IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION
JOURNEY TO THE LIGHT
By; Speaker Gerald Polley
All rights reserved.
Chapter 9
A couple of weeks went by. Carol kept
asking the doctor "When?" and he kept saying "Soon!" One evening
as they were working Carol felt a tingle. Looking around she saw
a shimmering glow just above the rail to the stairwell.
"Professor!" she muttered. "Professor!" she went a little bit
louder.
The professor finally looked up, saw where she was looking. "Oh!" he muttered.
As they stood there in awe Peter came up the stairs,
looking at the glow curiously. He extended his hand and the
Professor snapped "I wouldn't do that!" Peter drew it back and
came the rest of the way up. Suddenly a ladder extended.
Carol saw some feet appear coming down it. In a few moments a
being that she'd seen hundreds of pictures of was on the ladder.
"Is that what The Children call a Mora?" Carol asked.
"Well, if it isn't," Peter answered, "it's a damned
close proximity and definitely female! They don't seem to bother
with clothes."
The Mora looked down, looked around and was
obviously annoyed. Carol could tell it was communicating.
Exactly how she could tell she wasn't sure. Slowly the shimmering
glow rotated until the ladder was touching the landing. The Mora sighed
and continued down. When her feet touched the ground there were
sparks. Finally, she walked over to Carol, looked her up and
down, and smiled. "Gratitudes are little," she remarked, in
perfect English. "Had you not received our message we may have
been months before anyone would find us! We are extremely
grateful! Oh, dear!" she moaned, going to the Professor.
"This one's vision is impaired?"
"Quite so!" the Professor answered. "But I get by. Very pleased to meet you!"
"The pleasure is mine!" the Mora praised.
"Ah, where is your ship?" Carol asked.
"Right above us!" the Mora answered. "We have
very advanced cloaking technology. Very few can detect us, when
we're working, that is. Colliding with a stellar fragment doesn't
do a mother ship much good."
"Stella fragment?" the Professor muttered, "A piece of a star?"
"Going by your solar system," The Mora
explained. "You would've probably discovered it in a couple
of hundred years as you journeyed out to other worlds. We wanted
to get readings. Unfortunately we miscalculated! We could
putter around a bit, but our main engines were shot, and so was our
communications system. There were galactic patrol ships nearby
but we couldn't turn off the cloak. I believe you have an
expression for it, Murph's Law?"
"Murphy's Law," Peter put in, "and it sounds like you've had more than a taste of it!"
The Mora smiled. "We wish there was some reward we could give," she continued.
"You don't know how much I'd like to spend a few
days on your vessel!" the Professor sighed. "I'm sure I wouldn't
even be able to understand most of what you possess."
"Hmm!" the Mora piped happily, "It just so happens
there's a service myself and a couple of my companions are in need of
that would give you the opportunity to be on our ship for a couple of
weeks, if you would not mind."
Peter looked absolutely petrified! Carol was trying to keep from roaring with laughter.
"Er, we.." the professor nudged him.
"We'd be more than delighted!" he snapped, "more than delighted."
Peter looked at him with sheer terror. "You'll get the hang of it!" the professor muttered.
Peter still looked petrified. "Well, will we need anything?" the Professor asked.
"No," the Mora answered, "we have everything you might
need. Fresh clothes if you desire them, but you shouldn't have much
need of them."
"Well!" the Professor looked to Carol. It
always amazed her, even if she moved around and thought she was making
no noise whatsoever, he always knew exactly where she was! "See
you in a couple of weeks!" he snapped.
"Go for it!" Carol managed. The Mora took them
over to the ladder and had them climb up. When they were out of
sight she looked to Carol, grinned, and winked. Carol couldn't
hold it any longer. She began to roar with laughter! The Mora tee
heed a little and scurried up the ladder.
Carol went back to her readings. It would just
about drive her out of her mind when they got back wanting to ask them
how they made out. But she just knew she wouldn't be able to. It
would simply be too embarrassing!
She got up the next day and decided she had to go in
to the clinic. Something wasn't right. She just knew
it. The doctor kept saying everything looked fine, but something
wasn't right! When she got there there was a lot of
commotion. She headed into the waiting area and asked what was
going on.
"It's terrible!" the nurse explained. "A man
killed his wife. Some absolute foolishness, and was killing his
daughter before help got there. They're trying their best but.."
Without a word Carol walked out of the waiting room and
down into the emergency area. She found her doctor working on a
little form on an operating table. "Excuse me!" one of the nurses
remarked, "You can't be in here, dear!"
Dr. Wagner looked around. "Please move!" Carol
asked. Without hesitation the doctor moved aside. "My God!"
Carol muttered, "Her own father did this?" She began to run her
fingers along the gashes in the girl's head. Flaps of skin pulled
up as the skull beneath them straightened and went back into
place. In moments they were back together, not completely sealed,
but the bleeding stopped. Then Carol began to put the jaw back
together. Horrid screaming came from somewhere that grew and grew
as Carol worked. She put the eye back in and put the flesh around
it back. She put the bones in the shoulder back together and the
arms and the legs. She ran her hand over the bruises on the
stomach and they began to disappear. The horrible screaming grew in
intensity. When Carol finally moved her hand away, it stopped.
"All the wounds should be sterilized," Carol
remarked. "You should close them. But she should be all
right now." She put her hand to her stomach. "Ohh!" she
moaned.
"Gurney!" the doctor snapped. "Get her to maternity!"
In a few minutes Caol was in a birthing bed and the
doctor was examining her. "Get Dr. Morgan!" he screamed
"Something's wrong! Something's terribly wrong! She's going
into labor and her water hasn't even broke!"
Another doctor entered. "What?" he snapped. He
quickly examined Carol, did something, and Carol felt her legs getting
wet. "Has now!" the other doctor snapped. "Damn! She's
dilating but she's not lubricating, no sign of it! Got a real
problem here, Bill! I don't think we should wait! We could
get irreversible damage in no time. Carol," Dr. Wagner asked,
"after what you just did why can't you help yourself?"
The nurse spoke up. "They can't, doctor! They
can't use their powers on themselves! It can kill them! My
grandmother knew all this stuff. Taught it to us. It must
be really frustrating for them!"
"Has to be!" the other doctor snapped. "I'm
sorry dear, but we have to put you to sleep. We've got to act quickly!"
"I understand," Carol muttered. Somebody got
an I.V. into her and put medication in it. In a few moments Carol
was dreaming. She was in the middle of a great battle.
Winged beings were everywhere fighting twisted, grotesque creatures
that might have once been human but weren't any more. Carol asked
"Is this why I'm having trouble?" "Partially," one of the female winged
beings answered. "But the main thing is you helped the child and
destroyed her father. They aren't too happy about that! Right
hand! Punch!" Without thinking Carol did so. Her fist hit
something. There was a hideous cry. Carol looked to see that she
had caved in the face of something that had once been a woman.
"That's gonna keep her out of action for a while!" another winged being
commented. "Get ready! You're coming out of it. Gonna be a
little bit uncomfortable."
Carol felt her body pulling her back. The
winged being wasn't kidding! It was quite uncomfortable!
She opened her eyes and looked around. A baby was crying.
"All right! All right!" the nurse was saying. "Here's your
mother! Calm down!" The minute the baby was laid on Carol
it immediately quieted down. "Whooa!" the nurse muttered, "That
kid's gonna be all right! What lungs!"
"What vocal chords!" the other doctor muttered.
"He's gonna be a politician, there's no question of it! When they
bellow like that there's no question of it! I'm taking this down
for a biopsy. Damned good thing we didn't wait! If this thing had
ruptured...." he didn't say any more.
"What thing?" Carol asked.
"There was something inside of you," Dr.
Wagner answered, "some kind of tumor. But it had grown into some
vital areas necessary for labor and shut them down! There is
little chance you would've survived a normal delivery. We've been
seeing this. We don't know where they're coming from. It
might be some kind of infection but we don't think it will bother you
having more. Hasn't others. But we'd really like to know
what this is! Take it easy. You're going to be with us a couple
of days."
Something the nurse had said came back to Carol.
"What did the nurse mean," she asked "that I destroyed the father?"
"Apparently," the doctor answered, "when you healed
the girl you transferred her injuries to him. Even took some of
his teeth that he'd knocked out of her! She's fine! A
little sore, but she's fine!"
"I know you're supposed to report such things," Carol moaned, "but please don't!"
"Carol!" the doctor pleaded, "An ability like that
is not something that can be hidden away. It's not something that
can be ignored."
"I know!" Carol answered, "But if it kills, I don't know if I can use it."
The doctor sighed. "I understand," he
managed. Carol took a little bit longer recovering than the
doctor had thought. But she had plenty of visitors and the second
morning she woke up with a bed guest. The little girl was
snuggled up to her. When she woke Carol asked "What do you want?"
The girl smiled. "When are we going home, mother?" she asked.
The doctor and a nurse came on. "Ooh!" he
went. "Good thinking, nurse! Come on, you! Let's get
you back to your bed. You shouldn't be up running around."
"Doctor," Carol asked, "does she have anyone?"
"No," the doctor answered. "Her mother had no family, her father's doesn't want her."
Carol sighed. "I do!" she finally
managed. "Might as well have one more! What's your name,
dear?"
"Son!" the girl answered.
"Son?" Carol asked.
"My father wanted a boy," the girl managed. "So, he called me Son."
Carol grimaced. "Well, I think we'll call you
Nora. That was my mother's name. I think it's much better than
Son!"
The girl smiled. "Yes, mother!" she giggled.
"I'll get right to work on it!" the doctor promised, "I don't think there'll be a problem."
There wasn't. Nora fit right in their little
circle. Carol worried about the power she possessed,
though. She knew people would want her to use it. But the price
was way too high. In Nora's case it may have been acceptable, but
Carol wasn't sure that would always be the case. She wasn't sure
at all.
The Professor and Peter came back. They were too
exhausted to do much for a couple of days. "Well, were your
efforts successful?" Carol asked.
"Ten!" the Professor answered. "For both of us! Those ladies are demanding!"
Carol got back in the swing of things. Little
Giuseppe's wouldn't be away from her. He had to sleep in their
bedroom and accompanied her while she was working. One evening
two young ladies showed up. They weren't midgets, they weren't
that big either. Peter and the Professor were soon occupied with
them and they moved in to the extra room with Red. Peter looked
at Carol one day and remarked "How does your life change so much?
How do you find yourself doing something you never thought you'd be
doing?"
Carol laughed. "Because life," she answered, "is not a
respecter of anybody's wishes. It has a nasty habit of throwing
things at you that you'd least expect."
How Carol knew that! The routine slipped into
months. One evening the doctor came. Carol knew what he
wanted. Finally he convinced her to go to the clinic. Carol
didn't want to go, but she had to.