CHAPTER SEVEN

     Yuri gasped.  "Is that what I think it is?!"
     After speeding out of the garage, Kei and Yuri had had a
brief discussion.  The conclusion was inescapable.  They were
on a hostile planet, and the jig was finally up.  That having
been established, there was only one place to go, the only
reasonably safe place on the entire planet: back once more to
their ship.  Yuri had put the car into a tight turn, heading
back to the hangars.
     Unfortunately, their destination seemed to be having
troubles of its own, as it was rolling at about 120 km/h
toward one of the boarding complexes at the far end of the
tarmac.
     "What in the galaxy is Mughi up to?!" Kei wondered.
     "I don't know, but we're gonna find out!  Hang on!"
Yuri grabbed the wheel firmly with both hands and floored
the accelerator.  She crashed the car through a small
barrier, causing several terrified luggage handlers to run
for their lives, and began to chase after her ship.
     Kei tapped her left earring again.  "Mughi!  Come in,
Mughi!  Yuri, I think he's in trouble."
     "I know he is.  Look at that!"  Yuri pointed.  They had
gotten close enough to see that the _Lovely_Angel's_
starboard hatch had been completely torn off, leaving a
gaping, ragged hole.
     "Well, at least we know how we're going to get inside,"
said Kei.  "Put the top down."
     Yuri nodded.  She knew what Kei had in mind.  She hit
the control, and the car's roof folded itself neatly into the
back.
     "How long until it hits the building?" Kei asked.
     "WHAT?!" Yuri shouted back, straining to hear over the
roar of the wind.
     "HOW LONG UNTIL IT HITS?" Kei shouted.
     "LESS THAN A MINUTE!" Yuri yelled back.  "WHY DIDN'T YOU
ASK ME THIS BEFORE I PUT THE TOP DOWN?"
     "WHAT?!"
     "NEVER MIND!"
     Yuri pulled alongside the _Angel_ and matched speed.
Kei climbed onto the back of the car and stood up, carefully.
She took a deep breath, let it out, counted to three, and
jumped.
     At first, she was certain she'd missed, but then her
hands found purchase at the edge of the hatch, and she
grabbed hold.  The sharp, torn metal cut into her right hand,
but she ignored the pain and pulled herself up.  She kneeled
and extended her left hand toward the car.  "YURI!  COME ON!"
     Yuri couldn't hear Kei, but she didn't have to.  She put
the car on cruise and stood up.  She steadied herself as best
she could and jumped, grabbing for Kei's hand.  She felt her
foot bump the steering wheel, but she stretched and somehow
Kei caught her anyway.  The car veered off and plowed into
several other vehicles, security cruisers, luggage carriers,
and rental cars, before finally exploding in an impressive
fireball.
     Kei braced herself against the walls of what used to be
an airlock, and pulled Yuri into the ship.
     "Thanks K--"  Yuri saw the blood on her hand and
realized where it had come from.  "Kei, you gashed yourself
pretty bad."
     "There's no time to worry about that!  We gotta get to
the bridge!"

     Kei ran onto the bridge, slipped in something, and slid
all the way to the front.  When she saw what she had slipped
on, she almost threw up.
     Yuri screamed.  Mughi lay on the floor, bleeding and
semi-conscious, in a huge puddle of blood and slime.  The
shredded corpse of something lay next to him.  "Is...is
he...?"
     "I don't know," said Kei, pulling herself into the
pilot's seat.  The boarding complex nearly filled the canopy
window.  "But hold on to him!  There's not enough time to
brake!"
     Yuri grabbed Mughi and dragged him against the back
wall.  She heard him moan softly, which gave her hope.  At
least he was alive.  A second later, Kei opened the throttle
and pulled back on the yoke.  The _Lovely_Angel's_ engines
screamed, and it was airborne.
     "Climb, you bastard, climb!!"  screamed Kei.  The
building continued to get bigger, to the point where the
Angels could make out people panicking inside.
     <We're not gonna make it,> thought Yuri.
     They almost didn't.  The landing gear struck the
complex, smashing windows and tearing off a large chunk of
the roof.  Kei was almost shaken out of her chair, but held
onto the controls.  The _Angel_ continued to climb until it
reached a safe altitude.
     Yuri cradled Mughi's head in her arms.  "That's right,
Mughi.  Mommy's here.  Everything's gonna be okay."  Mughi
smiled, weakly.  If his mother was still alive, she was on a
planet almost no one had heard of, nearly a thousand light-
years away.  But he appreciated the sentiment.
     Yuri turned to Kei.  "Help me get him to the sickbay."
     "I'm sorry, Yuri, but I can't leave the bridge.  What if
they send fighters after us?"
     "You think they will?"
     "They're bound to do something."
     Yuri thought about that.  "You're right.  I guess this
is it, then.  Time to blow out of here and start our lives as
fugitives.  Or throw ourselves on the mercy of the 3WA and
hope all we lose are our jobs."
     "Guess so," agreed Kei.  "It's just that...well, now
that I actually have to do it, I...I don't know.  I just
don't want to leave..."
     Yuri started.  "TARC!"
     "Yeah.  I mean, it's kinda our fault what's happened to
him.  It's not fair, you know?  And besides, I sorta...  I
kinda like him.  Do you understand?"
     Yuri didn't answer.
     "Yuri?"
     Kei turned around.  Yuri was slumped over Mughi,
apparently unconscious.  A strand of light extended from her
back upward through the hull.
     "Oh, shit," said Kei.  "Now what?"

     Yuri looked back at the _Lovely_Angel_ as she floated
rapidly away from it.  She didn't know exactly what had
happened.  One moment she had heard Tarc's voice calling out
to her, the next she had found herself floating above her
body, then passing through the hull.  She had heard of
"astral projection", but didn't really believe in it.
     Yuri found that she could see herself.  Weren't spirits
supposed to be invisible?  But there was her "body",
transparent and naked, floating through the sky.  A glowing
thread stretched back from her feet to the ship, presumably
to her body.  Yuri wondered how far it could stretch.
     Yuri looked ahead.  She was being drawn toward the top
of the immense tower, where MacPherson supposedly had her
office.  If Yuri's previous vision had been correct, Tarc was
being held prisoner there.
     Yuri concentrated on the tower and accelerated.  There
was no sensation of speed, but before she could wonder about
that, she was there.  She reflexively threw up her "hands" as
she hit the plate glass windows, but she passed right through
them as if they weren't there.
     There was no doubt about it, this was the place.  It
looked exactly as it had before, with the exception that the
alcove that had previously displayed Tarc was gone replaced
by a wall.  Yuri went past a desk, to the wall and through
it.
     Behind was the cryo-chamber, the glowing indicators
providing the only light.  <Now what do I do?> Yuri asked
herself.  <I can't actually touch any of the buttons, can I?>
She reached out to the deactivation switch and, to her
amazement, pressed it.  <I guess I can if I want to enough.>
     With a hiss, the chamber opened.  Tarc groaned and
shifted.  "You came.  I wasn't sure it would work, but it
did."
     Yuri reached for a light switch, but before she could
press it, the wall slid aside.  Yuri turned and looked into
the angry face of Nora MacPherson.
     "Well, we finally meet face-to-face, almost.  Funny, I
was rather hoping you'd have your body with you at the time."
     <What are you going to do to me?> Yuri asked, then felt
stupid for trying to talk without vocal cords.
     Somehow, Nora heard anyway.  "Do?  Nothing, really.  Oh,
there's lots of things I'd like to do.  Like snap that
umbilical cord to your body and laugh as you evaporated."
     Yuri gulped.
     "But I won't.  I can't.  Ask your friend if you'd like
to know why."
     Tarc got to his feet, supported by Yuri.  "You won't
win, Nag."
     Nora shook her head exasperatedly.  "Oh, shut up!  You
are so tiring.  I told you I didn't want to play your stupid
Good and Evil game, but would you go away?  Of course not!
And you!"  Her eyes bore into Yuri.  "What is it about you
and that redhead that you won't let well enough alone?  I
would have paid you, you know.  Paid you and let you go on
your merry way, off the planet and out of my life.  But
noooooo, you have to follow Meridian here to your glorious
destiny!"
     <You tried to kill us,> said Yuri.
     "Only after you got nosy."
     "You're still up to something," Tarc said.  "You've
changed the rules of the game, but you're still playing it.
You can do nothing else."
     Nora's expression darkened into something horrible.
"Gods and demons, how I hate you.  I just want to...to..."
Her fists clenched into tight balls.  Yuri watched, stunned,
as the carpet beneath her began to shrivel, darken, and
decay.  The black spot expanded until it reached the desk,
which began to darken and crumble itself.  A small plant in a
pot on top wilted and died instantly.
     The death of the plant seemed to shock Nora out of her
rage.  "M-my canary..." she muttered.  "No.  I can't.  Not
when I'm this close to bringing it all down."  She turned
to Tarc and raised her voice.  "Is this your plan, Tarc?  To
provoke me?"  Tarc didn't reply.  "Go on," she said
to Yuri.  "Take him and get out."
     Yuri took a firm hold on Tarc and floated toward the
window.  Then she realized: she could go through the window
but he couldn't.  She stopped.  Was this Nag'Sharath's idea
of a joke?  To force her to carry him down more than two-
hundred levels, maybe through a gauntlet of armed security
guards?
     "Oh, for crying out loud," grumbled Nora.  She gestured,
and the window exploded outward.  The pressure equalized,
blowing the desk clear and forcing Yuri to hold on tighter.
"GET OUT!" Nora yelled.  Yuri did.

     When Yuri floated in through the hatch of the airborne
_Lovely_Angel_, a naked female ghost carrying a semi-
conscious man, Kei was there to meet her, her injured hand
bound in a bandage from the bridge's first aid kit.  "Yuri?
My god, it really is you."
     <Of course it's me, stupid,> said Yuri.  <Now get out of
my way, I'm gonna carry him to the bridge.>
     "A-are you trying to talk to me?  Your lips are moving
but I can't hear anything."
     Yuri gestured Kei out of the way and floated to the
bridge.
     Kei followed after.  "Did you die, Yuri?  Is that it?
Then how come your body's still breathing?"
     Yuri placed Tarc gently on the floor of the bridge, away
from the puddle of black demon-slime, and returned to her
body, which still cradled Mughi's head in it's lap.  She took
a deep, satisfying breath.  "Man.  That's something I don't
think I want to do ever again."
     Kei bent over her, concerned, looking between Yuri and
Tarc.  "Are you both okay?  How did you do that, Yuri?"
     "We're fine and I don't know how I did it.  I just--
OW!!"
     "What's wrong."
     "My hands!  They're all swollen!"  It wasn't only her
hands.  Yuri could feel her body swelling wherever it had
touched the slime.  The pain was increasing noticeably with
each moment.  "Oh, no.  Kei, don't touch this stuff.  I think
Mughi and I have been poisoned."
     "Yuri?"
     Yuri struggled to get to her feet, but the pain forced
her back to her knees.  "We have get to the sickbay.  Maybe
the mediscanner can formulate an antidote."
     Tarc shook his head, weakly.  "Your science cannot help
you.  That was demon's blood you touched.  There is no
antidote."
     Kei felt the tears welling up and angrily fought them
back.  "You're saying Yuri's gonna die?!  For real?"
     Tarc waved her off.  "No, no.  I'm sorry to mislead you
like that.  Help me stand."
     Kei took Tarc by the arm and pulled him up.  "You better
have a cure, mister!  Yuri's never died on me yet, not for
real, anyway.  She's not gonna start now."  One of the tears
escaped and began rolling down her cheek.  With a curse, she
wiped it away.
     Tarc made a gesture that looked familiar to Kei.  He
held his left hand out, fingers curled as if it were gripping
something.  Next to it, he held his right hand, fingers
curled almost but not quite into a fist.  Kei placed the
gesture: he had made it in the spaceport when they had first
encountered MacPherson's bodyguards.
     Tarc closed his eyes and concentrated, and suddenly, his
right hand was holding something, something made of crystal.
He pulled, and his Crystal Sword emerged, as if from an
invisible halbard in his left hand.  The entire sword
emerged, and he gripped it with both hands, panting from the
effort.
     He dipped the sword into the puddle of black slime,
which was consumed in seconds in a flash of white light,
along with the remains of the creature.  Kei gasped.
     "Yuri," said Tarc.  "Touch the sword.  Hold it.  But be
careful not to cut yourself.  I mustn't get blood on it."
     "What happens if blood gets on it?" asked Yuri.
     "Very bad things.  Now, touch it."
     Yuri placed her hands on the flat of the blade and felt
the pain leave her, instantly.  A moment more, and the
swelling was completely gone.  Yuri took her hands away and
stared at them in disbelief.
     "Yuri, are you alright?" Kei asked.
     "I think so."
     "You'll be fine," said Tarc.  "Now help me touch your
friend Mughi.  I have to be holding the sword, and I'm afraid
my hands aren't very steady."  Tarc kneeled, and Yuri guided
the flat of the crystal blade safely onto the unconscious
Mughi.
     In moments Mughi's fur became clean again, as the muck
that had been covering it disappeared.  But Mughi did not
stir, despite Yuri's attempts to wake him.  "What's wrong?"
Yuri asked Tarc, pleadingly.  "I thought that was supposed to
cure him."
     "All I could do was purge the poison from his body,"
Tarc said.  "He was lying in it for a long time.  I'm afraid
the damage might be irreversible."
     Yuri ran her fingers through Mughi's fur.  She could
feel his breath, cool and faint.  "So there's no hope?"
     "I didn't say that," said Tarc, walking back to the wall
and sitting down, the sword across his knees.  "You have
within yourself the power to heal him."
     "How?"
     "Place your hands on Mughi and close your eyes."  Yuri
hesitated for a moment, then did so.  "Good," continued Tarc.
"Now, clear your mind.  I want you to think only of warmth,
gentle, healing warmth.  Do you understand?"
     "I think so," said Yuri.
     "Be sure.  This is important."
     "Okay."
     "Now repeat after me," Tarc said.  "Simpris contunum
de..."
     "Simpris contunum de..." repeated Yuri.
     "Omnos se soporum nom tu..."
     "Omnos se soporum nom tu..."  Yuri's hands began to
glow.  To Kei's surprise, her own injured right hand began to
tingle.
     "Tempranum gis sevran em hontori..."
     "Tempranum gis sevran em hontori..."  The glow spread to
Mughi's body, and he began to stir.
     "Pularan ke tristum sev poranis..."
     "Pularan ke tristum sev poranis..."  As Yuri completed
the phrase, Mughi yelped and jumped to his feet.  He then
jumped on Yuri and began licking her face.  Yuri laughed out
loud.  "It worked!  You're okay!"
     Kei removed the bandage from her hand and was stunned to
find it completely healed.  "How...?"
     "It appears your friend was as concerned about your
injuries as she was about those of your pet," said Tarc.
"The two of you are linked in ways you don't yet understand.
I'm not surprised that you healed."
     Kei stared at Yuri in amazement.  "Those words, what did
they mean?" she asked Tarc.
     "Nothing.  I made them up.  They're gibberish, as far as
I know."
     "What?" said Yuri, surprised.  "But they healed Mughi!"
     "No," said Tarc.  "*You* healed Mughi.  The words just
helped you to have confidence, much like a magic medallion
given a child, to help him learn to swim."
     "But I'm not a sorceress."
     Tarc sighed.
     Suddenly the ship lurched.  In a flash, Kei was back in
the pilot's seat.
     Yuri got up and ran to her side.  "What happened, Kei?
Did something hit us?"
     Kei scanned the console readouts.  "No, just heavy
turbulance.  Really heavy.  I'll pull us out of it."
     "I don't think you should--" Tarc began, then was cut
off as the ship lurched even more violently, throwing him
several feet across the bridge.
     "This is weird," said Kei looking at the console for
some clue as to what was happening.  "We're caught in some
kind of miniature jet-stream.  Maybe full thrusters, combined
with the heat-shield?"
     "No!" shouted Tarc.  "You'll only succeed in tearing the
vessel apart!  This is Nag'sharath's doing."
     "Doing what?" Yuri demanded.
     "She's taking the ship somewhere.  I suggest you shut it
down and let her."
     That didn't sound like a good idea to Kei.  "You mean
just let her herd us to our death?!"
     "Trust me, killing us is the last thing she has in mind
right now."
     "She thought it was a great idea a few hours ago!"
     "Things have changed since then."
     Yuri took a look at the console herself.  "I'm afraid
he's right, Kei.  There's no way we're pulling out of this
without shredding the ship.  We're stuck."

     Two hours later, the _Lovely_Angel_, flying without
engines, made a gentle landing on a tiny tropical island in
Platonia's largest ocean.  A sensor scan of the surroundings
showed exactly what Tarc said it would:  a hemispherical
force-field, with no apparent power source, enclosing the
island.
     Realizing that they weren't going anywhere for awhile,
the Angels decided to enjoy their surroundings.  They dug
swimsuits out of their on-board wardrobe and were soon
frolicking on the beach.  Tarc, for his part, stripped to the
waist, but didn't seem interested in having fun at the
moment, choosing instead to sit in the sand and stare moodily
off into the horizon.  Next to him sprawled Mughi, stretched
out on his back and snoring loudly.
     Tarc jumped, as two female hands were suddenly covering
his eyes.  "Guess who?"
     "Jiliora," said Tarc.
     "Oh, phooie," said Kei, mildly annoyed.  "I thought
you'd stopped that `Efera and Jiliora' crap."
     "Sorry," Tarc said, smiling.  "It's just that you
sometimes remind me so much of her."
     Kei smiled back.  "Well, you're in luck!  Turns out I
can't get mad at someone who looks so sexy with his shirt
off."  She gave Tarc a big hug, startling him and causing him
to blush.
     "Kei!" shouted Yuri.  "Will you cut it out!  Save your
libido for later."
     "Hmph."  Kei sat down and folded her arms in defiance.
     "Sorry, Tarc," Yuri said.  "You must think we're pretty
unprofessional, having fun in the middle of a crisis like
this."
     "Not at all.  In fact, I admire your ability to relax.
I always did.  Uh, with Efera and Jiliora, I mean."
     "Hey!" shouted Kei, instantly in a good mood again.
"Remember that time on Agerna, when we took a bath in the
middle of a case?"
     Yuri laughed.  "Yeah, and that guy barged in on us in
the middle of it, and we got attacked?"
     "We had to finish almost the whole case wearing nothing
but towels!" Kei and Yuri broke up laughing.
     Tarc listened to their laughter for a moment.  A solemn
expression spread across his face.  "I am so very sorry," he
said, softly.
     "Huh?" said Kei and Yuri in unison.
     "I've tried to convince myself that you two are really
Efera and Jiliora, my old partners.  That the memories would
come back, with time.  But they won't.  Not any more than
they have already."
     Tarc stood up and walked toward the ocean, as Kei and
Yuri stared after him.  "You aren't them.  Not anymore, at
least.  All the myriad reincarnations have changed you to the
point where you have become different people.  Fragments of
my friends' souls remain inside you, but I fear that's all
that remains." He turned to face them.  "I am so sorry to
have involved you in this.  It is no longer your fight."
     There was silence for a moment.  Then Yuri spoke up.  "I
still don't understand."
     "Well, it's high time that you did!"  Tarc exclaimed.
"The sun will be going down soon.  I suggest we gather some
wood and build a fire.  I've always found that to be the best
atmosphere for telling stories."
     "You mean...?" asked Kei.
     "Yes.  Tonight, I will explain everything to you."

END CHAPTER SEVEN