BECOMING SUPRA

Chapter 22: Power Pod

The cave was high-ceilinged and cool, barks of light descended from small apertures in the roof. At the main hall, carpets and books were strewn on the floor. In the distance, labyrinthine tunnels faded away into shadowy corners.

Yinka was placed on a mattress. She momentarily opened her eyes and glimpsed at the vision of Phi: the capacitator, the motherboard, the power pod; the most powerful person known to Bose. Relief inundated her, being in her presence eased her.

"This might hurt a little," said Phi, as she waved a hand over the bullet wound.

Yinka shrieked when the bullet sprang out her body attaching itself to Phi's hand like a magnet. Phi dropped the bullet into a mason jar, waves of blood laced the water pink. Yinka winced when Phi swabbed her wound with an astringent. Then Phi held a palm over the gunshot. Yinka felt waves of warmth entering the lesion.

"I have stopped the bleeding. But the rest of the healing is for you to do."

Yinka tried to sit up. "For me to do?"

"Use sound to direct healing vibrations into the wound."

Phi raised a hand, to demonstrate. An electro-violet cube of energy, soft and pliant projected out of the center of her palm and disappeared into her leg. Yinka felt the pain lessen.

"I am using the medium geometry to transmit healing frequencies into the wound. You can use the medium of sound. Now sing."

"How ... how ... do I know which note to use?"

"Search for it inside, like you searched for the theta vibrations. It is an intuitive process, a method of learning through trial and error. Practice starts when you decide."

Yinka opened her mouth to let out a sound. "Aaaaaaa." She completed the octave then looked up at Phi. "C-minor?"

"The music will change as the pain decreases. Search for it by feeling it."

"AAaaaaaaa."

"Singing aloud will affect gross matter, singing silently will affect subtle matter. Alternate the two. And watch yourself heal yourself," said Phi, smiling.

Yinka looked at the burst of open skin. She propped herself up on the pillows, settled comfortably into her seat and started to sing.

"AAaaaaAAA."

Phi nodded. "I'll be right here if you need me."

Yinka shut her eyes. The healer from the Sahel desert came to her in her mind. The woman bent down and touched her forehead with Yinka's, the cowrie shells in her cornrows braising Yinka's cheeks.

"AAAAaaaAAAA."

"If you will, please follow me," said Phi to the rest of the clan. They followed behind through the snaking tunnels. "Now, we make lunch."

Bending low, they entered a small, dark recess, light in dotted patches streaming in. It was a grotto of orchids that were dangling in abundance from the ceiling, some were glowing, some were transparent like dragonfly wings.

"Pick an orchid of your liking."

As they inched closer to the ceiling, drops of heavy moisture fell onto them. Æsh opened his mouth to catch a bead. Raë craned her neck to smell a floret. There were tiger print orchids with purple smidgens, star burst tips in punk-acid pink, some were flaming fluorescent with a dusting of black.

"One orchid is all you need," said Phi. "The decision has to be unanimous."

Hiranur pointed at a yellow star with shark-tooth scratches in burnt-rust. Chin-Hae and Ezra nodded. Raë and Æsh were also in agreement.

"Perfect choice," said Phi, plucking it off the ceiling. "Now follow me to the kitchen."

The kitchen was sparse with few utensils and a stack of wood cuttings by the corner. Phi lit a match and dropped it onto the ring of the woodfire. Puffing into the hollow of animal bone, a flame took hold in a couple of blows. In a pan, she lopped in the butter and sautéed some raisins with raw rice. After a browning, she added the water. They watched as the rice cracked open in warm flakes. Then taking the orchid, from pod to petal she folded it into the warm buttery palau.

The food was scarfed down in gulps. Once digested the lunch lulled them into a kind of body-fog and extreme fatigue took over. Chin-Hae could barely fork the last morsel into his mouth. Ezra almost keeled over his chair and fell backwards. Raë and Æsh leaned against the folding stone walls and ambled their way out of the room. Staggering through the bifurcating corridors, they searched in the shadows for warm beds to glide into.