Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

69 ∞ crossing the line

[Note: The last scene of the chapter is rated PG-15 for intimacy.]

Day Sixteen ∞ Saturday evening

MICKMI WEPT until she fell asleep. Danny wished he could do more for her, take that pain away. But he realized he was already doing what she needed, by being there, holding her in his arms, and supporting her as she released her grief. He suspected that going on this journey to claim her ship compounded her sense of loss because she was also leaving behind the new life she'd sampled with him and his family. And she didn't know if she'd be returning.

It was heart-wrenching.

He lifted some hair away from her face, tucking it under her bulky headset, then returned to the view outside. He found he was no longer afraid of flying, the raw emotions triggered by his traveling companions had swept that fear away. Now he was free to focus on what lay ahead.

There was a shift in the angle of the plane. The sun's rays changed position in the cockpit as they started to descend. Danny looked at his watch—almost five hours had passed since take-off. It should be sunset at home soon. Were they approaching their destination? The land below looked sparse, but he wasn't sure if that was the desert. He gave Mickmi a gentle nudge and stroked her face. She opened her eyes with a shuddering breath.

"Hey."

She pushed herself out of his lap, wiped her face and nose with the towel from her bag, glancing through the window before meeting his gaze.

"You okay?"

She nodded, but she was subdued, not in the mood to talk. He caressed her cheek, and there was a fleeting smile in response.

"Seems like we're landing soon," he said.

∞

The convoy had turned into a control camp, with one helicopter gunship at a time maintaining the ceiling overhead and a canopy to camouflage the alien structure from satellite view. The team was supplemented by twenty additional men and strategically spread out with weapons on standby, silent, waiting, watching, consuming their rations, smoking, and resting in shifts. Four men monitored Selina at all times. Apocalypse sat in an armored car a distance away, using it as his command base with eyes on Selina and the vessel. He kept operations at Casper and his employer apprised of the situation.

Selina sat on the ground inside the shield, meditating with her light-self beside her as the shadows grew long. Nothing else happened. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that she would not be provided with food or drink. Entering the vessel could only occur under mortal threat to her Queen, so she remained unmoving in lotus position and branched her self into the ground. One probe reached the vessel and tapped the infinite energy capsule within in preparation to meet the upcoming rapids. The rest of her electrons radiated in streams from her, drawing on Earth's energy. She passed a stirring scorpion to merge into a scrawny brush inside the shield and two others just outside, and gently milked their plant energy. She took her time, quenching her bodily thirst and hunger.

"Sir, you should see this," one of her detail said into his comms.

The utterance brought her out of the depths of her meditation. She observed her surroundings without opening her eyes and realized she had lapsed in her vigilance. As dusk fell, chilling the air, her reach became obvious—tendrils of light spreading from her like tree roots in the ground, some reaching meters beyond the shield. The brushes were alive with light. As it became darker, they became brighter. So did her luminescence that merged with her globe-self hovering above her hand. It was too late to hide it all.