Nigkala Tales Pt. 37: The World is Hollow

I returned the way I came, and when I got to the closest city, they were still wary of my companion. But as she was well fed, she was well behaved, and I was left alone. I waited for a caravan to retrace my journey, and they let me follow on foot while the tiger was with me. When we got to the area where she came to me, I sent her off, and she was quickly met by the others. While far from us, I was able to see she was considerably larger than the rest, and while there was a brief display of dominance, she went with them, clearly in charge. I said goodbye telepathically, rejoined the caravan, and got on a mastodon mount. I had no trouble returning to the town the ship was anchored at.

I turned on the phone, and sent a text to the ship announcing my return, but stating I would stay in town for a while before returning on board. I got a text from the captain soon after asking if I had success. I said yes, but only for myself. I needed to seek a way to scale up the solution, and so needed to do some more research.

I stayed on the edge of town, away from the water, so I would not run into people from the ship. I resumed having sex after a meal to keep my headband charged up. However, I spent a lot of time in my room gazing into the demon's diamond. I activated the bracelet first, and studied what the demon knew. I limited myself as much as possible, and eventually found out how to seek something in another dimension. My link with Death Valley provided the seed needed to locate the correct dimension, and once located, I was able to orient myself until I could change my connection over to my home. This took many days, but when I was able to swiftly focus on that point, I rested, then began with that point as the location to breach with my thoughts.

I added in a focus on Isis's tattoo, and called to her through the breach I had made. I said into the breach, "Becky Sue calling Isis. Becky Sue calling Isis." Then holding it open, I would wait for a reply.

On the second cycle, she responded, "Becky Sue? You're alive?"

"Yes. The ship got sent to another dimension, and I finally found a way to contact you. But I lack the power to bring them back. Can you help?"

"Yes. Here, take this. It will help me find you." The ankh I made for my trip back in time to old Egypt suddenly dropped into my lap. I could feel it full of her power. Once there, I felt her take over holding the cross-dimensional line open. A few seconds later, my other divine talismans appeared.

"Daughter, you're alive. We must celebrate with an orgy when you get back," Inanna chimed in.

"My queen, I have missed you so. I think I may be able to open a way, but I will need Lord An's help."

"What help will that be, priestess?" It was An.

"The power of a storm. Nearly a hurricane. I want to return the entire ship, and that needs a lot of power. The storm that sent us here was plenty big, but I don't need quite so much."

"When the meteor hit, it left a lot of devastation. It has been three years, but the world is still cleaning up the mess."

I was surprised, as my phone indicated over ten years. Still, that could wait.

"I will need to prepare devices here, to take the power and channel it properly. It may take a while."

Isis said, "Don't worry. I will tell Filipe you survived."

"Thank you. I know he must be distraught."

Isis said, "Osiris and I have been checking up on him, keeping him in good spirits. Still, it has been hard for him and your children."

"Tell them I am returning soon."

"I shall. With the talismans, you should be able to access our power, but you may need to first establish contact as you did for this call."

"I shall. With access to An's storm power, I should be able to do it. I will call again when I am ready. Feel free to call me."

They said their goodbyes, and I felt the connection drop. I felt rather tired from the energy expenditure, but each of the talismans helped restore me, as did my sword.

Now, I needed to create a device that would create a portal large enough to sail through. It took several weeks, and many drafts on paper before I was satisfied. I would have to assemble it on board, but I needed supplies they didn't have. Thanks to the gods, they also supplied Everest's talisman. With it, I was able to channel enough power to generate the needed metal in the required shapes.

Next, I needed to determine how big a storm I needed. When I learned, I realized we needed to be twenty miles from the coast, to keep it safe. Then I boxed everything up in wood crates that a few people could carry. While thin and long, they were heavy. I called the ship asking to be met at the dock with people ready to take on cargo. I had created a device. Creating a wagon I could pull, I levitated the crates onto it. I kept them mostly levitated, so they didn't crush the wagon. Then I cast an illusion of straw piled on the wagon to discourage attention, and headed down to the dock. When I spotted the crew, I dismissed the illusion.

When I met them, I asked them to unload the wagon. They were astonished at how the wagon held up. I just said, "What you don't know, you can't lie about." When it was all piled to the ground, I traded the wagon for sufficient cargo trips to get my cargo on board. I sweetened the deal with a little gold, and the locals soon had three little boats delivering cargo to the ship. One crewman went with each boat, to hook up the crate to the crane, then came back. Finally, it was all on board. The drone was in the last crate, that I escorted.

The captain was waiting. "What is this you brought with you?"

"An Atlantean device to get us home. As you can see, there is a lot here. I need a lot of space to set it up. May I take over the forward helipad? The device will fit within its boundary, so keeping guests away should not be a problem."

"Atlantean?"

"Yes. Apparently it is here, and they used portals to explore, and our world is but one they explored. But it is mostly in ruins, now."

"That's too bad. I bet we could learn a lot from it. So, how does this thing work?"

"I feed it a lot of power, and it puts a bubble around us that takes us home. However, to use it, we need to be at least twenty miles from shore, or there will be major destruction. Even that far will be difficult for them, so farther out would be better. I don't know how far from shore you can get."

"Twenty, huh. I'll check the charts, but I don't think it will be a problem. What is the devastation from?"

"I need to harness the power of a storm. A big one, but not as big as the one that sent us here."

"And you want my ship in the middle?"

"Yes. In the eye, actually. I need to generate a small hurricane's worth of power."

"Yikes. You can do that?"

"No, but now that I have managed to reconnect with my gods, their power can."

His eyes got big. "You managed that?"

"It's a long story, and I want to get to work as soon as possible."

"Sure, but you will have a lot of onlookers."

"Not for long." I smiled, and then walked to the crates, and asked the cargo people to take them to the forward helipad. As they did, I focused on An's power to gather a small storm, but I didn't let it break until the cargo was in place. As soon as they left, I used Isis's power to place a domed shield over the helipad, then let the storm break. The few that were still out went inside. That's when I cast an illusion of scaffolding holding curtains to keep people from looking.

I let the storm play out while I opened the crates, and began assembling the device. I forgot about the storm, and it petered out in a few hours. While people tried to look inside the curtains, they only saw another row of curtains on the other side of the scaffolding. That was enough to keep them out. With telekinesis, and the drone, I was able to assemble it in only a few hours. Using tamed lightning between my fingers to do spot welding, I got the framework welded and in place. Then I added the external shell, that had to be far more precise. Every connection to the inner frame was adjustable with set screws, and I finally assembled a shape that resembled a solid fractal. The drone did a lot of the finicky work.

I called the ship's repair shop to send up some testing equipment, so I could ensure everything was properly aligned, and insulated. I made numerous checks all over, but only needed a few adjustments. I then ran a minor bolt of lighting into it, and I could feel the brief feeling of a portal. It was working. I exited, leaving the test equipment inside. I went to my room, and sent for a meal, then luxuriated in the shower until it came. They were surprised when I took the food in the nude. I just said I was exhausted, and forgot. They left happy. After finishing off the meal, I crawled into bed, and slept. I was later told I slept nearly three days. They checked up on me a few times, but I seemed to be in ordinary sleep.

When I woke, I had another large meal, then headed for the spa.

"Welcome back, ma'am. What can we do for you?"

"I've been on the road a while, and I need some pampering. I want the works, and am willing to pay for all day."

"Yes, ma'am. Just enter your card here."

I had forgotten about that, but in seeming to fumble for it, I was really casting my recall spell to fetch it from my cabin. I then swiped my card, and they told me to follow the young lady to room three. I nearly fell asleep several times, I got so relaxed and clean. Finally, the day was over, and I left to find dinner and then bed. The next day, I sent word to the captain, that I was ready.

We met in his office to discuss the plan. Showing me the charts, it was clear there was plenty of room. We chose a location, and a time. It would take about three days to disentangle the ship and its people from the port. It actually took five, as several people chose to stay, and so we had to set up video records with their statements, along with legal documents to distribute their wealth like a will. I chose to give each a box of pearls for emergencies, saying to keep it a secret, as they were valuable.

It took nearly a day to arrive in the area. As we did, I called for foul weather, and slowly gathered the circulating winds, but kept them clear of the ship. When the captain gave me the all clear, I stepped up the winds and the power. I then went to the front of the ship and gave the device one last alignment test. I then sent my dress and the test kit to my room, and levitated just above the fractal-looking device. I began calling lightning from the storm to me, and then sent it into the fractal, building up its pressure. I pulled the storm close, and sped it up. Soon an eye wall formed, and I was a living lightning rod, discharging into my device. I immediately felt the portal energies.

Finally, I could feel the portal form, and I willed it to connect with my own world by following my connection with Death Valley, then heading southeast to the gulf. It was different from what I recalled, but I soon found the ocean. When I did, I summoned Isis's power to fully activate the portal, and we sailed back home. It took nearly a minute to traverse the portal, but when we were home, I shut it down, and stilled the hurricane. I retired to my room, and sent the captain the all clear. With me no longer generating all sorts of static, the ship was able to connect to the world by satellite, and we were soon met by a refueling tanker, and escorted to a port on the east coast, as most of the gulf coast ports were still out. I dismissed the illusion after dismantling the device.

I was able to go to all those who knew anything about my part in getting us home and whammie them into believing a local man, of assorted descriptions, came on board to assemble the device. I also made them forget my part in all this.

The story was in the papers for weeks, until the next scandal arrived, but even then, it was in the back pages for months. Figuring out why people's phones experienced vastly different amounts of time was the biggest mystery, but the fractal, only seen for a few minutes, was another. It looked like an electric ball, with all sorts of patterns appearing and disappearing in it. Everyone knew it was involved in the return, but not how it worked. Then there were the artifacts and pictures we brought back. We were clearly somewhere for a great, long while.

I contacted John Maxwell, and met with him, to give him the skinny on Atlantis. Again, I left him copies of my pictures, and recordings, including the powered-down device. I didn't give him everything, but enough for a full story, including their history as they saw it. He spread it around quietly, but soon the fractal device became known as the Atlantean Lightning Ball, and rumors started up of the return of the Atlanteans.

But that is another story...

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