Elysium: Book Six of The Liminality

Chapter 41: The Orb Slinger

Now that Zeke is wired into my will, it's a shame Izzie gets air sick so easily because I'm having a blast flying him around. The transfer has spawned a sea change in our relationship. He's no longer this weird, alien beast I'm taking care of like some feral dog fresh out of a pound, who shits on the floor and never listens to my commands. On the contrary, he's a part of me now, an extension of my own flesh.

What's extra interesting is that I can tell that Gaia's signature is still entrained in him. It's a dual ownership thing. Zeke might be connected to my mind now, but he's still her creation and attuned to her presence in the realm. I can feel his connection to her as a kind of extrasensory perception.

I can't read her mind, feel her pain, or share her senses in any detail, but through Zeke I can gauge her sense of well-being from afar. It's hard to explain, but we are connected now in a way we hadn't been before. I can gauge her overall mood, which can describe as confident yet concerned.

I actually take a shot at communicating with her through some kind of impromptu mind meld that I don't even know is possible and I'm just making up on the spot. I reach out with my thoughts the way I do when I fish for the Singularity but I don't really accomplish anything apart from giving myself a headache. I'm forced to be satisfied with just getting that vaguest sense of her state of mind.

She could be just pretending not to hear me, though, too. I realize with some chagrin, that she could be using this to keep better track of me and keep me out of trouble. If so, she would realize soon enough that I had ignored her request for us to retreat to the new realm.

For Izzie's sake, we keep the rest of the ride nice and gentle. No turbulence. No barrel rolls. When we pass over the foothills and arrive at the hollow I have Zeke come stay high for a bit, because it looks like something weird is going on down there.

There's a lot more people here now, but the ark looks a mess. I would have expected them to have made a lot more progress on it by now, but one whole side is basically just scaffoldings, and the edges of the built portion are rough and flapping in the wind. Either they're remodeling or they had a major screw-up and something broke that they're trying to fix.

I would find out soon enough, I suppose. There are all kinds of Ophanim in the air, and from Zeke's vibe, I can tell that they are all friendlies. I wonder if Gaia is among them. I guess I would find out soon enough. Zeke doesn't have that air of puppy dog excitement he used to get when she was near, but maybe that's another one of the things that has changed.

The camp down there is looking pretty full. It's nice to see that more residents are responding to the evacuation call. Nothing near capacity but it sure looks like that ark is going to need a lot more work before it's ready to go. Nobody is going to be leaving anytime soon, so there's still a lot of time for more people to get here.

"Looks like it took a hit," says Dad.

"Say what?"

"There's a hole in the ground. Looks like it got blown up by a missile or something."

Only now do I spot the crater that cuts down through the bedrock down to the roots below. It's directly beneath the messed-up portion of the ark.

"Holy shit! You're right! Looks like it got attacked."

Now I'm on my feet and having second thoughts about these Ophanim circling around. Could some of them be Loyalist Argents? How could you tell the difference in a battle?

But these guys don't seem to be sparring with anyone. They're all assisting, sending lines down to the weaving platform to help support the intact portion of the ark. That confirms to me that these are rebels.