Auria

Chapter 25 - Searching For Somewhere

”So, where do we go now?” asked Auria.

Bob didn't answer.  Another blue vortex formed, followed by another, then another.  The ship passed through each glowing sphere one by one.  He finally returned her stare, both locking gazes in a rather timid moment.  She reached a hand toward his.  He didn't return the gesture, but softly spoke.
“Enjoy.”

On-screen, a large, yellow planet bore rings around its center of every color.  The ship passed through the rainbow rings, the tiny, ice particles spun close enough to touch.  They sailed between an opening in the rings and watched it close neatly behind.  Their ship grazed across the planet's atmosphere, sending gushing waves of red and orange in a trail following the small craft.  The descent through fire was quick yet, fully amazing.

Down below, enormous tubes shielded internal caverns.  As they descended straight into one, a feathered, big-mouthed creature arose through the hollow tube, opening its mouth to swallow the ship.

“Life.” said Bob.

Music began to play.  Gen recognized the song from Earth, long ago.  He stood and gazed, stepping lightly to carry his heart and mind into the next room.  The sight and sound of their surroundings grew to cover the walls, ceiling and floor.  He became a part of the ship and the ship revealed all.

“Kashmir.” said Gen.  “I love Zeppelin.”

After passing down a long, pink-lined throat, winged creatures using beams of light to guide their way began to circle the ship, many carrying young on their backs.  Further down, crawling, stick beasts lined the walls, reaching out with stick arms to touch the ship's bluing shields.  Their songs echoed throughout the cavern, causing everything to glow and beat to the ship's music.

Even farther below, they descended into a stomach full of liquid and ghostly, bright-green oddities, bathing whatever they touched with showers of electricity.  The hovered and bobbled, sometimes shooting streams of energy into the ship.  Even deeper, a thicker mess of layered muck moved and rippled, tumbling the craft about until finally, in a deluge of gushing speed, daylight emerged.  They'd journeyed all the way through the worm and physically shot out of another tube, along with blown pieces of goo thrown skyward.  Waiting wings swooped to catch the goo across their backs, feeding their hungry young.

Another vortex opened to yet another place.  Outside, a white sun sprung shades of blue eruptions.  The sun covered the entire screen, but wasn't bright on the eyes, like most.  The ship plowed horizontally across its surface, dancing in and out and between spirited, spiraling geysers.  The blue magma stuck to glowing shields for mere seconds, only to melt away in large droplets.

Ghastly apparitions soon began to grace its pale surface, some forming faces and mouthing, actual, unintelligible words.  Most smiled and rotated to follow the ship's movements.  A large, bipedal form sprang forth during an eruption, only to dive back into its pale abyss, ghoulish arms out front leading the way.  Another huge face appeared and spat a fountain of light-blue, molten spray all over the zig-zagging craft.

Another vortex opened and shut, leading them to witness a lavender horizon above a planet-side canyon in a purple, morning sun.  A waterfall made entirely of red lava graced the canyon walls to the left and one of water to the right, mixing together on the way down to make steam.  Far below, a river floated the resulting dark columns downstream in every shape and form.  The porous slag actually drifted on top of rippling water.  Long rows of dark, slender animals basked and played in the warming steam around the falls.  Another vortex formed.

Outside, sand dunes rolled across a vast dessert, twisting and turning; the ship criss-crossing zig-zag formations of dust.  Large creatures created a flying wedge in the distance.  Bob sailed closer to inspect.  They soon became huge, winged, featherless birds with long teeth hanging down and sticking through the skin above wrinkled eyelids- reptilians.  The ship passed behind a slow-moving monstrosity, spun around and sat down upon its back allowing everyone to feel the rush of flapping wings and heavily-beating heart.

The entire crew now stood in the cockpit, hands on the back of Auria's tall seat.  She sighed and sank deeper as the chair hugged and cradled her movements.  Outside, on the beast's back, mud-formed nests littered its skin.  Baby winged-reptiles scurried about to hide.  Flying mothers and fathers squawked at the intruding ship as they cast-off, setting sail into the unknown.  Another blue-glow swallowed the ship.

The next planet bore so many moons in orbit, they couldn't be counted.  Most were either green with life or blue in water.  Bob passed around the ringed planet, then departed.  Another planet orbited a twin, identical in size and both harvest green with sky blue seas.  Descending into the atmosphere, a humongous fish dove from the water, its gaping, toothed mouth reaching skyward.  Several fish 10-fold larger than the ship scurried to escape.  One fish was cut in half when the monster's teeth pinched tight, sending the other half plummeting far below to the monster's waiting babies.  Water spewed out of four enormous gills, each gusher forming its own, shape-shifting whirlwinds.

They left again.  Bob continued to visit many places - star clusters, flashing, music-spurting, spinning space-beacons and elongated stretchy-stars falling into great, dark abysses.  Many blue vortexes formed, each showing mere seconds of some of the most beautiful sights in all the galaxy, though Auria now cradled Bob's hand in hers and only looked to him.

“Young love.” remarked Gen, pointing an open hand to Auria and Bob.
“Not funny at all.” said 238.

A shortened, normal-looking Sot stood between Gen and 238.  He slipped long fingers into Gen's hand, and then into 238's.  Loof closed eyes and curled into a ball atop the Gen-clone's shoulder.

“My name is no longer Vengeance.” he whispered to a sleeping Loof.
“I'm so glad you got to hear my favorite song.” said Sot.
“You like Zeppelin?” asked Gen.
“What?”
“My Mother sang to me.” said a teary-eyed Auria, leaving the others speechless.

The crew, one by one, retreated to sit against a corner to dream.  Blue jump-points continued to send them from one fascinating formation to another.  Finally, a large, dark spot centered the screen.  An outer, glowing ring flashed occasionally, though the black spot grew larger and shown so dark, one could no longer stand to look.  The floating vessel dissolved a its center.  Inside, a funnel formed, speeding their tiny ship along narrow corridors of gray tunnels.  There were intersections and openings, slow moving sections and fast ones.  Finally, the tunnel opened into a myriad of bright balls, a green planet at its center.  Nothing to see but blue skies and smooth sailing.

Bob touched Auria's hand, cradling it in the other.  She awoke and smiled, feeling like a new person.  Bob looked to the screen and spoke in a peculiar fashion, one showing neither a question, nor a statement.  She thought long and hard to figure out its true meaning when he used such tones to catch her off-guard.

“Staaaeeey.”