The Gem Lords

Answers - Part 5

     "And how long will it take?" asked Lirenna. "How long before I get my husband back again?"

     The gem raks looked at each other, and it was left to Thomas to answer. "That's impossible to say," he said. "Tak spent nearly two hundred years searching for the answer. Of course, I can build on what he did. He laid some very important foundations, and I'll be coming at the problem from a new perspective. The very first experiment I try might be the one, or it might take the rest of my life."

     "You're prepared to spend the rest of your short human life here, trying to solve a problem that defeated all the Gem Lords?"

     "I can try. With the lives of millions at stake, I can at least try, and if, when I eventually grow old and infirm, I haven't succeeded, I'll at least have the comfort of knowing that I tried."

     "But you won't be limited to a short human life," said Sheena, studying him carefully to see how he reacted to her words.

     Both Thomas and Lirenna looked at her, identical expressions of confusion on their faces. "What do you..." began Thomas, and then he leapt to his feet, shaking his head vigorously. "No! Absolutely no way! I'll do anything I can, but I won't do that!"

     "There's no other way," said Barl gently. "No living human soul can endure the power of the magics you'll have to use, and it will also give you the time you need. As many centuries as it takes."

     "He said no!" cried Lirenna, jumping from her seat and grasping her husband tightly by the elbow, as if they would literally try to pull him away from her. "How can you even ask such a thing? It's monstrous! I won't let you do it!"

     "It's okay, Lenny," said Thomas, patting her gently on the arm. "I have absolutely no intention of undergoing rak transformation, even assuming it was possible for someone at my early stage of development..."

     "Your stage of development doesn't matter," said Barl. "Tak was far younger than you when it was done to him..."

     "I said no! Look, I'm willing to help you in any other way I can. I can advise you on what experiments to try, there's no need for me to cast the spells myself. I've got some ideas, just thinking about it now."

     "You can't perform magical research by proxy. You'll have to cast the spells yourself, and it'll very probably take far longer than the span of your natural life. You have to..."

     "Absolutely not! If it really is necessary, you can take what you put into me and put it into someone else. Someone willing to, to do this thing."

     "That isn't possible," said Barl. "The seed is irretrievably bonded to your soul. Nothing can remove it now, and even if we could, it took us two hundred years to find you. Someone similar enough to Tak for the seed to graft onto. The chances of us finding someone else in the time we have left..."

     "That's your problem! I won't be a rak!"

     "It's everyone's problem! There are ten billion lives at stake here!"

     "I'm sorry. As I said, I'll help you in any other way that I can."

     "There is no other way..."

     "You heard him!" cried Lirenna, her hands tightening on his arm. "He's not going to do it!" She looked into Thomas's face and was relieved to see the look of determination there. "We want to go home." Barl opened his mouth to speak and Lirenna added "Right now!"

     The gem raks glanced at each other. Then Barl said, "Take some time to think about it. We've waited this long. We can wait a little longer."