Meltdown Ophilion - Book One

14_MISLAID

The birds woke them again in the morning. The storm had passed in the night and now Hanthran shone brightly. Soft yellow rays reflected off the stones in the bend of the cave. Orion stretched inside his sleeping bag. "Oh, man," he said groggily, "what a night. Thank the stars for this cave. We would have been in real trouble without it."

Fel and Celli began to stir.

Orion got up slowly and made his way to the entrance of the cave. A beam of light from Hanthran shone through the overhanging greenery to where he stood. He felt for his necklace. It was still there. He lifted it into the light – its beauty seemed to have increased overnight. He could not remember seeing such a deep, brilliant yellow. As he gazed at it he felt something alter inside of him, like a chemical reaction. He felt his thoughts become clear and focused; whatever anxieties he had had about the future were now in a distant partition of his brain.

The pilot did not take time to analyze this phenomenon, for now, he simply accepted it. He took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled slowly. He felt better, more whole, healthier than he had felt at any time in the last five years; since his father had taken his Journey to the Stars.

He placed his pendant under his jacket and shuffled back to where Celli and Fel were stirring, attempting to extricate themselves from their sleeping bags. "We better get going," he said, "we can still make the afternoon transport if we leave now." Orion started packing his sleeping bag. "Anybody have any dreams?"

"After I fell asleep," Fel said, "I didn't even hear the thunder."

Celli was quiet.

"What is it?" Orion asked, kneeling down on the ground beside her.

Celli smiled, sitting cross-legged inside her sleeping bag, her hair in tangles. She sat back, leaned against the rock wall and looked at the sphere. "I don't know," she started, "it was kind of confusing, most of it; but in one part..." she tried to remember exactly what happened. "Yes," she said as a scene flashed in her mind, "I met someone; we all did." She paused.

"Did he say anything?"

"It was a girl – older than me. She had blond hair and light eyes," she chuckled; "she was dressed in the strangest clothes, like something I saw once in a history chip."

Orion's eyes grew wide.

"What?" Celli said.

"Celli," Orion said slowly, "was she wearing a white shirt and a colorful vest?"

"Yes," Celli answered, surprised.

"And did she have a long skirt and sandals made of animal skin?"

Celli looked at him in shock. "How...?" she started, "that's exactly how she was dressed."

"I saw her too," Orion said, sitting on the ground in front of her, "first, in the dream where I found this cave, then in a dream the next night. In my dreams though," Orion went on, "she seemed to be in her tenth cenro." He pondered the similarities. "Maybe they're different people."

"Maybe," Celli said.

"What else happened?" Orion asked.

Celli strained into the darkness of the cave as she tried to remember more. "She didn't say anything," Celli fidgeted with her fingers, "she just looked at me." Her face relaxed. "She smiled the most beautiful smile; like she was trying to tell me something... without words." Celli looked back to Orion. "I think she was trying to tell me that everything is going to be alright, that it will work out."

"That what will work out?" Fel asked.

"I don't know, exactly... it was a good feeling though, maybe it was a good omen," she looked hopefully at the boys, "after all, we both saw her."