Chapter Thirteen — Part 4

Genesis was kind enough to wait for me. “Maybe I can find a uniform that’ll work for both bodies.” I said, flustered.

Genesis laughed. “You’d look quite sluttish as a human, and it would be very strange indeed for an angel to wear clothes.”

“My mother kept me in a bodysuit.”

“Your mother was a good woman. Did she die bravely?”

“She died unarmed and without hope. Wastik changed Otherspace, making it dark. But he couldn’t use it on me, because I was too close to him. He escaped death because he was in a pocket of Otherspace. I was an angel because I was fighting him directly. I was in no danger, though I thought I was. He knew he’d be safe — so he kept me focused on him while his Hunter allies did their dirty work. My parents never stood a chance.”

“What happened to the bodies?” Genesis asked.

“We shot them into Isastan’s sun.”

“Well then, everything isn’t lost. Follow me home, and I’ll give you one more present. Oh, and go ahead and dump your clothes. I’m sure you have more on your ship.”

Tossing my clothes aside, I followed Genesis high into the clouds. We shifted into Otherspace, and materialized in a forest. We flew to a tree as ancient as the forest itself. The tree was higher than a skyscraper, its trunk nearly as thick as one. Genesis flew close to the bark, fairy folk flying around him, greeting him with kisses. The fairies were around me too, asking a million questions in a language I could barely understand.

“You and Captain Reed are all that stands between the universe as it should be and total chaos.” Genesis put a wand into my hand, and I could feel power stored within it. “I’ve charged this wand with one special talent. This wand will bring one person back to life.

“But you have to focus wholly on that one person, because it isn’t strong enough to grant you more than that. If you want your mother back, this wand will do it.” He materialized two more wands and handed them to me. “Use these wisely, these are the only three wands of their type in the galaxy.”

“All these wands restore life to the dead?” I asked.

“Just be warned, I can’t make more.” Genesis kissed me on both cheeks, and hugged me close. “Don’t be selfish, Governor. Use your bell first and talk to those you wish to bring back.” He gave me a sash to hold the wands in, and I wrapped it around my waist. “If you can do one thing for me in return. There is a Forever Child on Earth who wishes to see you, she’d be very happy if you would go to Earth and have words with her.”

He waved his hand and I was back on my ship. I decided that teleportation would be the next skill I learned.

I took human form and looked at Captain Reed. He sat at the navigation table, seemingly oblivious to my nudity.

“Where shall we go next?”

“Into Otherspace. Don’t set coordinates yet, I’ve some research to do.” I said, “Follow me back to the cargo bay.” The Persimmon drifted away from Isastan, then shifted into Otherspace. From the information the computer had, I discovered that the Scandivats’ home world had been hit by a meteor some time back, and I tried to figure out a connection between Wastik, the murdered Forever Child, and the Scandivats going on the war path.

It seemed to me that they should all be related. Wastik was allied with the Scandivats, the Scandivats had gone to war only after the meteor strike, and the death of the Forever Child coincided with the meteor strike on the Scandivat home world. By the time I got done reading about teselar fields, I knew how Wastik had damaged Otherspace. He’d used a pulsed source of teselar energy. Space was shifting back and forth between Otherspace and Realspace at thousands of times a second.

All he had to do to protect himself was to create a reverse phase pulse to neutralize the original teselar emission source. Though why he would do such a thing made little sense to me. Such technology had to be dangerous, and exposure to it potentially harmful to him. The risk of using it just to kill two people and take power of a throne hardly seemed the risk of cancer and brain damage.

Not to mention the incredible amount of power it would take to maintain such a field. Wastik didn’t strike me as the kind of person who’d waste such a massive amount of energy for a mere assassination. The Prince had bigger plans, and I had to find out what they were.

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