Chapter 19 Children of Chimera

Chapter 19

Children of the Moon

  Disgusted and needing some fresh air Kian headed for the front door. Not that the air outside was truly fresh any more than it was truly ‘outside’, the real outside being Luna’s lethal vacuum, but beyond the house there were trees and grass, streets, houses and people. The illusion of freshness would have to suffice.

   Another pleasant pretense waited for him on driveway. He could not help but grin when he saw it.

  “My old truck, dents scratches and crap crammed dash and all,” he said aloud, as if the truck could reply.

“You manipulative bastards,” he said glaring down at the ground, knowing they were down there laughing at him. He put that out of his mind, walked over to his resurrected old friend opened the door and climbed in.

  The door hinge even squeaked just like his old Chevy used to do. Fighting back his admiration, he slid across the seat and found his key hanging in the ignition. He turned it and listened to it grind and rumble to life. “Okay you got me again, you even got the sound right. Oh well, when in prison learn to love the bars, until you find a way to break them, if I still do by then.” He shook that unlikely hood off pulled the gearshift down and backed out for quick spin around the neighborhood…    

   The room at end of the hallway was a laboratory. Cages large and small covered all four walls. A large square table fully equipped with lab equipment sat in its’ center. The sound of muffled breathing filled the room. The animals were sleeping, apparently sedated.

  Kress and Penny eased through the door, holding hands and drawing comfort from each other. A huge cage with heavy bars completely covered the back wall. A large black hump rose and fell within it. It was a black bear sleeping on the floor.

  Neither said anything but they both knew it had to be what was left of Brue. Shivering and drawing closer to one another as they softly padded across the twenty-foot long room. They passed by the lab table without as much as a glance.

   “Brue,” said Penny as they approached the cage. It stirred as a deep guttural groan escaped its mouth. Undaunted, she drew closer. Kress looked to her left saw an armadillo balled in its armor, in another cage a rabbit, while yet another contained an opossum. All of Captain’s Marks’ crew was here, yet none of them was.

   They were mindless animals now. Though some might argue that assessment, the fact was these sleeping creatures could not talk, think, had no human attributes and bore only slight superficial resemblance to the remarkable beings they once were. The Company had been ‘successful’. Sweet Lady’s crew was no more, a painful fact Penny and Kress was about discover.    

   “Brue can you hear me?” Penny asked again, grasping the inch thick steel bars as Kress clung to her side, her face glistening with fresh tears.

  The beast rolled over, lolling its’ massive head as it rose from the floor. It leaned forward then without warning lunged at the bars roaring and baring its fangs as its claws just missed shredding Penny’s fingers. Kress yanked her friend away so suddenly they both fell backward on the floor.

  “Brue would never do that Penny,” Kress said after she and Penny kicked away. “That’s not Brue Penny. I don’t know what that is!”

   “A bear, girls,” Maria said as she entered the lab, “just a bear.”

  “A bear,” Penny asked as she and Kress struggled to their feet.

  “Yes one a myriad of animals that once roamed free on Earth.”

  “It tried to hurt me.” Penny said as she Kress shrank further away from the cage.

  “That’s what bears do Penny, first lesson learned.” Tech Maria said as turned an opened the door.

  “They’re all here,” Kress said looking around the room at all animals but seeing not one familiar face, “they’re all, an e mulls.”

  “Yes, well, this is reality.” Maria said, “We’re human they are animals. Accept that girls and maybe we can find a comfortable home for you. Come we have prepared an Earth history lesson for you. In fact this was your first lesson, an object lesson if you will.”

  “A new home,” Kress asked as they followed Maria down the hallway.”

 “Yes but only if you study hard, learn well and embrace your humanity.”

  “Where,” Asked Penny.

  “With James East,” Maria stopped and turned, studying the looks of confusion on their faces. “You know him as Kian West.” Their reaction was more than she hoped for. She was pleased.

 “He’s here,” Kress said as Penny grabbed her grinning and hugging her.

  “Well not here in this Crater, the Company has generously provided him with a three bedroom home, a vehicle and a job in Camelot Crater. Apparently, they thought it necessary he also have the two of you in his life. So behave, work hard, earn your reward and remember what the Company gives it can also take away…”

   Kia and Alexander careened beneath a breathtaking rainbow as the roar of water crashing against massive crystals thundered in the ears. A cold sheet of splash spray and a strong down draft made them pull up parallel to the massive sluice of water.

  “We don’t want to get sucked down,” Alexander yelled, “we better back off, beside I’m soaked.”

  Kia nodded and tried not to notice how his wet feathers clung to and defined every muscle in his perfectly toned torso.    

  “What’s that,” he yelled again pointing to a shadowy gap beneath a particularly large out cropping of blue and green crystal.

  “Could be another cave,’ she yelled. “Let’s go see, my wings are starting to feel heavy.”

    Without thinking he swooped down flung his right arm around her waist and snatched her away from deluge of falling water. 

  She had not felt a man’s body against hers for months. Shaking her head, partly to sling water from her face but mostly to clear her mind of thoughts most inappropriate, she fought the urge to lay her head on his shoulder and tried to remember Kian’s face as the dark mouth of a huge cave slid into view.       

  “We need to rest,” he said, a voice a bit quieter and soft as cotton. “We flew too close.”

  “Yes,” Kia said as he glided slowly up toward the shadowy opening.

  “I can’t see much. Are you alright to fly?”

   She nodded yes. He slowly released her. Satisfied, she could hover on her own he ducked into the darkness to make sure the new cavern was safe.

  Dark seductive images began to form in her mind as her memory of Kian began to fade.

…’I came from Kian… but what if hes’ gone…I don’t feel him…if he’s gone what does that make me…it makes me alive… I live, even without him I live.…I’m alive…but I’m not alone…I’m not alone…’

  A smile crept across her face as she watched a hazy sphere of golden light wagging toward the cavern’s craggy entrance. Alexander was returning. For the first time in a long time, she was happy.