Rohinirasamathahan
@copyright 2009 Jean G Hontz all rights reserved
My mind was already reaching for power as it cycled back online. I reached for
the fuel of the stars of space, the primal energy of the Universe itself. But I
met nothing. My ability to collect power was blocked on every front. I tried to
zap out of there then, but that didn't work either. I was, basically, helpless.
My body, for I discovered I had one firmly attached to my consciousness, groaned
and my head ached.
I felt a definite weight holding me down. It felt as if a dragon were sitting on
me.
-Amusement-
I felt the world - whatever - around me shift a bit. Gravity eased.
My eyes began to work again and I blinked to hurry the process. My voice was
slower to respond to my orders. I had to settle for a dignified silence as my
watery eyes squinted at a wintry vista of whites and off-whites, none of which
gave me a clue as to where I was. There was no sense of depth, width or even
height about the place, all of it rather formless and .. It wasn't sterile. It
was, merely, inhuman. I sensed... movement, without knowing direction or speed.
Unhuman. When I say that I don't mean it felt or looked alien. I had plenty of
experience in assessing alien landscapes and mindscapes. Rather this seemed to
be something that existed and perhaps moved and reacted only on a plane far
outside of normal human sensory capability. I looked, therefore, with my mind,
shutting off my visual input as being less than helpful.
If there were more fucking angels here, I was going to be highly pissed.
-Where am I? - I demanded.
-Inside - it responded, not very helpfully. I admit I don't think it was trying
to be unhelpful.
Inside what was the question. -What do you want?- I asked, doing my best to
contain my hostility. I was worrying about what Dinah might think since I
couldn't feel her bond to me.
-Your.. mate.. is fine-
So, it knew what I was thinking even though I had my most impervious mental
walls up.
-Walls?- It asked. Almost politely, which shocked me, given how arrogant it had
been so far.
- Protect mentality, block thoughts of others, privacy. Impinge, hurt mind too
much data- I replied. [image]
-How communicate then?-
-THIS mode- [image] I showed it a portion of my mind to use to communicate with
it/him/her?
I felt the mentality withdraw from most of my mind, leaving only a narrow thread
of consciousness to connect to my farspeech center.
-What are you?- I asked.
The word that was sent meant nothing to me. I couldn't help myself, I found my
mind considering animal,vegetable, mineral. I felt amusement and then instead of
words I couldn't understand it was sending me mathematics. [image] That began to
make sense.
Finally, once I'd examined the data sent, I thought, -You member of race we call
Cephei. Like Aaru.-
-Affirm-
He, and it was obviously a he, I decided, had a mental signature not much like
Aaru or even like that of McGee's ship or the one we'd met in the future that
had bonded with our grown children. All females they. The aggressive quotient
here was far higher, and the thought processes were not the least bit synched to
human thought patterns. Therefore, he had to be an unbonded Cephei, possibly one
who had little to no contact with other species. Or at least with anything even
vaguely like humanity.
-Affirm- he sent.
-Why abduct me, then?- I asked.
-You were requested-
Requested, right. Uhm.. -Who so requested me?-
Instead of trying to communicate in words he sent me math again. [image]
-Ah, another Cephei- thought I.
Then he showed me which one had reqested me and I sat there with my mouth
hanging open. [data/images]
Data kept streaming into me as I struggled to incorporate it all. How long it
took I've no real idea, but I doubt it was long given the speed of the data
stream.
"Do you have a name?" I asked aloud when it was over, my voice finally working
again, even if my brain felt overheated.
-Rohinirasamathahan is as close as is possible for you to understand-
"Right," I replied aloud. "I'm going to call you Sam."
-----------------
He, Sam, must have been in contact with Aaru, because my surroundings began
to change and take on a more understandable form. It didn't look much like
the bridge of a ship, but at least it had something vaguely like walls, and
even a transparent membrane formed to let me see the starscape outside.
I laughed, I couldn't help it, when a cart with a bottle of scotch and a
glass appeared. "What no ice cubes?"
I felt Sam rifle my brain. I sent [data, image] and then an ice bucket
appeared on the cart.
"Thanks, Sam. How about a chair," I asked as I walked over to pour myself a
drink.
A bit of Sam reformed based on the mental image I supplied him.
"Great." I swallowed my drink and took a seat.
"Talk to me."
-?-
"Look, your brother, or whatever relative he was to you, crashed on Earth
taking the Firvulag and the Tanu to Earth some 6 millions of years ago. So
why the urgency, and the sudden need to abduct me from Aaru. And don't think
I'm not going to bitch at Aaru over that. She's supposed to be protecting
us."
-Safe here-
"Highly debatable. Look, talk. I don't mind mental images and data sent
along, but I prefer to hear that manly voice of yours."
There was silence in the ship and in my head for a time and then Sam asked,
aloud, "Why?"
I grinned. "To see if you were willing to accommodate me any further. So,
getting back to the heart of the matter, why now?"
"The Tanu are dying. The shipspouse had forseen you. And yet you are not
there."
I raised an eyebrow and sipped again. "Yes, well, some activities of mine
have... altered things."
"Then you must repair them," Sam replied.