Crystal Rescue

Book 2 of the Crystal Message Chronicles

Moments and Scenes from Crystal Rescue…

An excerpt from the start of chapter 2…

II. Scotia

Nibiru Closest Approach: now

“My lady, I’m receiving parts of a conversation coming from Deliya. She’s in fear and unconsciously broadcasting.” Suleia, backpack in hand, approached the bench where Lyra and Ta-rel sat eating their morning meal.

“Deliya?” Lyra frowned. Deliya had been a priestess and healer at the Temple of the Moon before betraying them and attempting to murder Ta-rel. A temptress and master of sex magic, she, and her lover A’ris from the Temple of the Sun, had fled Atlantis to find refuge with the Nibiruan lords they had conspired with. Suleia, with her well-honed telepathic ability and considerable training as a therapist, had healed Deliya of emotional trauma on several occasions. This intimate mental connection allowed Suleia to sense Deliya’s thoughts when her emotions spiked.

“What’s the source of her fear, can you tell?” Lyra turned to face Suleia as she seated herself on the bench next to them.

“Prince Marduk is in a terrible rage. Once more, he has been refused in his bid to return to Nibiru, despite his stubborn belief that he’s the rightful heir to the throne. Though the human wife he took has been dead for ages, he is still refused the right to return to his home world and his bitterness has grown over the turns. This latest denial has raised his anger to an irrational level. His desire for senseless vengeance radiates from him as he swells with entitlement and fury. Those present believe themselves to be in grave danger. Great Atlas, he has ordered that an incoming asteroid be focused to the South Pole to wipe out the celestial alliance base of the Star Council.” Suleia shook her head in shock. “This is senseless vengeance. There’s no direct threat to him from the Star Council, and no purpose to this action. As if the planet hasn’t already suffered enough with the ongoing flooding and destruction.”

Lyra put her hand over her heart. “I have compassion for our priestess sister despite her past betrayal. I send blessings and light to all beings affected by this unconscionable act of hate.”

“His people are sending Marduk and his followers to their safe houses, far underground, at their way station on Lahmu to wait out this period of disruption on our planet.”

“Lahmu?” Ta-rel vaguely remembered that name from before, when he had viewed the star charts in the Temple of Beauty back in Poseida what seemed like so long ago.

Lyra sensed his confusion and reminded him, “Our neighbor, the red planet. I remember you called it something else.”

“Right, Mars.”

Suleia shrugged. “It is considered a safer locale than Earth during this crisis. I’ve been able to view Earth from their perspective – it is as you have surmised, the entire planet is under water except for seven locations. The Tia is currently sitting right next to one of them – the high lands of Scotia.”

Lyra nodded. “Do we know how long they’re planning to stay?”

Suleia closed her eyes and cocked her head for a moment. “Unclear. Many turns at least – that is also causing Deliya some fear.” She drew in a sharp breath. “Marduk’s starships cannot stay in orbit around the Earth – it is unsafe because of the many asteroids and ice rocks that are being dragged in the wake of Nibiru. This planet is going to be directly in their path, and they are preparing to leave at once, before Nibiru passes.” She opened her eyes to stare directly at Lyra. “The Earth will be pummeled by the massive amount of debris being pulled in behind Nibiru’s gravity… Maybe that’s the source of my growing anxiety.”

Lyra closed her eyes for a moment. “Perhaps, in part, but I don’t think that’s all of it. I sense more, something much closer at hand.”

Suleia grasped Lyra’s hands, then closed her eyes once more. “They’re leaving now, at least a dozen starships. All of them – Marduk’s forces and everyone they rescued from the Temple of the Sun, including En-xus, Er-mes, A’ris and many others from Atlantis. I can see Nibiru as they turn away from the Earth – it is huge, my lady, black and red. It looks hazy – oh! Deliya has been told they are also in distress on Nibiru, some of their atmosphere is being ripped away.”

“I see it. What a calamity this is for both worlds. It appears as if the two of them are reaching out to each other. Oh my…” Lyra gasped and gripped Suleia’s hands tightly. “Is that happening?”

“What?” Ta-rel was unable to follow the vision the other two shared. “What’s happening?”

Suleia responded, her mental sending slow and uncertain. “It is the Earth. It’s as if she is turning to keep her face aimed at Nibiru.”

“The Earth, turning?” Ta-rel didn’t understand.

Further musing was abruptly cut short as the constant hum coming from the Tia went silent. There was a moment’s pause as Suleia and Lyra opened their eyes, and everybody turned to stare around before a rushing sound commenced and grew rapidly louder.

Someone screamed and Ta-rel noted with a rising sense of panic that the bubble holding back the sea had begun to collapse inward and upward. Energy began to explode up from the base of his spine and identical to when he had been nearly crushed in the cave-in at the mines, everything – just – stopped.

Ta-rel took a deep breath and attempted to ground and center himself as he looked about the deck of the Tia. People were frozen in place, the same as before when Ta-rel had stepped between moments. Though time had not stopped, it moved at a significantly reduced pace. He had discovered this ability existed due to his travel backward through time to Atlantis – it had freed his body to move back into the waveform domain of time-space whenever his consciousness achieved a higher vibrational state. A sudden adrenaline rush, such as now when death threatened, triggered that energy within him.

Observing his surroundings, Ta-rel saw that the glow-globes continued to function, but the Tia herself appeared to have lost power, disengaging the energy field that had been protecting them from the floodwaters and the sea that had been surrounding them these last weeks.

The sea had begun to press inward around the edges of the deck, pushing the air bubble that surrounded the Tia to start funneling upward towards the surface, somewhere high above them. Lyra and Suleia, who sat next to him, both had their hands raised to their mouths and wore expressions of surprise and fear.

Ta-rel stood up in the surreal stillness and quiet and pondered their situation. This must have been what Lyra and Suleia had sensed coming. But what could he do? Within seconds in the normal time flow, the walls of water intruding onto the ship would inundate them from both sides – those present on the top deck swept away by the force of that water, and those below deck trapped and unable to escape at all. Could he form the wedge and hold back the sea like what Poseidon had done to let him plant his sensor crystal outside the underwater dome of his city, Oceana? It was a different use of his PK talents than he had ever attempted, more akin to the biblical parting of the Red Sea than levitating megaliths as a master builder. Did he know how to do it? Did he have enough energy to do it? The moment he began to exert himself, he knew the drain would cause him to instantly drop back into the normal time flow. He shifted his vision to detect any energetic lines present, but nothing existed similar to what he had been able to draw upon in Atlantis. Other than the ley line the Tia followed which was unexpectedly weak and erratic, the few lines he discerned were faint and unusable for this situation. Plus, he had only recently recovered from the life-threatening spinal fracture he had obtained from overexerting himself the last time he had used his PK in a significant way. However, he hadn’t come all this way to do nothing, but if he exerted his own energy, he doubted he had the strength to form and maintain the water wedge for more than a few seconds – a minute at best if lucky. Poseidon had made it appear easy, but even he had been perspiring after a minute or two. Poseidon…

“Yes, my brother?” The booming voice echoed inside Ta-rel’s head.

“Poseidon?”

“Of course. I did tell you that we were linked and that I could sense your call, did I not?”

“Yes, but…” Ta-rel was astonished at Poseidon’s ability to connect across half the globe and reach him while he existed in the between-the-moments time-space domain. No wonder some considered him a god – these powers were exceptional for any age.

“I sense you and my little Singing Dolphin are in a spot of distress.” Poseidon’s mental voice was full of concern.

“You could say that. We’re about to be crushed or drowned or swept away by the sea that has started to pour in when the line-ship Tia lost power.”

“Ah yes, that makes sense. The line-ship receives its energy from the fields that surround the Earth herself. Those energies are in flux or reversed because of what’s happening, causing the Tia to shut down.”

“Happening? What’s happening?” Ta-rel re-asked the question that Suleia and Lyra had left unanswered right before the Tia lost power.

“The Earth is turning over upon herself as Nibiru passes close by this very moment – she has a face that is being pulled more strongly than the other and so is flipping on her axis.”

“Holy shit!” Ta-rel was stunned, the whole planet flipping over? “Will the Earth survive?”

Poseidon’s mental response held a tinge of humor as he replied. “Brother, are you not from the future?” Rumbles of laughter echoed through his head. “Naturally she survives, she’s a strong lady. But this is not a pleasant moment for any of us who make our homes upon or within her. You, however, have a much more pressing problem. Have you figured out what you can do?”

Ta-rel nodded, then realized Poseidon probably couldn’t see that. “Yes. I considered putting up a wedge to get folks off the Tia the same as you did for me in Oceana, but we don’t know how far underwater we are, nor do I think I can maintain that level of energy long enough to let us evacuate.”

“Your thinking is correct – a wedge is exactly what you need to create, and with a little help, you should be able to extend it out from the ship, which I sense is at the docks of what had once been O’ban, and up onto the nearby high lands that remain above the water line.”

“Help?”

“Certainly, you don’t think I’d let you drown, do you? As I told you when you visited, the sea, including this turbulent muddy mess that covers the world right now, is my domain. Despite the fact the planet is in chaos my abilities remain firmly under my control. I can send you the energy required to do this task, and guide your hand as needed.”

Ta-rel noted that the sea had pushed in another foot during the time he had been speaking to Poseidon. The same as before when he had stepped between the moments, time was not stopped, simply passing extremely slowly. “Okay then. But we’ll need to act immediately, the water is beginning to breach the deck, and I expect I will move back into normal time flow the instant I exert myself.”

“Timing is important in this, my brother. Your ability to step between moments is an impressive gift, but I cannot send the energy that you’ll need while you’re there – that must be done in the normal particle-based space-time domain. So…”

“I’ll have to move back into normal space to start this.”

“Yes, prepare and position yourself. Do you know which direction the docks of O’ban existed before the wave hit?”

Ta-rel turned toward the starboard side of the ship. “Yes.”

“Good, when you re-enter normal space, immediately create a bubble around the ship to hold in the air, then form and send a wedge out and up in the direction you knew O’ban to be, reducing the bubble as needed to draw the ship’s air with you – you only have enough trapped air to form a narrow tunnel at first until you reach the surface. Once you’ve tapped the outside air, we can widen and extend it as needed. Be ready… My energy will hit you like a surging wave crashing upon the shore – be prepared for it.”

Ta-rel checked the pace of the sea incursion and realized he had some moments left before he needed to open the wedge. He hurriedly moved around those who were frozen to frantically descend into the Tia and into the cabin he shared with Lyra. Thinking to grab only the important things they might need, he picked up several of their bags, including one that held additional emergency provisions. Leaving, he noticed the pack that contained the artifact crystal he had programmed to bring him back through time along with its Pleiadian companion crystals that Heka had sealed in ceramic jars before they had left Atlantis. Grabbing that too, he swiftly returned to the deck. Placing one of the satchels from their cabin over Lyra’s shoulder, he picked up her emergency pack sitting next to her and rested it over her other shoulder. He retrieved his own emergency backpack and added it to the other two he had brought up then headed towards the center of the ship, placing other packs lying about onto the shoulders of their frozen owners on the way. He also downed a couple of glasses of the Waters of Life off the tables as he passed.

Reaching the center of the Tia, he turned towards the starboard side where he remembered the docks of O’ban had existed when they had visited the previous turn. He took several full breaths, solidly grounded himself energetically, extended his arms and prepared the mental image of the wedge, an inverted ship’s hull. The memory of Poseidon came into his mind strongly; seeing the Sea King take the same actions to open the way for him, seeing Poseidon standing above him when they bonded in the bath of the Waters of Life. As that link strengthened, he became flushed with a new energy, a powerful flow that made him tingle in anticipation. Taking a final deep breath, Ta-rel relaxed and let the energy that had been running up his spine bleed away, dropping him back into the normal time flow.

Instantly, the sounds of people screaming, and the rushing of air and water filled his ears as the wall of water directly in front of him bent inward. Ta-rel sent his intention down his meridians, along the snake tattoos of his arms, and out through his hands to project the protective bubble, instantly halting the water’s intrusion, then shouted to those on deck. “Stay calm. Grab your emergency packs. We must leave at once. Prepare to follow me off the Tia.”

His heart pounding, Ta-rel refocused his concentration to form a narrow wedge in his thoughts, then started to project it out through his arms while visualizing his hands pushing forward, driving them against the water to carve out a path in front of him. Perspiration broke out on his forehead as he worked; forming the wedge took a great deal more energy than levitation or using his ‘helping hands.’ A sudden thrust of energy from behind rammed into him like a kick in the pants then shot up his spine, infusing him with a heady sense of power. Ta-rel immediately reinforced the air bubble then began shoving the wedge outward from the Tia.

“Do not force your way through, my brother.” The rumble of Poseidon’s words passed through his mind and an odd sensation ran down the snake tattoos that adorned his arms, as if someone stroked them. “The sea is a lady, caress her, entice her with your energies. Use gentle hands to move her aside as you project, and she will open readily to the proper attention.”

Ta-rel grunted and eased off pushing so hard. Instead, he began to energetically slide his way forward and slice his way through the water, more like a swimmer. Interesting… He experienced a subtle response to the projection of his energy not present when he had pushed through, and much greater sensory feedback when he allowed the process to be more co-creative.

While focused on forming the wedge, Ta-rel sensed a shift in those aboard the Tia, the screaming had stopped to be replaced with questioning voices, sharp orders, and the sounds of organization. He heard footsteps directly behind him then felt Lyra as she sent out a mental greeting to warn him of her approach before placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Clear healing energy poured into him through her touch. “I sense you went between the moments. And I detect the Sea King is with you.”

Ta-rel didn’t turn away from the tunnel extending out from the side of the Tia, but smiled as he responded, “Yes. Your Papa Sea is with me helping hold back the water and sending the energy to open the way.”