Chapter 7

Wilma released a frustrated sigh and growled out loud at the readout on her console. Four analyses and the same result all four times. She punched the comm button a little harder than intended and winced as the feedback echoed inside her helmet.

"Colonel Deering to Earth Defense Directorate, Doctor Huer."
She waited about a minute until the elder man's voice replied. "Doctor Huer; I've been anxiously waiting for your transmission, Colonel. Did you find Buck yet?"
Wilma sighed and paused for half a moment. "No, not yet. I've encountered a problem.

"A problem you say?" Huer asked with a hint of trepidation in his voice.
"Yes; I followed the trajectory Dr. Theopolis transmitted and I was able to pick up the residual ionized particle trail of Buck's shuttle… but…"
"But what?"
"It just stops in the middle of nowhere! It's almost like he turned off the engines and stopped and then disappeared, but there's nowhere he could have gone."
"Maybe he was tractor-beamed somewhere."
"Yes, I thought of that too, but there's nowhere a tractor beam could have originated from. I am literally in the middle of nowhere."
"Perhaps he was picked up by a bigger ship."
"Then I would be able to detect some kind of vapor trail of another ship, but I'm not."
"Unless they use a drive we're not familiar with or incapable of detecting. Is there a star system nearby?"
"Yes, there is a star here and five planets, but none of them are in the star's habitable zone. There's a huge gap between the first and second planets like there should be something between them and the computer keeps telling me there is, but nothing is showing up on any scan I've run, and I can't see anything."
"Is that space in the star's habitable zone?"

"Yes, right in the middle."
"Hmm, interesting."
Wilma growled again. "Buck's missing and all you can say is interesting?" she snapped.

Huer ignored her outburst. "Have you tried to contact Dr. Theopolis?"
"Yes, but he hasn't responded, if he's even there to hear me."
"So you don't know if he's capable of receiving you."

"Yes."
"I see. Well Colonel, it's your call. You can either return home and hope Buck finds his way back on his own, or you can continue scouting the area until you run low on fuel."
"I'd like to stay here for awhile and continue my scans."
"Of course," Huer said. "I figured you'd say that. Well inform me if anything changes."
"I will, Doctor… what in the world?"
Wilma's eyes widened beyond proportion at the scene that had literally just appeared right in front of her.

"Colonel Deering?"
"Doctor Huer!" she said with excitement in her voice. "You're not going to believe this! A planet just… appeared right in front of me!"

"A planet… just appeared?"
"Yes! One minute it wasn't there and the next minute it was! Scans show it's about the same size as Earth and populated! I swear it wasn't here twenty seconds ago! AHH! I'm caught in a tractor beam and my engines just shut off!"

"Be careful, Colonel. Any civilization that can make their planet invisible will be very formidable."

"Somehow… I get the feeling… they're friendly, though. I can't explain it."

"Well in any case, be careful."
Wilma grinned. "You know me, Doctor Huer. I'm always careful."
"Not when it comes to Buck, you're not."
She shook her head but didn't say what she wanted to say. Instead she raised her hand to her helmet. "I'll let you know as soon as I find Buck. Colonel Deering out." She tapped the helmet to disconnect the transmission.

Buck's whole body spasmed. His eyes jerked open, but the sunlight streaming through the several open windows immediately blinded him for several minutes. Eventually one eye focused and then the other to find himself lying on a huge, soft, fluffy bed in probably the biggest bedroom he'd ever seen in his life. He glanced to his right to see a beautiful woman sitting only a couple feet away in a well worn rocking chair. She had both feet curled up beside her and she appeared to be knitting something. When she saw Buck looking at her, she smiled warmly and set her supplies down on the nearby night table.

"Good morning, Buck!" she said in an airy, cheery voice. "How'd you sleep?"
He simply stared at her for a long minute without saying a word.

"You looked like you were having some pretty intense dreams," she added.

He continued to stare at the beautiful mystic. "Who are you?" he asked.

One side of her lips upturned into a half smirk. "Is that what you ask all your women when you wake up in their bed? I'm Cicada."
His eyes closed and his head turned away. "No, that's not what I meant." He turned back to look at her again. "What are you?"

"I'm just a woman who loves to entertain company." She reached to the nightstand and picked up the beginnings of a multi-colored blanket. "I'm making this for my first grandchild. Do you like it?"
"What… what the hell happened to me? I don't remember… how'd I get here?"
She set the blanket down and nodded. "I must apologize. You had a reaction to the fish we had for lunch. I brought you up here to sleep."
"Sleep? We… didn't…"

She snickered and shook her head. "Oh, no, this isn't my bedroom. I'm across the hall. This was Syndria's." She stood and moved beside the bed. "What do you remember?"
His eyes widened when he saw Cicada looking down at him. "You!" he breathed. "I remember… you were floating above me! You… pulled me out of my body! I saw myself… sleeping here! Then we flew to this… temple in the woods east of the lake. You were talking to this green, glowing stone, and the voice inside said something about… a procession of dead souls. Then you kissed me on the cheek and left me. Then… I talked to… my best friend Toby… and then my mom and dad… and… Jennifer…"

"Wow, that sounds like a vivid dream! And you remember all those details?"
"I remember… everything we talked about, everything they said… like… like it was… real."
Cicada nodded with a straight face. "Dreams can be very powerful." She rested a hand on his chest. "How do you feel?"
"Physically or mentally?"
She grinned. "Yes."
He sighed and closed his eyes, allowed his head to fall back into the soft pillow. "Physically I feel like I was up all night."
"And mentally?" she pressed.

His eyes opened to stare up into the wide, clear, colorless eyes. "Better," he whispered. "Better than I have in months. I feel like a giant weight's been lifted from my chest." He moved a hand to rest atop hers. "Thank you."
"Me? Why are you thanking me?"
"For everything you've done for me. for taking me to the temple, for letting me talk to my friends, for helping me through my pain."
She shook her head. "I didn't do anything," she argued mildly.

He narrowed his eyes. "Huh? Whatcu talkin' 'bout?"
She pressed her hand into his chest lightly. "Whatever resolution you found with whatever your problem was, the answer was in here the whole time. Maybe you just needed to step away from your problems and the cares of the day and reflect. Sometimes that is the only way to find the answers you seek."
"Are you telling me you had nothing to do with… this? The flying through the night? The temple? The procession of lost souls?"
She smiled down at him. "I assure you, you can search every forest on Ornaby, but you will never find any pyramids or temples like the one you described. And you think I can pull you out of your body and fly through the air? You are very flattering if you think I have THAT much power!"

Buck let his hand fall to the bed and rubbed his eyes with the other. "Yeah, now that you put it that way, it does sound farfetched. But the dream felt… so real!" He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You didn't drug the fish, did you? Put me into a drug induced dream state?"
Cicada snickered again, then shook her head. "I ate the fish too, remember?"
"Not really. What kind of fish was it?"
"It's called nearfish."
"Nearfish?"
"It is native to the lake here. It's nearly invisible and quite hard to catch, so needless to say it's a rare treat when we have it. The meat only becomes visible when you subject it to heat, so you have to cook it before you can see it."
"And it wasn't drugged?"
"I am not in the habit of drugging my guests so I can have my way with them."

"No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."
She tapped his arm with her free hand. "If you're up for breakfast, I can lead you down to the kitchen. Colonel Deering should already be there by now."
"Wilma?! Wilma's here?"
"Hmm-mmm. She landed about an hour ago. I actually brought her up here to see you to prove you were okay and not my prisoner, but you were moaning in your sleep and she didn't want to wake you, so I took her back downstairs. My steward is entertaining her right now. And I believe Doctor Theopolis has finished in the library as well, so he is there too. And of course your charming little droid! He was quite interesting! I spent most of the night talking to him!"

"Really? So you're saying Twiki finally got the girl?"
Cicada gave him a full-blown laugh. "Yes, he got the girl!"

Buck smirked. "Yes, Twiki is very interesting, I'll give you that." He started to sit up but suddenly stopped. "What's for breakfast? It isn't going to give me any more dreams, is it?"
"No," she smiled. "It's just good old fashioned eggs, home fries and bacon."

"Bacon?" he asked with wide eyes. "Real bacon?"
She winked at him. "The best kind! Hickory smoked! And crunchy!"

He sat up quickly. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"