Chapter 26: The End Is Only The Beginning
Green and blue met my eyes, the wind blew across my skin, across my face. I opened my eyes to the sight of the field again. For the past week it has been haunting my dreams. Here I was again. With every dream something new arose, some change, some little thing was different every time. The dream had started out as just me and Xen in a field with a blue sky and a breeze. Now I had clouds, flowers, a grove of trees in the distance, deeper blue sky beyond that, and something that I could not yet make out to the right of that. The figure always became clearer and I always ran towards it, only to stumble and fall on my face and out of my dream. This time the feeling was different. I felt something on me, something blowing in the wind. When I reached my hand up to examine what it was up there I discovered hair. Deep black hair with bluish highlights. It wasn't very long, but it was long enough for me to be able to hold it in my hand and bring it to my face. I wondered why I might have hair and came to discover a different outfit than my new Invader's outfit. Instead of the shirt that tapered down in front and back, the sides shorter, that hooked into the skirt in the front center by a small icon of the Irken symbol, I wore a simple white tank with jeans and a longer black shirt over the white tank.
Puzzling over this, I found myself looking down at the now visible tiny blades of grass. They were so clear, and so realistic, yet they were almost not there in their ways, for if I looked hard enough, the edges were blurred towards the bottom. Thus I figured that it was still a dream and that I wasn't in that field. Again, in my right hand I held the small blue flower Xen had given me. In the distance I saw a figure. Instantly my feet started to run towards it, my heart telling me to hurry, my brain telling me to stop and walk. My feet were like two other beings and ran on, even when I told them to stop. I fought myself knowing that I'd only fall again and end up waking.
The trees receded in the distance, teasing me, the figure growing ever smaller. Then I wasn't alone. Someone was there beside me, racing along with me. My eyes slid to the side, yet it was far enough into my blind side that I couldn't see who it was unless I turned my head. Yet my head wouldn't turn. No, I was powerless over my body as I ran on towards my destination, ever growing more and more distant. Then I felt my feet tripping over themselves and I knew that once again I would be falling. Once again I would hit the ground, dropping the flower, falling into waking. Once again I knew that it was all over and that I would never reach the end. Closing my eyes, I waited to be awoken from this dream and brought back into existence. I felt a sort of ripping feeling, like that of which you feel upon waking from a dream where you've fallen. Opening my eyes I sat up.
Morning. Early morning. Early morning in this small apartment of mine, room enough for me, my training equipment and a few pieces of furniture. I shook my head and lay back down against the pillow, staring at the wired ceilings. A dim light comes from one of the building's outside 'crime prevention' lamps. The light pours through the system of thin metal shutters used to keep most of the world out and you in, keeping distractions away from you as you studied and became a greater Invader in the knowledge department. It was almost saddening to awake from that beautiful place and into this dreary little hole of old memories. Sighing I closed my eyes to drift back to sleep.
Almost as soon as I had shut my eyes, I heard something from the front room of the house. I rolled out of bed silently, and snuck into the front room, laser that I had pulled from under my pillow ready to kill the intruder if all came to all. Two small bodies came into view and using my night-vision goggles, I identified two S.I.R units, sitting together, working over a small electrical thing that glowed with an eerie blueish-green light. I blinked and pulled off my goggles, lowering my laser.
"Link? Kor? What are you doing here? I thought you guys were taken for repairs!"I exclaimed coming up to them and peering over at their work.
"Daft! Hi! We got out of that old repair shop thingy! It was too crowded and what we've got here is more important!"Link said cheerily, poking the device with a built-in screwdriver.
"What is it?"
"We've been receiving messages all night from different places from Link's head. We were able to sneak out of the repair shop and I broke into Link's mind to see where it was coming from. We've traced it to a distant galaxy. We couldn't decipher it from the weak signal in Link's head, so we took this little tracking device."Kor explained.
"We figure that if we were to put it into Kor here, we'd be able to amplify it and figure out what it is. It sounds really important and it's just begging to be discovered. Something this weak has to be of great importance and over a great distance away!"Link said turning the device on.
"Such a strong signal from such a far away planet in that faraway galaxy it's been transmitted from means that it's pretty advanced technology."Kor said opening his head.
"So we figure that even if the signal is weak, it's strong and advanced to be able to reach us on Irk. It's probably an Irken signal because..."Link started, installing the device in Kor's head.
"We're the only ones with that powerful of technology...." I finished, amazed at their findings.
"Yes! That's it exactly. We're wondering what that signal is doing trying to reach us. None of the other S.I.Rs were in there complaining about it and no one has picked it up on the waves but us."Kor said, shutting off a few things in his brain for a bit.
"So it's like whoever it is that's transmitting the signal is directing it towards you two and you two only!"I cried out, excited.
"Right Daft! Me n' Kor are going to be able to figure this thing out and if it's important..."Link began, finishing installing the device.
Kor went into standby mode for a bit as his head shut. Link didn't need to tell me anything else for we were all thinking about the same thing anyway. This signal had become the most important thing in my life at the moment and it was top priority to find out what it was and where it was coming from. Kor's eyes brightened up again and he turned on the device, scanning for the signal once again. Through him I could hear the soft fuzz of the radio wave system. I anxiously wrung my hands waiting for the signal to be picked up again. Kor stood stalk still, searching the airwaves for the signal. Link sat down to wait and I began to pace.
For fifteen minuets we heard nothing but static and a few messages from our planet to the nearby mining planet in which we had stationed minors to dig out the planets recourses. Nothing of importance popped up on our screen as the minuets turned to hours. The sun had begun to rise when a faint crackle came to our ears. We immediately rushed over to Kor to listen carefully. I bit my lip with anticipation as the signal came through, soft and breaking up in a few places. Before long, though, we began to hear words. Those words were scrambled and didn't mean anything, but as time went on, we started to make out the sentences as Kor's signal locked on the one being transmitted to us from afar. I held my breath as I listened to the signal, Link also jittery with anticipation. It seemed to come in clearer with each moment. Until at last we were able to make out what they were saying.
".....Earth......." It came to our ears with a crackle of static.
".....Field......Earth Field.....November.....November Now.....Snowflakes......So......Beautiful...."
As we listened, we became more and more confused by this message. Was this some kind of joke?
".....Could Be Here.....Wish....So Cold......yet.....Distant.....Too Far Away....Need....Here.....With Me...."
I continued to listen, giving up hope on the possibility of anyone trying to reach us. It was just a loose signal that managed to gain enough strength to make it to us. It probably was picked up by Link because of his broken head. I sighed as more mumbo-jumbo came on in little bursts. Despite the obvious reasons why I should shut it off, I didn't...Somehow....I just couldn't bring myself to shut it off. Maybe it was in hopes that he might still be alive and out there somewhere...Then again....
".....................Daft....................."
Suddenly, my attention sparked and my jaw dropped open.
".........Come and Find Me................"
My eyes widened and I grabbed Link, going into hysterics which is very un- invader-like, but no one was around, so who cared?
"LINK! LINK! TRACE THE SIGNAL! FOR THE LOVE OF THE TALLEST AND ALL THEIR TALL RULING POWERS TRACE THAT SIGNAL!!!!!!!!!"
Link jumped out of my grasp and went to work tapping into the signal before it was lost. A remaining echo of those last words filled my ears as he worked. I was laughing and crying and pacing at the same time, it was a wonder I didn't trip and fall down! Finally Link raised his arms up in the air and cried in glee as he found the signal. I smiled and ran over to him as a sheet of paper fell from Kor's head to the floor. Kor shut down the tracking device and picked up the paper. On that paper would be the location of the signal. On that paper would be our map to finding the one we miss the most. On that paper would be everything that we'd ever hoped and dreamed of. On that paper was one word....
EARTH
***~~~***~~~***
Green and blue met my eyes, the wind blew across my skin, across my face. I opened my eyes to the sight of the field again. For the past week it has been haunting my dreams. Here I was again. With every dream something new arose, some change, some little thing was different every time. The dream had started out as just me and Xen in a field with a blue sky and a breeze. Now I had clouds, flowers, a grove of trees in the distance, deeper blue sky beyond that, and something that I could not yet make out to the right of that. The figure always became clearer and I always ran towards it, only to stumble and fall on my face and out of my dream. This time the feeling was different. I felt something on me, something blowing in the wind. When I reached my hand up to examine what it was up there I discovered hair. Deep black hair with bluish highlights. It wasn't very long, but it was long enough for me to be able to hold it in my hand and bring it to my face. I wondered why I might have hair and came to discover a different outfit than my new Invader's outfit. Instead of the shirt that tapered down in front and back, the sides shorter, that hooked into the skirt in the front center by a small icon of the Irken symbol, I wore a simple white tank with jeans and a longer black shirt over the white tank.
Puzzling over this, I found myself looking down at the now visible tiny blades of grass. They were so clear, and so realistic, yet they were almost not there in their ways, for if I looked hard enough, the edges were blurred towards the bottom. Thus I figured that it was still a dream and that I wasn't in that field. Again, in my right hand I held the small blue flower Xen had given me. In the distance I saw a figure. Instantly my feet started to run towards it, my heart telling me to hurry, my brain telling me to stop and walk. My feet were like two other beings and ran on, even when I told them to stop. I fought myself knowing that I'd only fall again and end up waking.
The trees receded in the distance, teasing me, the figure growing ever smaller. Then I wasn't alone. Someone was there beside me, racing along with me. My eyes slid to the side, yet it was far enough into my blind side that I couldn't see who it was unless I turned my head. Yet my head wouldn't turn. No, I was powerless over my body as I ran on towards my destination, ever growing more and more distant. Then I felt my feet tripping over themselves and I knew that once again I would be falling. Once again I would hit the ground, dropping the flower, falling into waking. Once again I knew that it was all over and that I would never reach the end. Closing my eyes, I waited to be awoken from this dream and brought back into existence. I felt a sort of ripping feeling, like that of which you feel upon waking from a dream where you've fallen. Opening my eyes I sat up.
Morning. Early morning. Early morning in this small apartment of mine, room enough for me, my training equipment and a few pieces of furniture. I shook my head and lay back down against the pillow, staring at the wired ceilings. A dim light comes from one of the building's outside 'crime prevention' lamps. The light pours through the system of thin metal shutters used to keep most of the world out and you in, keeping distractions away from you as you studied and became a greater Invader in the knowledge department. It was almost saddening to awake from that beautiful place and into this dreary little hole of old memories. Sighing I closed my eyes to drift back to sleep.
Almost as soon as I had shut my eyes, I heard something from the front room of the house. I rolled out of bed silently, and snuck into the front room, laser that I had pulled from under my pillow ready to kill the intruder if all came to all. Two small bodies came into view and using my night-vision goggles, I identified two S.I.R units, sitting together, working over a small electrical thing that glowed with an eerie blueish-green light. I blinked and pulled off my goggles, lowering my laser.
"Link? Kor? What are you doing here? I thought you guys were taken for repairs!"I exclaimed coming up to them and peering over at their work.
"Daft! Hi! We got out of that old repair shop thingy! It was too crowded and what we've got here is more important!"Link said cheerily, poking the device with a built-in screwdriver.
"What is it?"
"We've been receiving messages all night from different places from Link's head. We were able to sneak out of the repair shop and I broke into Link's mind to see where it was coming from. We've traced it to a distant galaxy. We couldn't decipher it from the weak signal in Link's head, so we took this little tracking device."Kor explained.
"We figure that if we were to put it into Kor here, we'd be able to amplify it and figure out what it is. It sounds really important and it's just begging to be discovered. Something this weak has to be of great importance and over a great distance away!"Link said turning the device on.
"Such a strong signal from such a far away planet in that faraway galaxy it's been transmitted from means that it's pretty advanced technology."Kor said opening his head.
"So we figure that even if the signal is weak, it's strong and advanced to be able to reach us on Irk. It's probably an Irken signal because..."Link started, installing the device in Kor's head.
"We're the only ones with that powerful of technology...." I finished, amazed at their findings.
"Yes! That's it exactly. We're wondering what that signal is doing trying to reach us. None of the other S.I.Rs were in there complaining about it and no one has picked it up on the waves but us."Kor said, shutting off a few things in his brain for a bit.
"So it's like whoever it is that's transmitting the signal is directing it towards you two and you two only!"I cried out, excited.
"Right Daft! Me n' Kor are going to be able to figure this thing out and if it's important..."Link began, finishing installing the device.
Kor went into standby mode for a bit as his head shut. Link didn't need to tell me anything else for we were all thinking about the same thing anyway. This signal had become the most important thing in my life at the moment and it was top priority to find out what it was and where it was coming from. Kor's eyes brightened up again and he turned on the device, scanning for the signal once again. Through him I could hear the soft fuzz of the radio wave system. I anxiously wrung my hands waiting for the signal to be picked up again. Kor stood stalk still, searching the airwaves for the signal. Link sat down to wait and I began to pace.
For fifteen minuets we heard nothing but static and a few messages from our planet to the nearby mining planet in which we had stationed minors to dig out the planets recourses. Nothing of importance popped up on our screen as the minuets turned to hours. The sun had begun to rise when a faint crackle came to our ears. We immediately rushed over to Kor to listen carefully. I bit my lip with anticipation as the signal came through, soft and breaking up in a few places. Before long, though, we began to hear words. Those words were scrambled and didn't mean anything, but as time went on, we started to make out the sentences as Kor's signal locked on the one being transmitted to us from afar. I held my breath as I listened to the signal, Link also jittery with anticipation. It seemed to come in clearer with each moment. Until at last we were able to make out what they were saying.
".....Earth......." It came to our ears with a crackle of static.
".....Field......Earth Field.....November.....November Now.....Snowflakes......So......Beautiful...."
As we listened, we became more and more confused by this message. Was this some kind of joke?
".....Could Be Here.....Wish....So Cold......yet.....Distant.....Too Far Away....Need....Here.....With Me...."
I continued to listen, giving up hope on the possibility of anyone trying to reach us. It was just a loose signal that managed to gain enough strength to make it to us. It probably was picked up by Link because of his broken head. I sighed as more mumbo-jumbo came on in little bursts. Despite the obvious reasons why I should shut it off, I didn't...Somehow....I just couldn't bring myself to shut it off. Maybe it was in hopes that he might still be alive and out there somewhere...Then again....
".....................Daft....................."
Suddenly, my attention sparked and my jaw dropped open.
".........Come and Find Me................"
My eyes widened and I grabbed Link, going into hysterics which is very un- invader-like, but no one was around, so who cared?
"LINK! LINK! TRACE THE SIGNAL! FOR THE LOVE OF THE TALLEST AND ALL THEIR TALL RULING POWERS TRACE THAT SIGNAL!!!!!!!!!"
Link jumped out of my grasp and went to work tapping into the signal before it was lost. A remaining echo of those last words filled my ears as he worked. I was laughing and crying and pacing at the same time, it was a wonder I didn't trip and fall down! Finally Link raised his arms up in the air and cried in glee as he found the signal. I smiled and ran over to him as a sheet of paper fell from Kor's head to the floor. Kor shut down the tracking device and picked up the paper. On that paper would be the location of the signal. On that paper would be our map to finding the one we miss the most. On that paper would be everything that we'd ever hoped and dreamed of. On that paper was one word....
EARTH
***~~~***~~~***