The Lost Sentinel

18 Making the plan work.

Tan P.O.V

We pile into the spaceship with everyone just beside themselves with the oohing and aahing. They are all getting on my last nerve. I wonder if Hanika and Rhine felt the same way when I first stepped on to the ship.

I was a bit awed, but I wasn’t this bad.

I drag my stuff to my room leaving the others to follow Hanika to the control room so that they can meet Rhine and have an idea why they are here.

I drop my suitcase into my room, and then turn go find them there staring at the big screen that was now showing the vast space expense of outer space.

It’s beautiful, and breath-taking, but we don’t have time for this.

“Let’s get to business. This is not why I called you here,” I say breaking their outer space worship fest as if I wasn’t the same when I first saw it.

“You don’t have to be rude,” Blake says folding his arms on his chest. I can see the challenge in his eyes, but I don’t take the bait.

“We are running out of time. So every second counts or we all die,” I say.

“Is just me or it doesn’t feel great that the survival of my home it’s in your hands,” Laz saying looking at me up and down, finding me lacking.

“I second that,” Blake says lifting his hand.

“Whatever,” I say with a wave of my hand. “I don’t care what you think of me as long as you help. Now….” I say turning to Rhine. “Please bring up the map of where the artefacts are.”

Rhine turns to the screen punching a few buttons that bring up the map that I had seen earlier. 

Wat Chaiwatthanaram was already crossed out since that mission was completed.

I stare at the other locations – Egypt, Mexico, india, Greece, China, Canada.

Shit…there were so many. And in order for to succeed I need the power that lies within the artefacts.

There is only four of us. I am not counting Laz, because I want him to be in each one of us’ ear so that we make the finding of the artefacts easier.

“Is this where the things we’re looking for are?” Laz asks leaning over the console as if to get closer to the screen. “That looks like it’s all over the world. No wonder you needed help.”

Yeah, I can’t do this by myself.

“f**k, Tan. This is going to take time,” Laz says with a shake of his head. “Can’t you find another way to get stronger?”

“No. We’re trying everything as we speak. And this is the easiest option,” I say looking over at Hanika who stares back at me. For once she looks sympathetic.

“I have a team, we can tackle the ones in Asia,” Blake offers. I am surprised that he even offered.

I give him a nod. And his offer creates a chain reaction of Cory and Dane offering to take Greece and Canada together since they don’t have a team.

I guess Hanika and I will tackle Brazil and Egypt.

“So we find them, and then…?” Blakes asks staring at me.

“You call, and come to take it off your hands,” I say already anticipating his next question.

“What do I get?” he asks looking around at Cory and Dane.

I want to tell him that he gets to live, but then I know he won’t do his job if there isn’t anything in it for him. I did promise after all that they will get something.

“You get a second location of another precious artefact,” Hanika says her voice hard and uncompromising. “Whether you find it. That’s your business.”

Blake stares at her for a few seconds and then nods. “Sure.”

“I guess you want me to run diagnostics of all the locations and somehow give you a map of where your unknown and very ancient artefacts might be,” Laz says sarcasm coating his every word.

“Yeah,” I say.

“Okay. I’ll go get my s**t from my truck, as if this s**t ain’t hard,” he says already walking out of the control room, heading to the lower part of the ship where he parked his van.

“You can drop me where you got me. I’ll need to make some calls to my team,” Blake says already following Laz out.

“Us too,” Cory and Dane says at the same time.

“Yes, let’s get to it,” I say feeling a bit excited and hopeful that this just might work out. If there is one person going for the artefacts the better chance, we have of saving the world.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Everything moves fast from there on. Rhine drops Blake, Cory and Dane where he picked us up. He gives them a smaller version of the device he gave me. I guess he did go into the store room after all. The devices look sleek and very high tech.

Now, that I want, I think to myself as I watch Blake clip it to his belt and stuff the earpiece into the shell of his ear.

There are wristband thingies too, that makes them look so cool.

“With this I can find you anywhere, just make sure that it’s on.”

“Sure,” Blake says with a wave as he walks off the ship. The city lights in the distance looks so normal, and wonder if people knew what was happening around them.

Well, I was once clueless too.

“Where do you want to go first?” Rhine asks as the door closes. We turn around and head back to the control room where Laz was already setting up his equipment under the watchful eye of Hanika.

I wonder if she thinks he will steal something or what.

“Let’s do Brazil. I hope it’s in the Mayan ruins,” I say. I’ve always wanted to go there. But there was were no jobs there.

“Brazil it is,” Rhine says wheeling himself towards the control room. “Are you not coming?” he asks as he somehow realizes that I am not behind him.

There is something that I’ve been meaning to try.

I want to talk to my other half. And since Hanika said I can only do that with meditation I need to put in sometime for meditation.

I shake my head. “Let me know when we’re there.” I say turning to go to the padded room, and Hanika and I were meditating in. Even though my first try of meditation had been me waking up with bruises.

I guess to an extend I had connected with my other half. I just didn’t have the presence of mind to be aware that he was there with me.

I walk into the room taking of my boots off. I walk to the middle of the padded floor and assume the position I saw Hanika take.

I sit there for a few seconds, but my legs cramp up before I can even go deep into meditation.

I groan as I straighten them smoothing my hands over the cramping muscles.

Shit…how do people sit like this for a long time. I could barely sit there for a few seconds.

Well, it doesn’t have to be the way other people do it.

I lie down and look up at the ceiling.

The ship doesn’t have much of a ceiling, only a black surface that looks to be curved slightly at the edges.

I close my eyes opening my mind, and my very being. I call to him, searching him in my heart where I always assumed that the soul lies.

For a while nothing happens, but I keep my mind open, yearning for that connection with the very depth of me.

And then I feel it. The silence fills with a small presence. It feels like it’s far, but its there none the less.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey, yourself,” the presence says sounding far yet strong. “You hanging in there?”

“I should be asking you,” I say with a laugh. It feels strange to be talking to myself like this. But I must say that it feels good none the less. It feels good to know that I am fine, and I am not giving into the hardship of the situation I am finding myself in.

“I not dead,” the presence laughs too.

“I know. Woke up with bruises, but not dead,” I say. Sudden images of the fight flickers in my mind. I understand that we are somehow sharing the same memories. It’s like a sudden recap of everything that happened to him so far.

The images end with a weird looking creature staring up at me.

“What is that?” I ask confused at the bright and big eyes staring at me with an adoration that’s just weird. It makes me think of a puppy.

“He’s not a puppy. He’s a magical beast.”

“Magical what?” I’ve never heard of that.

“A magical beast. He won’t leave. He says I am its master. Now I am stuck with a lizard that talks to me,” the presence sighs, sounding exhausted.

“That’s strange. But I’ll find out what it means,” I say. I open my mind too, and give him a recap of what happened to me so far, specifically my fight with the shell alien just in case he meets up with him.

Is this cheating? I ask myself.

I think about that for a second, and then shrug, being prepared is not a crime. I plan to study every alien in that database and give him the info.

“Good plan,” the presence says with another laugh.

“When is your other fight?” I ask feeling anxious about that. There is no telling what could happen.

“In 48 hours.”

Yeah, okay. I connect with my soul for a little while. My body vibrates with his presence and I can feel the power thrumming within me, as our brains become one. It feels different when we merge like that.

I wonder what it’s going to feel like once we’re reunited.

I close my eyes and will my hand to release the power as I saw him do.

I open my eyes and watch my right hand glow with a golden light.

I didn’t have hope that the plan might work out, but…it seems going to Mount G and remaining on earth so that I can grow stronger could work.

I sit up, breaking the connection, just as Hanika walks into the room.

“We’re dropping off in a few minutes,” she says staring at my hand. She doesn’t say anything.

No, well done…nothing.

I wonder what it will take to impress her.

“Yeah, I am going to change first,” I say getting up to go to my room. I am not going out in the pyjamas again.

Hanika grabs my arm as I’m about to pass her.

“Are you sure about those guys you brought into this?” she asks.

“Your prejudice against my life it’s not nice,” I tell her, snatching my hand away. “For your information it was this that saved your precious Master Gin. Or I would have died a long time ago in the streets.” I say walking away. Anger rises inside me, but I push it away.

She doesn’t understand the kind of life I live, and what I had to do to survive.

Maybe one day she will.