Lying her in her own bed, Andry thought about her life back on Earth. She had been on Antar for a little over a month and surely everyone would be panicked. Her mother and father would be distraught and a guilt over-whelmed her, bringing tears to her eyes. Her friends… Maria, Kyle… Maria would kill her, if she didn’t die from this and she was returned to Earth once it was over. She didn’t want to think of Max, how he would be reacting to the news. The Max that she knew – the one before Future Max – would have searched to the ends of the Earth to find her but the new one… the one that Tess had formed was everything except the man she had fallen in love with. As close as Isabel and her had gotten, she still wasn’t sure if Isabel didn’t actually like her or simply tolerated her. She let out a sad chuckle as she thought about Michael… what would be going through his mind?
She wondered if there was a way she could see them, just to make sure they were all right. But then, would it be better to see them and miss them more, or would it be better to not see them? She didn’t know and it tore her apart. Besides, there was always the risk that they would see her and she could not allow that to happen. She didn’t know why but she knew it was better that they believed her to be dead, than here.
Her parents… God, what must this be doing to them? Tears slid past her eyelashes and travelled down her temples, moistening her ears and hair. She missed everyone so much. Even though she had made friends here on Antar, it just wasn’t the same. Living with the constant threat of an attack – okay, so maybe she hadn’t exactly felt that yet, she could still feel it off of the others – it took it’s toll on a person.
Arleta explained to her when she had first arrived that life on Antar was most definitely different to that on Earth, not simply because of the advancements in technology and all that brought along with it. But even though the race was advanced, it was still very traditional – all of the planets were – but there had been compromises, to allow the women to work in the labs and be allowed out of the ‘home’. It had to happen, men were at war, the planet, the Council was at war and women had to play their part. She remembered when the change had first taken place, the confusion amongst the women of how to act, but they had adjusted fine, becoming – even – more dominating than before. Especially on Antar. Etherean women still held the gentleness and grace they always had and Andry could see that in Kelsha – Kovin’s wife.
Andry believed that Kelsha didn’t like her. She couldn’t understand, the only explanation she could conjure up was that she spent so much time with Kelsha’s other half – but that hadn’t been her choice. Besides, Andry had seen Kelsha and Kovin together many times and Kelsha had no reason to worry. Kovin loved her very much. Even when he spoke about her, his warrior mask shifted and he allowed Andry to see a part of himself that she was sure not many people could – or would be allowed to - see.
There was a beep at the door and, like all the times before, she ignored it, hoping whoever it was would go away and leave her be in her self-pitying state. She knew it was irrational but she thought she’d earned the right to be even slightly irrational. She was a clone for crying out loud. It was a process she most definitely had not asked for, she told Arleta and Kovin and Lerata and all the others who had explained to her that they had all been cloned. So what? She didn’t care. They knew they were being cloned, asked for it even.
She hadn’t.
Her door swished open and she sat up instantly, feet thudding off the hard floor. Her gaze sought out the intruder and noticed, in fact, that there were two.
“Thank you, Zeegh, that will be all.”
Had Larek really just dismissed the ruler of Antar?
She could feel Zeegh’s eyes on her, his admonishing stare. Like he had said, he hadn’t brought her hear so she could stay cocooned in her quarters. It just wasn’t possible. She saw him nod slightly to Larek and then sweep away from her doorway.
“I had to get him to over-ride the lock on the door. Only he has the power to do that, not I,” Larek explained and Andry huffed and thumped back onto the bed.
She didn’t say anything.
“You’re being irrational.” She shrugged. “It isn’t doing anyone any good.” She shrugged again. “I see…” He trailed off and sat at the edge of her bed. She dragged her eyes away from their scrutiny of the ceiling and allowed her eyes to drift over his form. Was it possible…? She shook her head and blushed slightly as she looked away. “Have you eaten?”
She felt his hand on her shin and she looked down at it, at his concerned eyes. She shook her head, taking pity on him.
“Come, we will eat.”
Andry shook her head but her stomach growled in the process and she heard Larek chuckle. He gripped her hand and pulled her to her feet and directed her towards the shower room.
She looked at him questioningly.
“You must wash.” He scrunched his nose up after he said it and she laughed slightly.
“Very funny…”
But she did as he asked anyway.
~~
They were eating in a quiet corner of what couldn’t really be called a canteen because of its sheer size but, in essence was exactly that. They had chosen the quiet corner so as they could speak with one another and so Andry could escape the gazes of those she works with. The canteen was situated near the bottom of the main tower, but one could still look out and see the sun setting over the sea. It seemed like everywhere had a view of that exceptional natural phenomena.
She looked up from her meal and found Larek watching her, as though he was urging her to keep eating.
“So… what about you, Larek? Do you have someone special in your life?” She asked as she dipped into her ‘mashed potato’.
“Special?” He sounded amused. “There are many special people in my life.”
Andry rolled her eyes and jabbed at a ‘carrot’.
“I mean a wife… lover…”
A dark cloud passed over his face as he looked down at his dish and Andry suddenly felt very awkward and uncomfortable. Something about his reaction rattled her and she didn’t like it.
“I…” he cleared his throat. “I had a wife… But she died.”
Andry formed an ‘O’ with her mouth and looked at him.
“Her ship… she was travelling back from a system on the far side of the galaxy… we had been there for a meal with the leader of one of the planets… I was supposed to be with her…” His voice had clogged up and Andry wanted to tell him to stop, that he didn’t need to tell her. “I was called to Antar and left on one of the ships that Zeegh had sent… She wanted to stay, she was friends with the young princess and when she was on her way back… her ship suffered some technical problems and… there was nothing left when we went to salvage it.”
Andry felt a chill run down her spine at the tale and she pursed her lips, putting her hand over Larek’s in comfort. He was silent for a few moments but then looked at her and smiled sadly at her.
“Why didn’t you clone her body?” Andry asked eventually, after several minutes.
Larek took a breath and smiled again.
“Unlike Etherea, Antar and Pershuva, Vetros don’t keep clones of bodies stored away, or copies of consciences. It has become an increasing problem for all planets who store minds and consciences as they are running out of space… but we don’t do that, have never practiced it. There is something about seeing your next body that is… slightly daunting,” he smiled at her and raised and eyebrow and Andry nodded, conceding his point. “We must recover the body of the person we wish to clone… download their mind and take samples from their tissue…”
He trailed off and Andry nodded, moving her food about on her plate.
She looked up and caught his gaze.
“But… surely, since you are a prince… they would have a back-up in case anything happened?”
Larek shook his head and swallowed some water before continuing.
“Like I said, our planet is completely socialised. There is no social classes, everyone is treated equally… in a sense, there is always going to be those – like myself – who are in relations with the other planets and given graces like ships so we can fulfil those duties, but it was the people who chose it to be us who did this. There are many… “lower class” members who are of a similar stance as me, and many “upper class” people who live with the paupers. Everything is equal and shared.”
Liz nodded. It made sense, in a way to her that something she had never experienced made sense. She couldn’t imagine a world where there was no power struggle, it seemed… alien. She laughed slightly and shook her head.
“What about you, Liz?” Andry looked up at the name of her ‘former life’. Even though she had technically only heard herself being referred to as Andry for a week or so (she was unconscious for most of her time here) it seemed strange to hear her own name. “What about you and Max?”
Liz dropped her fork, losing her appetite completely.
“I… it didn’t work out…” She mumbled and Larek looked at her strangely.
“I don’t believe that you didn’t work out. Remember, I have been watching the planet, as has many others. Especially the right Royal King of Antar and I can assure you… that the person who is Max Evans loves you very much.”
Liz looked up, tears welling in her eyes and she licked her lips in an attempt to stop them from trembling.
“That may have been the case a couple of months ago… but since… since Future Max and Tess… everything changed.”
“Future Max?” Larek asked, incredulous. “What do you mean?”
Andry looked up and frowned. Surely if they had been watching Earth they would have known about Future Max.
“I got a visit… a while ago, from a future version of Max, telling me I had to force Max to be with Tess, or their enemies would come to Earth and destroy them… Tess and Max had to be together, it was destiny. In the destiny book…”
Larek had lost all of his colour and he sat ramrod straight.
“Some things never change.”
“What do you mean?”
“Andry… there was no Future version of Max. Time travel is impossible…”
“But the granolith…”
“The granolith? The granolith is the power source that powers the ships… it is called that simply because of the material used to build it. It is an Etherean metal, sometimes seen as a crystal – in fact, you are wearing Granolithas on your dress,” he motioned to the five gems on her sleeve that created the Antarian Seal. “It is certainly not used for time travel. Space travel, yes; time travel… most definitely not. If it was… all our genetic would be remedied, do you not think?”
Andry felt all of her blood plummet to the ground. What had been in her room that night? Tess had lied to them all. Were her fears right? Had Alex’s death been alien related… Tess related? She had to get back to Earth to find out.
“But… but… what about Nacedo? The skins… everything?”
“You encountered the Skins? Yes… they are indeed real… I was not aware that there were skins on Earth… I… we would have stopped them if there were!” Larek looked panicked also as though he had failed his friend, Zan. “Nacedo? I know of no Nacedo… Explain this to me.”
“Uhh… Tess… he was a protector… for the Four-Square… Nurtured Tess all of her life… taught her of the past on Antar…”
Larek looked pale, paler even than before.
“I must speak with Arleta.”
Larek stood up and rushed off, leaving Andry dumbfounded. Everything they had known, everything Tess had told them was a lie… a story… Andry couldn’t help but wonder if she even knew… And who was Nacedo? What was he? If Larek, who was member of Syria didn’t even know…
She thrust her seat back and followed Larek’s trail.
She knew that Arleta was still on Antar and she was sure as hell going to speak with her.
TBC
An Ethereal Existence [UC/CC MATURE] 11A *11/27/06*[WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
okay, okay we've been waiting long enough... update pllleasse. pretty please?
Dean: Hey, you know what? There's a ton of lore on unicorns too, in fact,
I hear they ride on silver moonbeams and shoot rainbows outta their ass.
Harold Krick: I know this may sound like gibberish to you, but I think I'm in a tragedy.
“Don’t feel guilty, guilt is a wicked ghost.”
Ben: Evie, you're in the middle of nowhere!
Evie: Then I'll cling to the edge of somewhere!!!
-
Gater101
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
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Okay, so I hit a bit of a writer's block at this part. I'm just not sure what how I want to write this part and so this is what I came up with. It's not finished, but since you guys have been waiting so long I thought I'd post it and try and work on part B of the chapter... Let me know what you think 
Part 11A
She abruptly stopped, her body unable to walk, suddenly becoming over-whelmed with confusion and fear. She was sure that she had walked into Arleta, yet the person standing before her was not Arleta. She twisted painfully as she saw Larek speak to the… thing in front of her and pressed her back against the wall outside of the door. She was sure that the people in the room hadn’t seen her, so caught up in their exchange of words as they were. Still…
Her sprint had left her out of breath and she tried to quieten the rapid rushes of air that left her body, afraid that one of the two within the doors would hear her, if not both.
She didn’t understand what she had seen. Had Larek not told her that he was going to speak with Arleta, and yet, here he was speaking with someone who was clearly not Arleta. That thing was the most alien thing she had seen since arriving on these foreign planets (well, if she excluded the images she had seen of the beasts that she was supposed to be fighting). Shaking her head, she chanced a glance around the doorway again and there, in all her glory, was Arleta, her silver hair flowing down her back over her perfectly formed dress.
Confused, Andry stepped into the doorway once again and made her presence known. Larek spun around quickly, surprised but Arleta merely smiled and beckoned her in. Hesitantly, she entered and looked around the room in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the tall, grey alien – a rather “roswellian fantasy” type of alien – she had seen only moments before.
As she approached, she saw Arleta looking at her curiously and Andry lowered her eyes slightly, feeling slightly put out. Larek was staring at her as though she had grown two heads and she felt entirely uncomfortable in their presence. She felt like she didn’t belong here.
“Larek was just explaining to me your conversation with him in the eating area. It seems peculiar, that there should be people on Earth that we don’t know of. And your future Max?” Andry stared at her as she cocked her head to the side. “Curious.” She repeated and Andry raised her eyebrows in an indignant gesture.
“Really? Because I thought it was just a normal thing to happen to a teenage girl,” Andry countered, hoisting a hand to her hip in an indignant movement.
Andry merely smiled and Larek gawked at her.
“Andryana!” He admonished but Arleta raised her hand to silence him. He looked at her.
“I can not disclose any information on the protectors we sent to Earth, not so long ago, actually. But I can tell you that we did not know that the skins were on Earth. We had no indication… are you sure?”
Andry let out a laugh and threw her hands in the air in indignation.
“Of course I’m sure! I saw them shedding, I saw their hoard of bodies that they were going to harvest.” She looked up through her dark lashes and saw Larek staring at her and she frowned before looking away.
Arleta nodded.
“I must speak to Zeegh about this before we can discuss it any further… he will no doubt wish to speak with you Andryana,” Arleta said as she looked towards Andry with a discrete, knowing smile on her face. “But for now, Larek, I would like to speak with Andryana on her own.”
Andry looked up and around, feeling fear erupt in her gut as she tried to think of why Arleta would want to speak to her own her own. She looked to Larek, tried to plead with him not to g, through her eyes. He caught her eyes for a moment too long and smiled at her, in what she assumed was supposed to be a comforting manner.
“As you wish,” Larek bowed slightly and Andry wondered how it was that Arleta came to be so respected within the Syrian community.
As Larek moved past her, Andry felt him place his hand on her elbow and felt his smile as he moved past her. It was strange, she acknowledged, that she could feel him smiling, or frowning or… she couldn’t explain it. It was strongest with him but she could feel it with other people who she spent a lot of time with.
She didn’t want to think that it could be anything alien.
Arleta smiled at her as she watched her, Andry becoming squeamish under the intense gaze. She hated being in the presence of someone who had so much power over the people who were closest to her.
“Come, sit with me.” She moved fluidly, her dress swishing at the back and Andry followed until they were in front of two straight backed, cushioned chairs.
Andry waited until Arleta had seated herself before she perched herself on the edge of the over-sized chair and fumbled with the skirt of her dress, arranging it over her knees so it fell perfectly to the ground around her.
Part 11A
She abruptly stopped, her body unable to walk, suddenly becoming over-whelmed with confusion and fear. She was sure that she had walked into Arleta, yet the person standing before her was not Arleta. She twisted painfully as she saw Larek speak to the… thing in front of her and pressed her back against the wall outside of the door. She was sure that the people in the room hadn’t seen her, so caught up in their exchange of words as they were. Still…
Her sprint had left her out of breath and she tried to quieten the rapid rushes of air that left her body, afraid that one of the two within the doors would hear her, if not both.
She didn’t understand what she had seen. Had Larek not told her that he was going to speak with Arleta, and yet, here he was speaking with someone who was clearly not Arleta. That thing was the most alien thing she had seen since arriving on these foreign planets (well, if she excluded the images she had seen of the beasts that she was supposed to be fighting). Shaking her head, she chanced a glance around the doorway again and there, in all her glory, was Arleta, her silver hair flowing down her back over her perfectly formed dress.
Confused, Andry stepped into the doorway once again and made her presence known. Larek spun around quickly, surprised but Arleta merely smiled and beckoned her in. Hesitantly, she entered and looked around the room in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the tall, grey alien – a rather “roswellian fantasy” type of alien – she had seen only moments before.
As she approached, she saw Arleta looking at her curiously and Andry lowered her eyes slightly, feeling slightly put out. Larek was staring at her as though she had grown two heads and she felt entirely uncomfortable in their presence. She felt like she didn’t belong here.
“Larek was just explaining to me your conversation with him in the eating area. It seems peculiar, that there should be people on Earth that we don’t know of. And your future Max?” Andry stared at her as she cocked her head to the side. “Curious.” She repeated and Andry raised her eyebrows in an indignant gesture.
“Really? Because I thought it was just a normal thing to happen to a teenage girl,” Andry countered, hoisting a hand to her hip in an indignant movement.
Andry merely smiled and Larek gawked at her.
“Andryana!” He admonished but Arleta raised her hand to silence him. He looked at her.
“I can not disclose any information on the protectors we sent to Earth, not so long ago, actually. But I can tell you that we did not know that the skins were on Earth. We had no indication… are you sure?”
Andry let out a laugh and threw her hands in the air in indignation.
“Of course I’m sure! I saw them shedding, I saw their hoard of bodies that they were going to harvest.” She looked up through her dark lashes and saw Larek staring at her and she frowned before looking away.
Arleta nodded.
“I must speak to Zeegh about this before we can discuss it any further… he will no doubt wish to speak with you Andryana,” Arleta said as she looked towards Andry with a discrete, knowing smile on her face. “But for now, Larek, I would like to speak with Andryana on her own.”
Andry looked up and around, feeling fear erupt in her gut as she tried to think of why Arleta would want to speak to her own her own. She looked to Larek, tried to plead with him not to g, through her eyes. He caught her eyes for a moment too long and smiled at her, in what she assumed was supposed to be a comforting manner.
“As you wish,” Larek bowed slightly and Andry wondered how it was that Arleta came to be so respected within the Syrian community.
As Larek moved past her, Andry felt him place his hand on her elbow and felt his smile as he moved past her. It was strange, she acknowledged, that she could feel him smiling, or frowning or… she couldn’t explain it. It was strongest with him but she could feel it with other people who she spent a lot of time with.
She didn’t want to think that it could be anything alien.
Arleta smiled at her as she watched her, Andry becoming squeamish under the intense gaze. She hated being in the presence of someone who had so much power over the people who were closest to her.
“Come, sit with me.” She moved fluidly, her dress swishing at the back and Andry followed until they were in front of two straight backed, cushioned chairs.
Andry waited until Arleta had seated herself before she perched herself on the edge of the over-sized chair and fumbled with the skirt of her dress, arranging it over her knees so it fell perfectly to the ground around her.
