The Mirrorverse
Chapter 69

Ka

Disorientated, Ka rubbed his sore head and slowly opened his eyes to the bright clinical room he was lying in. Like a freight train, the events that had preceded his lying in what looked like some sort of medical facility charged through his brain. He closed his eyes immediately and returned his arm to his side, to where he hoped he had got it from so no-one suspected he was awake.

Ascending to the astral plane immediately, Ka went to the same place he had always landed with Maya, Eden. The ethereal Eden looked the same as ever, but felt so different. He left immediately, not wanting to revisit his memories.

Part of him was expecting Maya to be waiting for him on his rock, but he was met with an emptiness more profound than he had ever witnessed. The whole of the astral plane felt somehow empty without Maya or Ke.

Ka felt for Maya but she wasn’t there, and he had no hope of replaceing her outwith the astral plane without Ke.

He sat on his rock, feeling hope sliding away from him. She had to come, he had to wait. But if the Russians caused his body pain, he would return and miss her, and with her his last hope was gone.

Ka didn’t know why he sat down, not in a world where there were no muscles to fatigue. He guessed he was just tired of his adventure, he just wanted his life back. He was feeling mightily sorry for himself when a very welcome form appeared in front of him.

“April!” he cried, and merged energies with her. They separated and should Ka have been able to cry, he would have cried like a baby.

“They’ve got me,” he told her. “Follow me there so you know where to go, they might start torturing me at any time.”

The girl looked shocked, but re-merged with him as they went to the ship’s medical bay together and saw Ka’s inert form.

“You look like shit, what happened?” asked April.

He knew he trusted her, but also knew he didn’t trust her with Maya’s life, nor with the others’ lives.

“Long story, get me out of here!” said Ka, needing her to return in body.

“Where are the others?” she demanded, but he wasn’t going to tell her.

“Not here, not on this ship, it’s just me, I don’t know where they are.” he wasn’t lying, he really didn’t know where they were.

“Right, hang on,” she said and left him. Ka remained by his body where he had a full view of the whole room whilst remaining invisible. There was one person sitting at a computer of some kind, something very advanced, and not looking at his body. Standing next to the door there was the ogre man who had hit him around the back of the head, transfixed at some device he held in his hand.

Ka saw April arrive as he slithered back to his body. He opened his eyes, grabbed April’s hand and jumped up, exiting through her portal before the ogre had a chance to catch breath.

It was beautiful where he stepped out, and he was so relieved to see that Syrhahn was there too, Ka knew he had as much to lose as him from Steve.

The purple leaves glinted in the strong sunlight, which was hot and relaxing on his skin. It had been so long since he had felt sunshine like that, not since California, not since he had a life. A great life. A perfect life. Ka suddenly felt a long way from home.

“Hello,” a male voice said in a dangerous tone, causing Ka’s eyes to spring wide open, leaving his reflections behind.

“This is Ka, one of Xhisara’s party,” Syrhahn informed him, standing in front of Ka.

“He was in danger, they were torturing him, I had to save him,” April interjected at high speed.

“But you were not to go to the astral plane,” his tone remained the same.

“We were supposed to believe you that we were to stay here, without contacting our friends and just ‘know’ you weren’t the enemy?” Syrhahn demanded, his voice turned to ice.

“We’ve been screwed over twice!” shrieked April. “And we still don’t know for sure you are good!” Her eyes filled with tears and she was clearly having trouble controlling her bottom lip wobble. She was doing well for a kid caught up in a grown up war. Ka thought he was doing well for an actor caught up in something that belonged in a movie.

“And I don’t know for sure who is good,” said Ka, stepping away from all of them and shaking his head, which was pounding. “If I tell you where I last saw them, will they die?” he glared at all of them, but mainly at the newcomer.

“My girlfriend was shot in the head in front of me by one of Steve-I-mean-William’s men, who could only have found us if there was a traitor!” Anger was surging through Ka’s veins, setting his pounding head on fire.

“Someone told him where we were, how do I know it wasn’t you?” Ka pointed at Syrhahn and April. He was beginning to lose control of more than just his temper and turned and vomited on the purple mossy ground.

The pain in his head kept him conscious as he heard them speaking urgently with each other, then someone touched him and the forest vanished.

Ka was back in hospital world, his body nolonger attached to him. The pain had gone and he found he could think clearly.

The man with the aggressive voice appeared next to him.

“Hey, I’m Sam, and I am a member of what we call The Resistance,” he started without ceremony. “We have to be very careful as there are spies everywhere and it is hard to know who to trust, as you unfortunately have found out the hard way.

“We believe that William’s tracker, Zinia, followed Maya to Eden from the vacant property that William had passed off as his. We do not believe it was a traitor. As for Xhisara’s planet, the traitor was immediately revealed and has been dealt with.”

“What is The Resistance and what do you do?” asked Ka, already knowing the answer.

“We resist William’s attempts to gain control of as many universes as he can, and right now we are preparing to fight to save the Spectrals from the weapon William has taken from Syrhahn’s son.

“We are going to war, Ka, and we need as many people as possible to fight with us. We lost touch with Xhisara yesterday. She is a very powerful ally and has assembled an army. We know she was operating from a ship, and we know she had an exceptionally powerful engulfer with her, in fact possibly the most powerful I have ever heard of. Is that your partner, or your mirror’s partner?”

He looked at Ka, who wondered why he had given him so much information when he didn’t know who to trust. Sam knew who Ka was. If Sam was the enemy, Ka and his brigade were screwed.

“My partner.”

“And she survives. No?”

“Yes. But only we knew that.”

“Of course, I could only know that from talking to Xhisara. I am not the enemy. Our enemy is powerful and well equipped, but also short sighted. We need Maya and Xhisara. If they can move a ship, imagine what they can do on the battlefield?”

“I need Maya because I love her. But I don’t know where they are. They hopped while I was outside the ship, they didn’t know. I got picked up by bad guys who decided that violence was the answer to god knows what, and my head got in the way. They could be in any universe in the multiverse. I need to believe they are okay. I need to.”

“How do they hop it, go to the same place, Xhisara and Maya?” asked Sam, though it seemed purely from curiosity.

“They don’t, Maya does. She can do it on her own.”

Sam looked at him in awe, “Then you are right. They are okay, Maya is okay. Let’s just hope they get the message in time. We are on constant alert, and need to be ready to fight at any time,” He looked grave and suddenly older.

“I’m ready to fight. Where is the battleground?”

“Spectral world. It doesn’t have a corresponding astral plane, no-one can spy. It’s neither physical nor ethereal.”

“Do you dock your body like here?” wondered Ka, thinking that would be a pretty rubbish war if no-one could get hurt.

“No, you take your body with you to Spectral world, or it would hardly be a suitable battlefield. The weapon William has against them would be unable to travel there if his body was docked.”

“Fair point. What weapon?”

“Anti-matter ray, reckons it can take out the Spectrals, then all semblance of order in the multiverse will be lost.”

“That’ll be fun.”

“Big fun.”