Sinead felt the muscles in Moonsprite’s neck tense as she buried her fingers in her unicorn’s silvery mane. Her right hand was already clenched around the hilt of her sword. As the circle of torch-bearers closed in around them, Sinead felt the Crystal pulsate inside her jerkin.
A tall stately figure emerged from the circle, dark hair flowing to her waist. The woman stepped forward. Her eyes met Sinead’s, gazing into them steadily. Then she nodded and bowed her head.
The woman turned to the members of the circle, holding her torch aloft. ‘It is she!’ Her clear voice announced. Her eyes flashed in the torchlight.
Turning to Sinead, she spoke more softly. ‘I am Eileran. The Sisterhood welcomes you.’ She held out her hand. ‘Come, you must rest. When the sun rises again, we must summon the Dwarf of the Deep Mines. Without his skills all will be lost.’
The lights flash back on and I’m blinking in the brightness. Captain Kirk and Spock are gone. I glance across the star-ship’s command console; Harris and Stevens are wearing puzzled looks.
‘Hello, Cadets!’
We spin round in our seats to see our Professor emerge from the doorway at the rear of the flight deck. She trots over to us and perches on the edge of the console.
‘Are you all right, Professor?’ I ask. ‘The mind-worm, has it gone?’
She smiles serenely at me, her usual calm and confident self, touching a hand to her ear. ‘It’s if it was never there, Jemma.’
The viewing screen blinks into life revealing Matt Smith’s version of the Doctor pointing a frustrated finger at us. ‘You lot!’ He yells, wagging the finger furiously. ‘Get off that ship now! How many times…’
‘Okay, Doctor.’ The Professor flicks a switch and the screen goes blank. ‘It seems that we are free to leave.’ She shrugs. ‘Come, Cadets, let’s go.’
She stands and leads us to the doorway. A blast of fresh air suggests a hatch to the planet’s surface has opened.
We follow. Harris flexes his fingers and Stevens walks with a slight limp. My legs are stiff from sitting. How long have we been on the ship?
So much has happened, so many dangers averted; after all that we’ve been put through by our captor, can leaving really be this easy?
The Professor reaches the doorway. She stops and turns, blocking our path. Her face begins to fade and she grows taller. She is transforming into…
We take a collective step backwards.
A towering humanoid looms before us. One whom we all recognise. We saw him on the star-ship’s viewing screen when we first arrived. It’s the Zyborgatron and this is his ship.
The shiny silver mouth opens. ‘Return to your seats, Cadets. I haven’t finished with you yet.’
The ship’s engines start to hum.
~~~
What has the Zyborgatron done with the Professor? Could they be one and the same? (after all, we’ve never seen them together) and what are his plans for the Cadets? Tune in next week to find out.
And if you we’re wondering what on Earth (or off-Earth) is going on,
you can catch up with the entire first series of Space Cadetshere
Moonsprite took off at a gallop, her silver hooves beating out the passage of time. The late afternoon shadows were lengthening more quickly than Sinead would have ever anticipated. Her unicorn sped on into the sunset’s orange glare. They were aware of nothing but the dazzling sunset and the need to complete their journey before the day ended.
Sinead tasted the tang of salt in the air and felt the freshening breeze on her face. Moonsprite’s pace was slower, her progress hampered by the deepening sand under her pounding hooves. Flecks of foam appeared her flanks as she desperately pressed on.
The flaming sky turned purple as the last lip of the sun disappeared below the horizon in a final orange flare. Moonsprite’s steps faltered in the soft sand and Sinead slid from her back.
Torches borne by shadowy figures flared around them, moving ever closer in the velvet darkness.
Meditating in the moment watching silent wings beat softly in bright iridescence inhaling the essence
of fragrant flowers before being laid to rest on their beautiful bower.
She, who today, has been chosen to atone for all our sins the balm to soothe the breast of our broken mother, Gaia.
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #37 photo prompt. Image credit: Stefan Keller on Pixabay
If you’re new to the series or want to catch up and remind yourself where we left off, the previous series is here:Space Cadets Series 1
How the last series ended:
‘Fascinating,’ observes Spock. He puts the tricorder down. ‘Let me try something, Captain.’
Spock reaches across the console. He presses three keys, one after the other: Ctrl-Ale-Delete. Everything goes black.
What next for our gallant Space Cadets? Tune in on Friday!
Sinead opened her eyes. Charred tree stumps and scorched earth were all that remained of the beautiful forest. The centaur had gone, the forest creatures, too. Safe, she hoped. Had the Crystal of Nor caused that? But why?
She knew that the Crystal was an agent of protection. A relic from before the time of the Oppressors. It had fallen to her to carry it with her; not to question its purpose.
Sinead reached into Moonsprite’s saddle bag from where it still glowed. She held it aloft. It brightened, pulsating like a heartbeat, pointing a finger of light on the path ahead.
The bridge arched upwards, climbing more steeply than before. The distance remaining, impossible to tell. The sun, now a great orange globe, was beginning its descent. Moonsprite shook her silvery mane and stamped her hooves. It would be a race against time to reach the end before sunset.
#ArmedWithABingois a year-long reading challenge hosted by Kriti Khare & Ariel Joy and this is my end of June update.
The books I read for the challenge in this second quarter of the year are outlined in yellow, and straight away I’ll tell you that my stand out book was Trevor Noah’s ‘Born a Crime’. If you’re curious to know what I thought of this or any of the books I’ve read, pop over to Goodreads where you’ll find my reviews. I do think it’s important to support authors with reviews – I know how much it means to us.
You can also find out more about my reading habits and my response to the #ArmedWithABingo challenge in aninterviewI did with Kriti Khare at the beginning of this month.
And now, with only four more books to go to complete the challenge, maybe I’ll try do a second bingo board for the second half of the year. Meanwhile, if anyone has a suggestion for a book with a food in the title, please let me know.
Footnote
How much the world has changed since I did my first ‘check in’for the challenge. Here in South Africa we were about to go into lockdown. We thought it would be for just 21 days, but it continued for 100 days. Like most of the rest of the world, the country is only just beginning to open up.
My reading has continued and so has my writing. Most of all though, I’m so grateful to all of you, my online friends, for being there and being you!
A thud on the doormat interrupted Alys and Sparky’s perusal of the Witches’ Weekly crossword. Intrigued by the unexpected arrival, they hurried over to find a large paper-wrapped parcel perched on the doormat. It opened obligingly and two beautiful books tumbled out.
Alys ran an admiring hand over the flower-embossed cover of the first book. She scrutinized the spine: Unbelievable Potions from Unusual Ingredients. An excited plume of purple steam rose from Sparky’s snout as he read the title of the other: Fabulous Beasts of the North: an Illustrated Guide.
A slip of crisp white paper rose from the wrapper. ‘Greetings to you from the Biggest Bookstore, we know you like books, so here are some more.’ The little slip of paper bowed. ‘Presented to you with our compliments. Enjoy!’ It tittered as it disappeared in a tiny puff of powdery smoke.
Alys and Sparky grinned at each other and dived into their books. The room fell silent for some time.
Alys was first to break the silence. ‘Sparky, come and look at this! A rose-scented potion with a drawing of a rose that’s so lifelike I can almost smell the perfume.’
The diminutive dragon started to crawl across the page he’d been studying. It was a beautifully drawn map of a magical destination far away in the north. He stepped off the stone-coloured land and… sploosh! His front paw sank into the inky blue sea. Sparky reared up and retreated in a shower of surprised sparks that hissed and fizzed as they landed in the water.
‘What are you doing, Sparky?’ Alys pushed the potion book aside and watched as the he placed an experimental paw on the patch of sea in the centre of the map.
A miniature whale-like creature emerged from the inky depths. Sea-spray spouted from its blowhole, splashing across Alys’s sleeve. Sparky leapt backwards as the head of an angry sea serpent appeared from centre of the page. It writhed and glared about, its pointed tongue twitching unnervingly.
Alys edged away from the table as a second fountain of sea water surged forth from the tiny whale. The sea serpent flapped its tail causing a small tidal wave to break over the page, drenching the table top. Sparky hovered high over the map as Alys rescued the potions book, dropping it almost immediately with a sharp cry of pain. A thin thorn-covered rose tendril was growing from the cover and a bunch of blooms had sprung from its spine.
The book landed on the floor with a thump. Alys and Sparky stared wide-eyed as more rose stems sprouted, twining around the table’s legs and creeping over the carpet. The soggy table sneezed as sea water ran down its legs and the retired cauldron cowered in her corner.
Alys dashed across the room and snatched her wand from the kitchen table. ‘Hurry!’ yelled Sparky, seeing a small horse-headed creature rising from the map’s inky water. The creature tossed its mane and planted its hooves on the shore, flapping its fish-tail furiously behind it.
‘Arresto!’ commanded Alys, pointing her wand at the sprouting briers. The branches hesitated. She turned to the map and pointed at the sea. ‘Sicco!’ The waves calmed. Alys breathed a sigh of relief.
There was a moment of calm, then the sea serpent stuck out its tongue and the roses resumed their march, crawling over the cowering cauldron. The cloying scent of roses overpowered the room.
The air started to shimmer. Something was about to materialize. Sparky hovered by Alys’s head, worried white steam rising from his nostrils.
A tweed-suited man with floppy brown hair appeared. Sparky recognised him straight away. It was the man from the bookstore in the Magical Mall of All. The tweedy man held up his hands.
‘Ester, Narwall, stop this at once!’ He clapped his hands. ‘STOP IT NOW!’
As he spoke, the rambling roses vanished and the sea creatures sank down into the map, sucking up the water behind them. The books slammed shut. Silence reigned.
‘Sorry about that.’ The book seller scooped up the books, clamping them in his hands. ‘Immersive-Experience Books, they must have escaped in the confusion during that business with Shylock the Spiv,’ he said, glancing at Sparky.
‘Immersive-Experience books?’ Alys looked askance, still stroking the retired cauldron who hadn’t quite recovered her composure. The table stifled a sneeze.
‘There’s an Interactive-Imagination spell inside them. Fortunately they left a paper trail, so I could track them down.’ He held out a remnant of wrapper. ‘They’re not really for home use, but you can come and study them at the shop. They must be useful to you or they wouldn’t have posted themselves here.
The book-seller prepared to leave. ‘Anyway, all’s well that ends well.’
Alys and Spark exchanged glances, nodding vigorously.
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