Don't Label Me! (13 page)

Her rescuer glared at the man. “Hardly. I
don’t think you’ve met Jnarn but he, along with his adopted
daughter Kit and a Russian colleague Helena Ivanova, perfected a
treatment to reverse some damage the Din had done to the human DNA.
I was one of the first test subjects. The whole town’s had it.
You’d probably have a hard time recognising some of them.”

Sathi looked at both of them, wondering if
she’d fallen down some rabbit hole. What the hell were they
discussing? No one aged backwards forty years. Must be some long
standing joke between them. “Would someone please introduce me and
tell me what is going on? Pretty please.”

Her rescuer looked momentarily aghast, as if
he’d made an unpardonable faux pas. “Gomen nasai. Hajimemashite.”
Then he bowed before straightening himself. “Please forgive my
rudeness. My name is Hideo Suzuki. I was sent by your guru to bring
you back to Boswell. You are no longer safe on the streets of
Sydney. Kit made you one of us which means the enemy is now after
you. You will be safer behind the portal.”

Sathi froze. Her guru sent him? Did that
mean...? She gave Hideo a not so casual head to toe once-over while
trying to evade his inscrutable ebony eyes. Sure he seemed nice
enough, not intimidatingly tall, definitely handsome, but there was
no flashing neon light to tell her he was truly her mate. And what
of Lewis, she could hardly deny her fondness for her other rescuer.
She’d stay with caution and keep her thoughts on that matter to
herself, for now, if that was even possible around this lot. Though
she doubted their claim to mind reading. They were probably just a
good judge of character, like she was. “What do you mean Kit made
me one of you?” Was there an answer to why she’d felt so good the
last few months and an explanation for the odd new abilities?

Hideo watched her closely to gauge her
response. He supposed he could have tried to read her mind but he
worried that she might not welcome the invasion and right at that
moment he wanted her to feel as normal as possible. “When she gave
you her blood she made you immortal.”

“
Come again?” Sathi stared at him in
disbelief.

Hideo pondered the problem of how to
convince her. “Thomas? You got a knife or letter opener there?”

Thomas had no compunction about reading
Hideo’s mind and was already passing him an ornate Tibetan
knife.

Hideo looked at the craftsmanship on the
object, admiring it, then used it to make a shallow cut along the
inside of his forearm. Thomas was already passing him tissues to
mop up the bleeding before it messed with the shop floor.

Sathi watched in horror. “What are you
doing? That thing wasn’t even sterile?”

In answer Hideo wiped the arm and showed
her. There wasn’t a mark. He passed the knife to her. “Now you
try.”

Sathi backed away from the knife. “No way,
you’re effing mad.”

Thomas took the knife and used the flame
from a cigarette lighter to clean the blade. Once he considered it
cool he held it out to Sathi. “It will hurt but trust us, it won’t
do you any long term damage or we wouldn’t suggest it. We know what
you are. This is just the simplest and quickest way to convince
you. Once you start learning how to use your new skills you’ll have
no doubt, but that will take time and practice.”

Sathi tentatively took the knife. What harm
would there be in simply pricking her finger perhaps. She made a
cut on the pad of her thumb, the sharp sting of the knife
confirming she was descending into the realms of their idiocy. Yet
when she wiped the blood away with the tissue Thomas offered there
was no cut. That couldn’t be right. She’d felt it. Hadn’t she?
Damn, she’d have to do it again. This time she made a precise inch
long cut on her palm. It hurt like hell and her stomach threatened
to empty on the floor but she steeled herself and once again wiped
it clean. No cut. She shook herself. “Pardon my language but that
is friggin’ amazing. How?”

Thomas, surprisingly gentlemanly for a
change, brought out a chair and offered it to her. “This might take
a while. It’s a long story.”

Thomas and Hideo also made themselves
comfortable while they proceeded to explain everything that had
happened in Boswell over the last two years or so and the cosmic
events that had preceded it 100,000 years ago.

While they talked another man filtered into
the room with a tray of tea for everyone. Sathi glanced at him out
her peripheral vision and was at once aware that the man wasn’t
human. Humanoid yes but the conical shaped forehead and almond
shaped eyes that were almost alien. Then there was his aura which
truly shone with a rainbow of colors.

Thomas rose as the man entered, bowed
respectfully and took the offered tray. “Tönpa.” He vacated his
chair for his mentor and after passing the tea around went to find
another.

Hideo rose and bowed from the waist in
acknowledgement of the newcomer. “Silwa, it is good to see you
again. May I introduce Sathi Rupasinghe.”

Everyone seemed highly respectful of the
man. Sathi rose and offered her hand. “Very pleased to meet you.
Silwa is it?” She wasn’t sure on how to call him after Thomas had
referred to him with an alternate name.

“
Silwa is fine. We’re all on first
names here except for Thomas who is my student. He calls me by the
Shang term for teacher. But you would be well aware of the role of
a guru wouldn’t you Lotus Blossom?”

Talk about feeling like your soul was naked
for all to see. Sathi was starting to think the question “How?”
might show even more of of her ignorance about what was going on
but she asked it anyway.

“
Everything is written in the akashic
field. All memories, events and information can be known but I tend
to only concern myself with the important stuff.” the alien
explained.

“
Why would my relationship with my
guru have interested you? Surely I am only one refugee girl who’s
made the most of what fate threw at her?”

“
Although the Shang do not always
approve of his methods there is no doubting that everything your
guru does is of importance. You may never have realised it but when
you came to the temple that day the goddess personally took you
under her wing. She looked into your heart and saw that you were
part of the great plan. She knew your fate and called on her son to
ease it. Together they hoped you would achieve your full
potential.”

“
As a whore?” She’d long ago made some
peace with her profession but she still couldn’t keep the tone of
incredulity from her voice.

Silwa dismissed her comment with an almost
ritualistic wave of his hand. “That was just part of your fated
path. Past life choices and habits played into that. It is what you
blossomed into along the way that was important. Yes, you
intuitively understand a man’s most primal needs but your intuition
when it comes to people in general, your ability to relate to them
and understand them, is so much more. Layered upon that is your
brain. You have a mind honed for business acumen. Subconsciously
you knew this and pursued your interests in business, marketing and
economics. But I have a question for you Sathi. Do you think the
current growth based market economy is working?”

Sathi could see why this being was
respected. He didn’t flatter you with generalisms. He was very
specific on what he commented on. On some level she knew he saw
right into her heart and his question confirmed it. “Hell no. The
earth is a finite system with finite resources, a finite capacity
to cope with waste and finite space for the humans, plants and
animals that exist upon it. The current economic model is premised
on there always being growth but that isn’t possible. I fear by the
time that people realise that error we will have ecological
devastation and global poverty on a scale that would horrify any
sane person in the world today.”

“
So what would your answer
be?”

“
Doesn’t really matter does it. Those
that run the world are never going to let anyone break their
control and change things. They don’t even care about their own
descendants.”

“
Humour me anyway.”

“
Well first and foremost you’d have to
move away from growth based economic policies. Sustainability of
the environment and communities would be right up there.” She mused
for a moment. There was something even more fundamental than that,
wasn’t there? “At the moment people strive to get rich because they
think that brings happiness, status and leaves a legacy for their
descendants. They view their legacy as a kind of immortality. We’d
have to show them there was a better way of getting those things
rather than trashing the planet and bleeding the life out of
everyone else. You need to shift how people perceive worth. It
needs to be based on your connections with others and what you
contribute to them. Mutual happiness I suppose. It would have to be
modelled. It would only be adopted if it could be proved to work to
everyone’s benefit.”

“
Exactly! How would you like a chance
to put it into practice?”

Sathi felt a wave of excitement burst within
her. So this being thought her crackpot ideas were possible. Yet...
“I don’t see how it could be put into action without interference
from vested interests.”

“
How about a closed system within the
system. A system in parallel but effectively quarantined from the
old model.”

“
Yes that would work. Once we got it
running we could invite those interested to come and see
it.”

Silwa eased back in his chair pleased. “It’s
time then. Sathi, all that you have outlined is possible but we
need you to be the brains behind it, to drive it and advise on the
nuts and bolts to make it happen. Boswell is that closed system we
just spoke of. It’s in a parallel zone much like this shop is. Your
guru and I, amongst others, want to join up all the hidden parallel
parts of the world that currently hide from the mainstream. We
intend to take the planet back from evil, one piece at a time. You
in?”

“
Hell yeah.” But then a momentary
worry crossed her mind. “What about those still out in the mess? Is
there any way we can protect them in the meantime?”

Silwa looked to Hideo and he nodded,
silently agreeing he should answer this one. He was after all part
of Thex’s elite team. “There is a force of trouble shooters, a
group called Sentient Species Liaison which is headed up by
Commander Alexios Thex and his government liaison Andrew McCullum.
At the moment we’re still trying to build up our numbers and
strengthen our alliances. In the meantime, if I may guess, you’re
worried about your friends at the club, are you not?”

Sathi nodded, that was definitely what had
crossed her mind. “They’re good friends. They not only rescued me
from my situation, they paid a lot to do it. I can’t just go and
leave them in the lurch. Sheila and Lewis particularly.”

The quiet in the room was such that you
could have heard a pin drop yet Sathi didn’t think it was anything
she’d said. It was like the others weren’t there for a moment, eyes
almost hooded. Then Silwa looked at her again. “Not that I
understand this whole sex thing since the Shang have no need of it
but I do not judge it. As you discovered today the Din are a threat
to the club. It has attracted their interest because of the growing
interest in BDSM. To them it’s just another money making
proposition and they want to take it over. I can’t see any reason
why we couldn’t bring the club across into our parallel dimension
but you will need to speak to your friends and see if it is what
they want. Simon and I will go and discuss it with the
fairies.”

Fairies, yeah right. “Who’s Simon?”

Hand spun ropes threaded with steps of
bamboo descended down the sides of the cavernous sinkhole. George
eyed the ropes dubiously wondering if they would take his weight.
He didn’t have an ounce of fat on his body, okay maybe a few but he
blamed Simon’s good cooking for that. The fact remained that at six
foot three and roughly fourteen stone he was damned near twice the
size of the locals.

Doc gave him a friendly slap to the side of
the head. “And of course you are going to teleport down there
aren’t you my friend?”

George groaned at his needless worry. “Ah
yeah. Sometimes I forget I can do that.”

The sinkhole had its own brooding, dimly lit
beauty. Ancient vine bejewelled trees strived towards the light
above. A myriad of birds, insects and wildlife inhabited their
branches. Half asleep bats murmured and jostled within the crevices
of the rock face. Swallows’ nests clung like mini balconies to the
overhangs. What wasn’t so pleasant was the smell. The stale air was
musty with fungal spores and the aroma of the decomposing dung and
detritus that littered the floor. It wasn’t the most conducive
place to perform a ritual.

Fortunately some of the tribe had come with
them and they had brought along mats of woven leaves, palm and
reed. They laid them out around the base of the large crystal stone
that presided over the space.

George removed his shoes to step onto the
mats, grateful that nothing oozed up between the tight weave. He
walked towards the stone. He could vaguely make out that it might
be the shape of a woman. It looked like her fist had been raised in
a last minute gesture of defiance as she was frozen in stone for
all time. George smiled inwardly. He liked the fact that his woman
had spirit. His woman? Would she truly be his? He could perform the
tantric rite and sacrifice required to release her. That very act
would make a life long bond. She would be his mate and friend but
there was no telling whether she would perform the act of sexual
communion required to protect this land.