Planet B-17: The Beginnings

Chapter 28 - The Crater: Part 16

"Welcome back," said the others.

Umbe bowed to them. He smiled to Maýla-i, who had come to hold his hands.

"Are you alright?" she asked, searching Umbe with her eyes.

"I am fine," Umbe said in a lower tone.

The group gathered around them.

"You seem at ease," Menior said, placing his hand on Umbe's shoulder. "How was the journey with M'alala?"

"It was fine," Umbe said. "It felt as if strips of cloudiness were being combed off of me with every step, and I was growing lighter, my mind clearer. It felt good."

"What happened, if I may ask?" said Sakna-Sa.

Unhesitating, Umbe said, "I was led by M'alala through the white mist. Faces began to form in its midst, kindly faces, as if my journey was being watched. And then I noticed arms reaching out to greet me, and so I reached back, and handy, too, they were, for when I reached the stairs, they helped me to not fall back, but to advance. And the mist became M'alala Herself, holding me inside a cylinder and blessing me and propelling me further. That is when she disappeared, and I was as if in a crevasse, and someone above reached out to me. Ethor was the name of the being who became my friend. He served me water more refreshing than I've ever tasted and revealed to me the answer of my presence there with them: it was to learn to trust Life, to show me the hospitality and decency that I could use as model in shaping my own life. Ethor was the one who's brought me back just now, if you've seen him."

The eight were listening with the air of those receiving the good news they'd expected.

"Come with me, friend and adviser," Meknáni said.

Umbe was slightly surprised by Meknáni's choice of words, but looked more honoured than troubled. "I will, friend and group leader," he replied – with emphasis on friend.

"The journey's long," Meknáni said, "but as Umbe confides in his new friends, so shall we."

Nods all around. Menior had a special, yet reserved joy embedded in his expression as he watched Umbe join Meknáni. What a leap the Boor had managed! He was glad.

Sakna-Sa put her hand on his upper arm. They seem to understand one another without words, yet much was the joy of both.

Sla noticed and she smiled, then nodded. "Hey, Umbe," she said. "Tell us more about the friends you've made here, inside Íma."

Umbe turned and said, "Well, I forgot to ask if any of them were unmarried."

Everyone laughed.

"You should have done so," Maýla-i said.

Still silent, Sakna-Sa and Menior were walking arm in arm, watching and listening. Light was all around.

"And so we've been all embraced by the power of joy," Gre said softly.

Menior heard. He gave Gre a nod.

Ahead of them, more of the white mist was becoming light – a white sheen with a subtle golden pulsation at the centre, and they began to walk into it.

"The weather's fine for us to step into a new dimension," Arít told the group, and they all agreed.

"Let is be revealed for us to know," said Sakna-Sa, and instantly the light and the golden pulsation turned into a circular platform with golden pillars of light, with a white rooftop, and a clear night sky above.

Beyond the surface, water could be seen: a deep and clear blue vastness stretching into the horizon. Seagulls called. Voices faraway. Ships, large and small, their masts white and clear in the gentle moonlight, were traversing the waterway, dispersed along its great expanse.