There were several mornings that Meva dreamt the same thing. She saw P being born in the center of a planet, hundreds of thousands of years ago. The dream was strange enough, but its recurrence was troubling.
Another oddity was P's diet. It was non-existent. Again and again, Meva tried to get P to eat something, but she would just laugh until she burped up a green bubble. In the corner of the cabin lay a burlap sack half full of green crystals.
"She is not eating, Tzurk. And she doesn't even seem hungry!" Meva said.
It was quite the puzzle. We had both seen her waste inside the ship, so she had to eat something, or at least be capable of it. Meva held P close, and the little green baby smiled, wrinkled her nose, then burped until a huge green bubble formed in the air! I popped it, and it revealed a slightly larger green crystal, about the size of an egg. I picked up the crystal and examined it.
It reminded me of something we had once found in the mine. We had found a crystal similar in shape and size, but it was blue. After discovering it, Jockson Reckson was noticeably excited. He ripped it from my hands and examined it in the light of one of our headlamps. He said it was K-tonium. He said something about selling it and buying a new house. He slipped it into his pocket, and we never saw it again.
Could these little green crystals be similar?
That evening, we were sitting on the front porch, enjoying the cool mountain air. Meva was teasing P with a little straw doll she'd made, and P was giggling, as usual. I examined the crystal. Where was a low hum, not from the crystal, but from beyond the trees, from the valley road. What I saw was like a boot to the stomach.
Three military hover pods stopped on the road. Scores of soldiers poured from them and disappearing into the trees between us.
"How did they find us?" Meva cried.
I looked down at the green crystal in my hand. P was emitting a source of power that would show up on the radar of every military vehicle across the country. How could I be so stupid? They were not coming for us. They were coming for her!
We ran back into the cabin. I dug out the sock with The Abominate's finger. Even if I managed to kill some of the soldiers, I would never stop all of them. Escape was our only option.
"Quick, Meva. To the ship!"
We ran out the back door, just as soldiers reached the front of the cabin.
"Open the hatch!" I yelled at the ship, and it obeyed.
Meva scrambled in with P, but then I remembered something. The soul transfer device was still inside the cabin. I nodded to send Meva into the ship as I ran back to the cabin.
"Close hatch!" I yelled over my shoulder, and the ship obeyed.
Inside the cabin, the front door groaned against its rusty hinges as the soldiers pounded the other side. I saw shadows pass the side windows. They’re going around the back! I fell onto my belly in front of the bed, and pulled the device out. I was nearly back outside when the front door gave, bursting inwards. Darts bit into the doorframe around me, and I slammed the back door closed on them.
Soldiers came around the sides of the cabin.
"Open!" I screamed at the ship as darts pinged off the ship’s doorframe.
I dove inside before the stairs even had time to extend. I shouted for the hatch to close, and not a moment too soon. BOOM! A concussion bomb made the ship reel.
Meva was thrown against the wall, her arms shielding P. I held up the device for her to see, and she nodded. Another concussion hit the ship, throwing me to the floor.
"They're shelling us!" she yelled.
We ran into the control room together, but none of the controls made any sense.
Meva was in despair, "How do we take off?"
Suddenly I remembered the green crystal in my pocket. It was a bright green, like the sun casting through a new spring leaf. Power! The ship needed power. I raced down the hall and into the room with the grid. I tore out a dull green crystal and threw it aside. I inserted the new bright green crystal in its place. A voice from overhead said, "P-tonium accepted. 12 percent charge."
Instantly the ship turned on an unseen pivot and shot upwards, pressing us into the floor. The whole room rumbled and shook as we gained speed.
From where I lay on the floor, I could see Meva, but I could not get up to be with her. She was pinned to the wall, clutching little P in her hands, straining against the pressure. She tried to hide the fear on her face.
All went silent. We had pierced the atmosphere. The resistance was gone, and the vacuum of space enveloped us.
Meva and I scrambled into the control room. The knobs, levers and buttons were a complete cipher.
"Does anything look familiar to you?" said Meva.
"I'm a miner, Meva. Not an astronaut."
"Don't worry, Tzurk." Meva said, "We are a family now. I would rather be here with you and P than back in my father's palace. Though hurling through space, I can say that in this moment, I am complete."
I laughed and my heart great stronger.
I said, "You are Armikrog! That is what I shall call you from now on."
Meva's face contorted, "That's a horrible sounding word! What does it mean?"
"A wrinkled man of the Wanati desert tribe was sold into slavery, and worked with our mining crew. Whenever his hammer fell on walls that were too hard to be chipped, he would shout 'ARMIKROG' at the rock. That's you. The immovable rock!"
Meva shook her head and laughed. "Never call me that ugly name!"
"Okay" I said, then mumbled under my breath, "... Armikrog."
"I heard that!"