was surprised to find herself staring up at the Concubine edifice! She was in the forest, at the base of the hill upon which the building sat, but did not like the big, unnatural thing looming over her! “Why are we here?!” she wondered.
The Oracle answered, “Because the Concubines cannot see your portal here, for it was opened from elsewhere. The energy they are draining from this land blinds and deafens their devices.”
“How will Hairy find us?”
“He feels where he is needed. We need him. He shall find us.”
In the command-and-control room of the Concubine edifice: Wendy reported to Naydeen, “We have lost contact with Lady Thulu.”
“What do you mean?”
Melva explained, “Our infantry cannot find her and we cannot contact her. If she hears us, she is not responding. We don’t know why.”
“Lady Thulu is a spirit,” Naydeen thought aloud. “She can neither be killed nor captured.”
Wendy suggested, “Perhaps she is ignoring us.”
Melva doubted, “Why? We are trying to do her bidding.”
Naydeen asked her subordinates, “What of the sasquatch? Is he dead?”
Melva answered, “A thorough search has not found so much as a drop of blood or even a particle of tissue.”
Wendy added, “We presumed the sasquatch’s body was obliterated, however, our bio-scans failed to detect even the faintest residual traces. As big as he was, we should have found something. He may have eluded us.”
Melva uttered, “The whereabouts of the enemy are unknown and this station is virtually unguarded. May I recall some of our infantry?”
“No,” Naydeen answered. “Lady Thulu insisted that we do nothing lest she commands it. We must obey.”
“But we have lost contact with her.”
“Yes, but we do not know why.”
Wendy remarked, “It is like when we lost contact with our master.”
Melva snapped, “Do not liken our master to that foul demon!”
“Agreed,” Naydeen insisted.
“Forgive me,” Wendy bowed, “for I meant no such comparison.”
“Nor should you ever.”
The Many of One were the Concubines of the Great Shadow. They were his women. He was their everything.
Hairy did find Shrubby and the Oracle, even though they were hiding. He looked up at the towering edifice, wondering why they had come here. “The guards are away looking for us,” the Oracle explained. “If we are to save this land, then we must do so now.” Hairy sighed. He needed rest, but would do what he had to do. “I have been where you must go,” the Oracle told him, “and seen what you must do. My mind shall guide you.”
Hairy rested for a long moment before creeping up the hill and towards the edifice. He scaled the building’s wall and went in through a vent duct. He tiptoed, climbed and crawled through corridors, catwalks and humming, throbbing machinery. Concubines in blue were at terminals or otherwise tending to the functions of the station. One of these women told another, “We cannot sustain the feed at this intensity. Our receptors are fatiguing and containment is becoming progressively unstable.”
“Maintain equilibrium.”
“Reception is exceeding containment by point-eight percent.”
“Reduce feed by point-eight percent.”
“That will not be enough. Our receptors are overheated.”
The other Concubine reminded, “We are to maintain feed at maximum tolerable levels.”
“Our systems are fatigued. The maximum is no longer tolerable.”
The two women were very busy... and unnoticing the large, hairy form looming over them from behind!
Wendy was in the command-and-control room when a subordinate reported, “Systems overload in engineering! Containment breach imminent!”
“What?! How?!” Wendy looked at the subordinate’s monitor before commanding, “Disconnect feed and vent all conduits!”
“Acknowledged,” the subordinate tried. “Stream intensity has overwhelmed our receptors. Feed cannot be disconnected.”
Concubines were never negligent. How was this happening?! The two in engineering who monitored reception flow and containment equilibrium were dead. Normally, this would not be such an imminent dilemma, but the feed was excessive and dangerously volatile. Machinery bulged and groaned, warped and cracked. Glowing steam whistled out of them! Engineers hurried out of their sections and sealed them. The station was suddenly rocked with explosions!
Shrubby and the Oracle watched as steam and smoke wisped out of the Concubine edifice. The little zoophyte worried, “I hope Hairy is all right.”
“He is,” the Oracle smiled. “The warmth of his life is still with us.”
Naydeen stormed into the command-and-control room. She asked of Wendy, “What happened?!”
“Our feed system overloaded and burned out.”
“How?!”
“We do not yet know.”
Melva, the head of station security, came into the room. “What happened?!” she wondered.
Naydeen ignored her question and instead commanded, “Recall our infantry!”
Melva nodded.
One of the many Girls in Blue mentioned, “Our teleport relay system is offline.”
Naydeen responded, “Then they walk back!”
Hairy rejoined Shrubby and the Oracle at the base of the hill. “You saved the Far Sight Forest,” the Oracle told him. “On behalf of our entire world, I thank you.” Hairy smiled and clapped.
Shrubby hoped, “Now are we leaving?”
“Yes.”
“May I open a portal?”
“Yes, for these Concubines can no longer see, touch nor follow our way.”
“Are we to go where we are to await Adam?”
“Yes.”
“What if he did not survive the trap laid for him?”
“Then all is lost and shall not matter.” The Oracle could feel Shrubby’s fear, so assured, “Adam is our king. He shall survive and deliver us from evil.”
Shrubby smiled. Hairy and the Oracle watched her as she merrily hummed and carefully drew her patterns. Shrubby was very mindful to do everything right, because she did not want to stay here any longer!
Naydeen eventually retired to her quarters, but did not rest. She sipped tea as she reviewed the updated status reports: The main generator was repaired and back online. The siphoning and teleport relay systems were irreparably destroyed. Only two engineers had perished, and apparently at the hands of the sasquatch. Three-hundred-sixty-two of the infantry had returned. The two-hundred-forty-six unaccounted for were presumed dead. Lady Thulu was still missing.
Melva, the head of station security, came into the room. Naydeen offered her, “Would you like some tea?”
“Yes.”
Naydeen poured her sister a cup and invited, “Join me.”
Melva did so. The two sipped their tea before the subordinate suggested, “We should report our situation to Expeditionary Command.”
“What if Lady Thulu returns?”
“Then she can explain why she disappeared.”
Naydeen smiled. “You are right,” she conceded, “and you were right. I should have recalled our infantry when you suggested it.”
Melva was neither proud of herself for being right nor ashamed of Naydeen for being wrong. Why should a sister be praised or blamed? The Concubines were many but they were one. They succeeded or failed together.
The heart and mind of Mistress Umbra heard and followed the faint cry of Thulu. She was surprised to find the demon small, weak and cold. Umbra asked her, “Why are you not among the living?”
“Mortal women are useless! They failed me!”
“Are mortal women your keepers that you blame them for your demise?”
“I was burned out of the material plane. Heal my spirit and bring me back, that I may serve you.”
Umbra could hear the roar
of the sasquatch and now knew what had happened. She realized, “You want me to bring you back that you may avenge yourself.”
“Is that wrong?! Do you not seek vengeance for your father?! Umbra, my friend, in my vengeance I shall serve you well.”
“I am your friend,” Umbra told her, “but you squander the women I gave you and lost all that you have gained. For my own sake, I would forgive you and bring you back, but I am here for my father. What shall you do for him that I should heed your request?”
“I shall stay my vengeance, if I must! I shall rage, if you allow it. Give me more women and I shall lead them wherever you send me. I want to kill. Send me against your enemies! I shall consume them with my burning hatred as an offering unto you and your father! Umbra, my mistress, I want to serve you! Bring me back that I may do so!”
Umbra laughed. Thulu was racked with rage, feeling nothing else... but that could be useful.
Hairy, Shrubby and the Oracle were together in a land of rocky hills and dry, sparse vegetation. This region was beautiful, in its own way, but of no known interest to the Concubines or their overlords. “It is good to be where no enemies are about,” Shrubby remarked. “The soil is dry and bland but giving. Serenity is preferable to anything, anyhow.”
Hairy snored. The Oracle assured, “You did not bore him. He needs his rest.”
“I know. He did all the fighting.”
The plant fairies stared up at the cloudless sky and listened to the whistling breeze. The Oracle told Shrubby, “You did well.”
“I did?!”
“Yes. My powers are spent. We would not be here, safe and sound, without your portal.”
“Thank you!”
“Shrubby, it is I who thank you. Hairy protected us and delivered us from