Sharp Clouds in Eden. Short Story- a #finishthestory entry

Sharp Clouds in Eden

by @f3nix

As the seasons went on, she had not yet accustomed to that sight.

The expanse of clouds unfurled just beyond the edge of the plateau like a harmonious and yet restless carpet, woven from ranks of industrious angels. Only the blue condor, curious to taste the rarefied ozone flavor, occasionally tried to pierce the milky diaphragm.

An unnamed and timeless plateau. It had always belonged to that celestial ocean, cradled by its waves like the head of a gigantic primeval tortoise, asleep for thousands of years.

The woman sat absorbed on the black basalt edge. Lying on her knees stood a tablet with elusive colors. Her tapered fingers danced over it decidedly, following the counterpoint of secret music. A warm upward current ruffled her thick brown hair until she was forced to give in and stop the dance, hastily moving the curls from her forehead.

She procrastinated, holding back her knowledge on the tips of those solitary fingers that, slowing down, now left room for memories. Now the memories were transmuting, stretching in long meditating axons, which she watched parading before her eyes at the capricious rhythm of the clouds.

The plateau had no name and, at the same time, kept all the names, including those that she wanted to forget.

The fingertips resumed drumming on the iridescent surface of the tablet to stop almost immediately. As always, before even hearing him approach, she had felt his eyes on the back of her head.

"I'm almost done, Heitor." It was not true, but she tried to comfort her husband as her fingers flew frantically, receiving small luminous epiphanies from the device.

“Debes beber, mi amor. Al menos esto.” He sat close and gently pushed forward the cup of muña until the mint's scent convinced her to stop and take a couple of quick sips. Hidden among the gestures of daily care, she could not ignore a note of concern in her husband's voice.

"We were fine here until it lasted, weren't we?" The words came out crumpled, making their way slowly through the wood of thoughts. He raised an asymmetric smile and winked at her the way she used to like.

Her distinctive wrinkle of concentration formed between her eyes, two delicious hazelnut drops, while she sighed.

"You know it does not help us, mi vida. I'll join you as soon as I can." At that moment, the importance of what she had to do was the perfect alibi not to raise her gaze on him. She silently kept repeating to herself that this wasn't a goodbye.

The vibrating bark of the imperial ship came suddenly. As it emerged, the clouds frayed around the cobalt metal frigate like impotent fingers, in the last desperate attempt to hold back a blind, deep-water fish.

She watched her husband run back to the house, as planned.

"Let the show begin, bastards." She thought while the ship's jaws already spewed out a black phalanx, heading at a steady pace in the direction of the woman.

"Kalliska Pan, Imperial Master Grower, you're under arrest on evidence of desertion and high treason. Do not resist and follow us spontaneously or I will not hesitate to order coercive measures against you. "

"The Empire has no sovereignty over this soil. Be careful what you do, Colonel. "

"Master Grower, you have lost all diplomatic immunity. I repeat: do not resist. "

"I know the reason for your visit, Colonel. And I regret having to point out that you are not in the position to order anything. We could save time if you left your pathetic bluff right away. "

In an abrupt gesture toward the guards, the black leather of the colonel's glove stood out against the diaphanous sky. "You all. Back to the ship now."

The warm upward current strengthened, making the imperial frigade's hull resound like a grim stork. They were alone. She held the Colonel's stare.

"There's still time to fix this, Kal .."

"Since long already you have lost any right to call me like that, Musashi"

While even the clouds seemed to stop, the fingers of the Master Grower continued to dance.

MY ENDING:

She turned the tablet she was typing on towards him with one hand while the other she put forward palm up- a gesture of surrender. "You can not do anything colonel. Go Away!"

The colonel's attention was however riveted to the tablet. It said. "FIRE ON THE CABIN NOW. I CAN'T SPEAK- BUGS." The colonel had issued a sub-vocal command by the time Kalliska finished talking. For two seconds the tablue stayed frozen then a lazer beam hotter than the sun struck the cabin. The white hot beam spread out to become a cone. Three seconds later there was nothing left of the cabin or the man but a charred depression, a rough oval almost twenty yards wide.

Kalliska spoke even before the the laser beam stopped. "Tell the ship to go evasive. You have your vibra-knife."

The colonel removed his knife in response, sensing her urgency he gave the commands and the engines started to whine and clamour loudly as the ship lifted straight up and then took a sharp turn racing away into the clouds below at an angle.

"This is a bomb. We have less than three minutes since the remote is vaporized along with my husband." She had bared a shoulder and there was a metal disc - like a large coin-embedded onto the collar bone. "Cut it out."

The colonel stepped near and examined the disc for a few seconds. "Can't be done. I have seen this. The clamps are sensitive.... We can try to burn the circuits, Kal." He dropped his knife and removed his side arm. " OK lean your head away from the disc and pull in both your elbows. And stay still Guerrero "

He turned down the power of the laser gun to the lowest and pointed it at the disc resting his hand on her spine so that the beam was aimed as far away from vital organs as possible. "Ready"

Kalliska wadded her shirt and bit down on it. He leaned into Kalliska to stop her from moving and without further warning pressed the trigger. An orange laser leapt from the mouth of the gun hitting the disc almost dead center. It took less than a third of a second for the area to become red hot and the beam passed through. He felt Kalliska jerk but he moved the beam in a slow circle compensating for the movement as much as he could. It had taken three seconds, Kalliska screamed a high pitched raw cry till she was out of breath. He stopped and hit Kalliska with the butt of the gun at the base of her head.

Kalliska woke to throbbing pain in her shoulder. It was overwhelming, she felt cold and the waves of pain drowned out all other senses. The next time she woke, she was lying on her side on the cool stone bench, she blinked as his face came into focus. "Musashi, how much time?"

"Twelve minutes. Kal, It worked. Obviously." He said giving her his crooked smile. She gasped trying to speak inspite of the throbbing pain. After a few tries she managed. "The satellite. He got it made. Three batteries. Polar orbit, four kilometer range is all I know. That is why evasive.."

The colonel waved at her to stop and started to relay the information to his ship sub- vocally. " We are tracking polar orbitals. We should find it in an hour or so. You almost died. Again. This has to stop Kal."

"You got the message and came."

"What if I had not recognized the message? What if I could not destroy their shuttle? You are a declared fugitive."

"I trusted you to do well." She shuddered and the spike in pain made her choke. After a few shallow breaths she continued. "I was planning to aim the satellite here. And." She gasped. "Run for it I guess."

Photo Credit: Concept Spaceships | Priyesh Mistry http://www.grandpriy.com/?portfolio=concept-spaceships
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