Ice Phoenix

“You weren’t kidding!” gasped Bindal, wandering around the cabin in amazement. “You even have your own snack bar!”

“Games!” shouted Bagruth happily from the other side of the room. “Unlimited channels and access to Clusteria’s Top Five! This is the supernova!”

“And you had this all to yourself?” Bindal stared at Terrana with large, round eyes.

“Sorta.” Terrana shrugged her shoulders. She felt awkward, now knowing that she was the only student on board with a blue coin, travelling first class.

“No wonder Lorn held onto you tightly.” A mischievous smile played on Bindal’s mouth.

Terrana didn’t know how to respond to that. To think that Lorn was with her only so he could travel in comfort hurt her feelings, and yet she couldn’t fathom any other reason; she didn’t dare to believe he really liked her.

“Don’t listen to her, Terrana,” said Bagruth, walking up to them. “Lorn is a good person. He doesn’t hang out with people he doesn’t like, blue coin or not.”

Terrana gave him a small smile.

“Miss Ondur ...”

“Yes, Kazu?”

“We’ll be passing through the gate of Olden Kartath in one hour. You should be in bed or sitting down by then.”

“Ok. Thank you, Kazu.”

“Breakfast will be served in a few hours. Shall I notify the kitchen to cater for five?”

Five. Kazu had included Bindal and Bagruth. Terrana turned to the newcomers.

“Do you guys wanna have —”

“Yes!”

“Err ... breakfast for five then, Kazu. Thank you.”

“You are welcome, Miss Ondur. Please don’t forget, you must all be lying down or sitting before we pass through the gate.”

Bindal grabbed Terrana’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she gushed. She looked so happy and bubbly that Terrana couldn’t help but like her. She looked around, noticing that Lorn was missing.

“If you’re looking for Lorn, he’s in the shower,” said Bindal, flashing a cheeky grin. Terrana turned beetroot red.

“I wasn’t, that is, I wasn’t looking —”

“I was just teasing.” Bindal’s grin grew wider. “Gosh, you’re a shy one, aren’t you?”

“Why do we have to be in bed within the hour?” Terrana quickly changed the subject.

“Wow, you really are from Sector Thirteen. If Lorn hadn’t told us, I wouldn’t have believed it. Let’s sit down first and I’ll tell you.”

The four of them headed to the pods by the window. Since she, Mikin, and Lorn had already claimed theirs, Bindal and Bagruth pulled down two more from the ceiling. As soon as they settled in, Bindal explained.

“The inhabitants of Olden Kartath are ancient and powerful. They invade the minds of those passing through their world and inflict them with terrible hallucinations. Seeing these hallucinations can make you go mad. Some people are even known to have died from them.”

“That’s awful. Why would they do that?” Terrana shuddered.

“Who knows?” said another voice. Terrana looked up and saw Lorn standing next to her. His hair was damp and he had changed his shirt, compliments of the cabin. He settled into his pod.

“The inhabitants of Olden Kartath are said to be one of the earliest sentient beings to exist,” he said, picking up from Bindal. “Their world was probably the first to be born.”

He paused for effect. “But then, something catastrophic happened, nearly destroying their entire world in the process. People have theories as to what might have caused it but, to this day, no one has been able to prove it.”

“And the hallucinations?” asked Terrana. “What do people see?”

“They see pain, death, a world burning to ashes. They feel grief, and its burden is so great that those who are deeply touched by these hallucinations die from them. The only way to avoid them is to have a dreamless sleep.”

“But I always dream when I sleep!” blurted Terrana, panicking. “What if I wake up or can’t sleep?”

“You won’t,” said Mikin. “This ship was created by weavers to especially protect us from the hallucinations of Olden Kartath. We won’t have a choice — as soon as we reach the gate, we will sleep.”

“Oh.” But Terrana still didn’t understand completely. If Olden Kartath was so dangerous, why were they passing through it?

Lorn must have read her mind because he said, “We’re in the world between worlds right now, Terrana. We’re in the In-Between. To reach a different sector, we have to travel through the In-Between. But sectors are extremely far apart and it would take years, or a lifetime even, to reach them if we didn’t have gates. Gates shorten our journeys considerably.”

He raised his hand and Terrana watched in amazement as he created a piece of paper out of thin air. He plucked it from its suspended state and folded a portion of it, then turned it over and folded it again. He repeated this process until it resembled a paper fan. Then, using his index finger, he burned a tiny hole at the top and another at the bottom.

“Imagine that this piece of paper is the In-Between, and also the only road we have. If we were to travel from up here to down there,” he pointed to each of the holes, “we’d have to follow the fold of the paper to get there, right?”

Terrana nodded. That made sense.

“Right, so now ask yourself, what if we could travel through the paper instead of along it?”

“Like burning more holes in it?”

Lorn nodded. “Exactly.” He held his finger over different points along the paper and tiny holes appeared. “These holes are what we call gates in the In-Between, and they exist in many places. By going through these holes or gates, we can reach our destinations faster, in some cases, days instead of years.”

“Oh, I get it now. So you’re saying that in order for us to reach Pa Gumpina quickly, we need to go through the gate at Olden Kartath?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, there aren’t many gates between Pophusia and Pa Gumpina, and Olden Kartath is the only world which has gates that can connect us. Otherwise, it would take us a month to arrive at Minda Yerra!”

Terrana mulled it over. “Does everyone travel to Pa Gumpina and other sectors like this?”

Bagruth volunteered to answer. “Well, yes and no. Some worlds are fairly close together so they only need standard starships to travel. No gates required.”

“Okay.” Everything was still so new and strange to her. Some things she had seen in her dreams — but to truly experience and understand them? She could never have imagined them a few months back. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She stood up suddenly, surprising everyone.

“What is it, Terrana?” asked Lorn. She didn’t answer. Instead, she walked to the bar quickly and stopped next to a pod stool that had been facing her. Something was hiding in it. The lining of the pod was dark so she didn’t see it straightaway, but when she did, she gasped. A pair of mismatched eyes stared back at her.

“It’s a ... kitten.” Lorn stood behind her. He sounded just as surprised as she felt. The others rushed over. Sporting one orange and one blue eye, a silver white kitten with dark stripes stared back at them. Little tufts of fur stuck out from the points of its ears, a bushy tail curled around it, and unusual feathery whiskers twitched uncertainly.

It meowed and Terrana’s heart melted. “Come here,” she said gently, reaching out to it. It sniffed her cupped hands suspiciously, decided she was safe, and stepped into them. Terrana was suddenly overcome by a strong urge to protect it as she cuddled the tiny feline to her chest.

“Oh my, it’s soooo cute!” Bindal gushed. “How did it get here?”

“Good question,” muttered Lorn, staring at it suspiciously. “It wasn’t here earlier. Terrana, don’t hold it so close. It’s probably got germs.”

But Terrana could no longer hear him as she cuddled and cooed at the kitten. Two young ones in the void. The ice-phoenix’s words returned to her and she frowned. What on earth had that meant? The kitten distracted her, meowing and pawing gently at the black, tear-shaped pearl that still hung around her neck on the leather thong. The pearl and the thong, like her, had somehow survived the fire.

“Awww, are you hungry? Let’s find you some milk, shall we?”