast should rise again. I leave this record here for future generations so they will know what happened here, what we did to correct it.”
She began coughing again; at the end she took a long slow drink of the liquid. Her breathing had become much labored. She shakily turned and called out, “Ay’a, come here my sweet.”
There was a sharp intake of breath from both Amanda and Terry as the beautiful golden cat they had come to adore now appeared on the screen and pranced to Sha’el’s side.
“Come my beauty, you must seal the room when I go to sleep. I am so sorry I cannot take you with me my sweet. But you must stand guard and wait till others arrive. This island is yours to run and play in. T’kai and B’nal will look after you.”
She bent and rubbed her face against the side of the golden cat’s head. Ay’a meowed and rubbed against her purring loudly.
“Oh, I am so very, very tired.” She reached out and the picture went dark.
Both women sat there for a moment crying.
“She sacrificed everything she had to protect our world,” said a somber Terry, “and nobody will ever know.”
Amanda stood up, “let’s find Goldie, or should I say Ay’a. She seems to be the key to everything here and I have a feeling that she has more to tell us.”
Both women left the workroom and went further down the hallway. They passed several more rooms, but did not go in. They found Ay’a sitting by another doorway, and both women knew what was in there. Amanda went down on one knee and gently stroked the large cat.
“Is this where your mistress sleeps my sweet?” Amanda hugged the large cat; “you have been a faithful friend all these years Ay’a, she would have been very proud of you.”
The cat rose up and stretched her full length, pressing on a panel. There was a whirring sound, but nothing happened. Amanda placed her hand on the panel and pressed with all her strength. Again a whirring sound, but this time the door slid in and to the side. There was a faint glow inside, just enough to illuminate the four caskets in the room. Each was covered with a glass like top. Perfectly preserved all these years, displayed for all to see were the bodies of the four who gave their lives to protect this planet.
“She’s still as beautiful as ever,” whispered Terry, starring in awe. Both women stood there staring at the perfectly preserved body of Sha’el.
“I half expect her to open her eyes and tell us to get busy,” murmured Terry.
Amanda stared at the remains of the alien woman and her mind filled with all that had happened as a result of her decision to stay and rectify the horrible accident that had occurred. She felt wanting in her presence.
“Terry, I don’t think we should be in here,” said Amanda suddenly. “I don’t feel worthy of her. Let’s leave them in peace.”
They backed out of the room, and the cat followed. Both women took a moment to pull their thoughts together. Ay’a rubbed against Amanda and beckoned her to follow. She pranced off down the walkway back the way they had come. They followed her all the way back to the elevator and then returned to the temple.
Once there Amanda and Terry went in search of Robert and Jeffery. After asking about for them they were directed to a new room that they just found. When they entered they stood there staring at the walls and ceiling. There were giant pictorials of different colored dragons displayed all over the walls.
“Ah there you are, my dear. Come in, look at the treasure we found,” said a gleeful Robert. Amanda and Terry stepped down and looked about the room at all the pictorials. “Oh you haven’t seen the best one. Come over here and look at this,” said Robert extending his hand.
They walked over to Robert looking in the direction he was pointing. On the sidewall to the right of the doorway was a huge portrait of the large black dragon they had seen in the recordings. He was magnificent. It was obvious this portrait was done with a great deal of love. Every tendon, every muscle, was shown in detail as the great beast stretched his wings in flight. His eyes revealed the intelligence that they had seen in the recordings.
“This is breath-taking Robert, he’s absolutely beautiful.” Amanda could understand now how Sha’el must have felt about the mighty dragon.
“We’re calling this the Dragon Room,” said Jeffery proudly. “There are all sorts of writings on the beasts, and as you can see many, many drawings.” Both women turned slowly about studying the walls. “And over here,” he said going to the back of the room, “here are the Blue Dragons. Terry, you will get a kick out of this. Come on girl, over here.” Jeffery taunted her, “Look my sweet, aren’t they magnificent? There are twenty-two of them; and I gather from the way they are shown,” he said pointing to several pictorials, “these are the Dragons that aided them in their fight with the Krakin. They are called the Blue Dragon Clan.”
Terry reached out her hand and touched the walls with reverence as tears streamed down her face.
Jeffery was beside himself as to her reaction, “Terry, are you all right,” he softly asked her.
Terry bent slightly with one hand on her heart and waved her other hand in a backward motion.
“We’ve just come from finding out what happened to them. Oh Jeffery, the sacrifice she made was a huge one. We… we watched her die... comforted by the knowledge that her experiment was a success. She left T’kai and B’nal here to confront the beast should it break free from its prison.”
Amanda joined in, “we found their resting place Robert. The cat was the key; she was around when Sha’el and her people were alive. She was left as a guardian of sorts to show us the way.
It was so heartbreaking; she gave up everything, even her life, to restore order to our Earth.”
“We figured you must have found something very important,” Robert added, “You’ve been gone over eight hours. Next time let us know something.”
“Oh Robert, we couldn’t have gone more than four hours at the most,” said Terry indignantly.
Jeffery quickly added, “Sorry old girl, but it’s been over eight hours. It’s night out side if you bother to check. We were about to call it a day in here and go look for you two.”
Amanda and Terry looked at each other quizzically. “I swear to you, we have only been gone three or four hours at the most,” began Amanda. “Robert, we both couldn’t sleep and Goldie; oh her real name is A’ya by the way; well, she beckoned us to follow her. So we did, and she took us to the place where they worked on their machines and we found the final record and something else. Then we came back here.”
“Time displacement,” said Jeffery “could explain a lot of things.”
“Yes,” said Robert thinking, “Maybe the whole island is that way. The aliens seemed to have thought of everything. Hmm…” Robert went to Amanda and took her hand, “Well, let’s go gather up the others and you can tell us what you found.”
Amanda and Terry related everything they found to the others at dinner. There were many questions, which they answered as best they could. They explained how they felt upon finding the remains of the four aliens. And no, they would not show them where they were located. They earned their peace.
They discussed the time displacement and also how they knew they had been gone only four hours by their watches. Yet, eight hours had passed in the temple at this end. In the end they decided that it was a mystery that they would have to deal with later. There was still a lot to find out about this place. Everyone promised from then on that no one would go off alone without informing the others.
The next day they descended on the Dragon Room and began an in-depth study of the information there. It seems that when Sha’el met with the large Dragon, she called him Jake; he agreed to help her. He sent the Blue Dragons to aid them in their battle with the Krakin. There were many notes about battle plans, the interaction of the beasts with the Dolphins and Orcas, and reference to a creature called ‘S’ana’ which was still a mystery.
Towards late afternoon Robert and Jeffery came to a startling conclusion. They conferred for a time pouring over several records and many notes. Then they went off by themselves and could be heard arguing. After a while, Robert called for a break. Both men had something on their minds, as they appeared to be pre-occupied with something all during the lunch break. At dinner that night both seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. The next morning they went off together to “check on something”; and refused to say any more. By lunchtime neither had returned, and Amanda and Terry were beginning to get worried.
Terry asked the others if they had received any word from them and when they said ‘no’, both women began to be concerned. They were informed that they saw them head off in the direction of the control room of the spaceship. The women found them both in the control room, out on the ledge, scanning the island with binoculars.
Amanda marched out there and stood with her hands on her hips, tapping her shoe; but before she could say anything Robert spoke.
“Before you say anything, I want you listen. Jeffery and I have made a discovery of sorts and we’re trying to confirm it.” Robert’s tone was deadly serious. “We’ll be back as soon as we know for sure. Please Amanda, let it go for now.”
The next morning found Robert and Jeffery in the dining room waiting for everybody. They announced that they had made a discovery and had confirmed it.
“Everything that is happening now, all of it,” Robert looked about at his friends, “it has all happened before. Thousands of years ago, there is no set time that we can give you. Just believe me, it has all happened before. The black dragons burning the earth; the other more colorful dragons coming to the rescue; the sea being defended by Orcas and Dolphins; all has happened before. And during all of it, man has been there in the thick of it fighting alongside the Dragons and the Orcas and Dolphins.
Jeffery now continued, “We all saw what happened to Josh and Rain; it’s the exact same thing that happened when Sha’el began this quest.” He waited for a moment and then continued.
“We have all had the dreams in one-way or another. I know mine started to include visions of me riding a dark blue dragon. And I am sure others of you have had similar dreams. It is almost as if they were preparing us for something.” Both men looked about at their friends and then Jeffery dropped the bombshell.
“Well, Robert and I had a hunch about all this, and we went to take a look this morning. We spent the better part of the day confirming what I am about to say.” He looked about the room and then said; “There is a band of deep navy blue colored dragons in the mountains to the north of us. The very same mountains that the Dolphin leader said we must stay away from for now. The Blue Dragon Clan is what Sha’el called them.”
Questions were flying from everyone when Robert turned to Jeffery with a bow, “you may have the honor on this one Jeff...” All eyes were riveted on Jeffery.
“I believe that we, ladies and gentlemen,” Jeffery looked about the room at all of them, “are meant to be the riders of those Blue Dragons.”
“What the hell…!” yelled Ian loudly.
“All right!” said a delighted Terry grinning.
“Oh my God!” exclaimed Hilda.
“Are you sure?” asked Amanda.
“Count me in!” shouted Dimitri.
They argued and debated late into the night, which continued into the next day. In the end, as impossible as it sounded, they all agreed that there could be no other explanation for all the information that they had been given in their dreams. Their children had embraced their call to service; as their parents how could they not agree to help and be part of this?