Stars Of Memory

Chapter 7

Jīvitaya looks at Kysanden, who is still staring unwaveringly at Rebexi, waiting for her response. Rebexi takes a deep breath before finally opening her mouth to speak.

"As best as we can tell, our sun is growing quickly now, and it is sending out many Saieats. They are either having an effect on our gravity or Mior's magnetism. These effects are getting stronger and making many of us sick."

Her face pale, Jīvitaya looks towards Rebexi. "I'm sorry, but what exactly is a Saieat?"

"You truly don't know our language do you?" Jīvitaya shakes her head. "A Saieat could best be described as a strong and immediate negative effect of solar flares. On the screen over there," she points to the screen with the sun on it, "we are monitoring our sun for the solar flares so we can predict them and counteract their effects long enough to get to safety."

"Thank you. May I transfer a copy of the data to my own device? I think I might be able to help, and it wouldn't hurt to try."

Rebexi nods her assent and Jīvitaya directs the levik over to the computer, tapping on her chip as she does so. It spits out both a holographic tablet and another tendril that extends to the computer base and locks itself in. She taps on the chip and data starts streaming across the tablet. Within a minute, the data stream shuts off and the tendril retracts from the computer. Jīvitaya stows away the tablet, and returns to Kysanden.

"Should we go back to the ship now? I can look over all the data there, and I'm not feeling that great."

Rebexi looks at Jīvitaya, concerned. "Is it because of the Saieat?"

Kysanden replies. "No, she was bitten by Ehthtiur Grubs and the venom is still spreading through her system. Of course, the Saieat could be affecting her as well."

Rebexi shoos them off and they turn to head back to the ship. Once onboard, Jīvitaya sends the levik towards the kitchen. When she gets there, she taps on the chip and it spits out molecules to form a small box. She sets it atop the counter, facing one of the ship's metal walls and presses the top. A burst of light streams out of it and coalesces into an array of data and videos on the wall. She pulls out the tablet and swipes at the screen, causing the data to rearrange itself. At the forefront is the log of all the Saieat occurrences and the live monitoring video of Mior's sun. Jīvitaya also pulls up a graph showing the increase in the extent of the Saieat occurrences and damage over time. She is about to start working on figuring out how to help when Kysanden pulls the levik away from the data wall, taking her with it.

Jīvitaya shrieks. "What are you doing!"

"I monitored your vitals and the venom effects and they are increasing. I can also feel the pain you're trying to hide from me. It's strange, and I don't know why I can feel it, but I can. So don't try to hide it from me, it won't work. What I'm doing is taking you to a form of treatment."

"And what is that?"

"Salt water. You need to be floating in salt water and Mior is the perfect place for that, despite the Saieats. It's because of all the seawater. It contains salt just like the seas on Earth do."

With that, he directs the levik out of the ship and in the direction of the nearby coastline. The sand is opalescent white and isn't coarse like much of Earth's sand, considering the granules are so tiny she almost can't see them when she reaches over the armrest of the levik to scoop up a handful of the sand. Kysanden pushes the levik farther towards the water and Jīvitaya starts in surprise when he continues forward into the water, stopping just before the seat enters the water.

"The levik is waterproof?"

"Did you forget that it's levitating?"

"No! But isn't the circuitry throughout the entire chair because it's levitating?"

"Yes. And the levik itself isn't waterproof but it emits a shield that repels water to protect that very same circuitry."

"That's fascinating." She shakes her head before she can get too interested in the technology. "What do I do now?"

"Slide off of the levik and just float in the water. Don't worry about your clothes, they will be completely fine when you come out and will be dry, despite being submerged in water."

Jīvitaya hesitates briefly before pushing herself off of the levik, wincing as the venom courses through her arms, pain pulsing through her at every heartbeat. She slides into the crystal-clear turquoise water and leans back in order to float. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Kysanden tap on the levik's armrest and a silvery-gray pole shoots out of the bottom, anchoring the levik into the silty seabed. Kysanden taps on it again and it releases a metallic rope from the bottom. He takes it and wades over to Jīvitaya, tying it onto her wrist. She twists her head towards him, a quizzical expression on her face.

He glances down, saying, "It's to make sure you don't accidentally float off. Don't worry, the knot is easily undone."

Jīvitaya relaxes into the water as Kysanden wades off back towards the shoreline. The sky above her is similar to Earth, a soft blue shade. The clouds are different though, a soft turquoise shade that is almost white. It reminds her of the Caribbean sea on Earth.

~~~

About an hour and a half after Kysanden left her, Jīvitaya hears splashing from the shoreline. It sounds panicked, and she turns her head to see Kysanden running into the water, moving more and more slowly the deeper he gets into the water. When he reaches her, he scans her face. Jīvitaya frowns at his worried expression, now worried herself at what could be wrong.

"Kysanden, what's going on?"

"There has been another Saieat. I didn't feel pain from you so you must not have been impacted-" He trails off when he sees her expression of confusion. "You didn't realize?"

"No, nothing happened here. I promise."

"Let's get you back to the ship, alright?"

Jīvitaya nods, and Kysanden swiftly unties the rope from around her wrist. The moment he releases it, the rope is retracted into the levik. He pulls her back over to the levik and helps her get resituated upon it. Then he taps on the armrest again and the anchoring pole smoothly retracts into the bottom of the levik. He pushes it back out of the water and towards the ship. When they get there, Rebexi is waiting for them. She waits for them to walk inside before following behind them. Kysanden leads them to the kitchen and deposits Jīvitaya in front of the data wall.

Rebexi comes to stand beside Jīvitaya. "You truly didn't feel the Saieat?"

"No, I didn't. Is it important?"

Rebexi's expression is one of hope. "It might be how we help my people escape its effects."

Jīvitaya's eyes widen in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes."
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Hi guys! Why do you think Jīvitaya didn't feel the Saieat? Do you have any questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know below.

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out