"Antareans Shed Tears Too"

"The Pursuit"

Chapter 9

IX

On Xarius, Max, Michael, and Shag met back in the palace with Liz, Maria, Maya, and Varec and set about to decide what their next course of action should be. Though they hadn't seen any proof yet, there seemed little doubt in any of their minds that the Ghors were hiding something, and it had to do with the missing children.

"Max…" Liz said cautiously, "If there really is a chance that any of the children are still alive, we could use the Sphere of Location to find them…"

Max was dumb-struck… "I must be an idiot! Why didn't I think of that already?"

"Well, maybe," Michael said, "because we all thought they were dead. Why would anyone ask where a dead person is?"

Shag nodded.

"But maybe some of them are not dead…" Maria continued, "and the sphere could locate them. I think we should try it!"

"Absolutely!" Max agreed, "Just remember, though, that when we went back to the past, the children weren't there. We met our past "selves," and our past "selves" told us that they had no children. Let's hope that whatever is blocking us from finding any of the children in the past doesn't block the spheres from finding them in the present… if any of them are alive. Liz?"

Liz nodded… "Sphere of Location!"

"Ask."

"Where is my daughter, Maya?"

There was a pause. Liz became pale and her skin clammy. Her stomach was tied up in knots. But she needed to know… She had to know, even though she feared more than death itself the possibility that the sphere would confirm that Maya was dead or that it would say that she could not be located.

"Your daughter, Maya, is on the planet Beshune in the city of Grazida in the house of Lorvo the Traveler."

"Is she… okay?" Liz asked.

"I regret that it is not within my power to know that information."

Liz nodded. "Sphere of Visions!"

"Ask."

"I want to see my daughter, Maya."

A mist appeared in the room, and inside the mist appeared a vision, which became clearer and clearer. Nineteen-year-old Maya was standing over a cradle, which she was rocking as she sang softly.

Liz gasped… "Does she have… Is she… Is that…"

"I don't think so," said Michael. Look close. That baby is not even part Antarean or Earthling."

Liz let her breath go out in an audible sigh of relief. She hadn't realized that she had been holding it and had stopped breathing.

"She's okay," said Max, excitedly. "She's alive, and she's okay!"

Maria could bear no more…

"Liz?"

Liz looked at Maria. If ever she had seen a pleading look, she was looking at it.

"Maria! Oh, Maria! Of course… You know it!"

"Jayyd. Ask about Jayyd… then the others…" said Maria.

"Sphere of Location!"

"Ask."

"Where is Jayyd Guerin?"

Maria had her hand over her mouth. She was biting on her lip without realizing it. The pause in getting an answer from the sphere was probably no more than five seconds, but it might as well have been a lifetime!

"Jayyd Guerin is on Gadyslar, a moon of Ghorbidfael."

"I'll kill Hosk!" Michael said with conviction. "I'll kill that lizard-breathed S.O.B. with my bare hands! We were just there! We were right there in his office, and he denied…" Michael's voice broke.

"Sphere of Visions," Liz said.

"Ask."

"I want to see Jayyd Guerin."

The mist appeared, and in the mist there was a vision of a young girl, about sixteen years old, and a young man about the same age or just slightly older. The two youths were running through the woods… being chased by something… something that made screeching baying sounds like a bloodhound with something heavy standing on its tail. Quickly, the pursuers -Ghor guards with some kind of scent-tracing animals- came into sight. The two young people were outrunning their Ghor pursuers handily, in spite of the Ghors' considerably longer legs… but they would not escape. What they could not see or know was that other Ghors were lying in wait ahead. Inevitably, within minutes, Jayyd and the young man would run right into the nets being prepared for their capture.

"Portal!" Liz exclaimed. "Take us to Jayyd Guerin on Gadyslar."

Liz, Maria, Michael, and Max stepped through the portal onto the Moon of Gadyslar. Suddenly, the young couple was in front of them. The young man took Jayyd by the hand and started to run a different way, but Michael cried out to them…

"Jayyd!"

The young man had little time to think, but it didn't require much thought to know that these new people were not Ghors. Who they might be could be determined later. He stopped.

"Jayyd…" said Maria, edging toward her daughter with her hands outstretched.

Jayyd looked at the blonde-haired lady approaching her with tear-filled eyes…

"You! Who are you?" Jayyd asked. "You're the one in my visions!"

The young man looked at Jayyd and at the newcomers. Somehow, he knew… somehow his doubts disappeared. He needed to trust these people.

"The Ghors are coming," the young man said. "How did you get here?"

"Portal!" Liz said.

"Come!" Maria said to Jayyd and to the young man, holding out her hands. "Please! Quickly!"

At that moment, the Ghor pursuers charged through the trees toward the young couple and the newcomers. The young man took Jayyd's hand, and the two of them took Maria and Michael's hands. Together, they all stepped through the portal.

-------------------------End of Chapter 9