Page 24 of The Space Traveller's Lover

Shaillah watches in sorrow from the living room’s window.

Her mind is in disarray, as she is about to let go of everything she cherished and trusted, her best friend and her beloved pet dog and horses.

But as hard as it feels now, she understands there is no other way.

She must dismiss any past emotions and possessions, no matter how strong, no matter how precious.

She goes back to the kitchen, reminding herself she’ll be there for the very last time. She grabs her favourite coffee mug and then lets go of the handle. The cup shatters into tiny pieces against the stone floor. “As my past life is ending,” she mumbles .

As she enters her room, her heart misses a beat. “Why does it feel so strange? It doesn’t seem like it’s my room anymore.” She stares blankly at her half-made bed, reflected on her wood-framed wall mirror.

Picking up her hairbrush, she pulls out some of her old hair. Looking in the mirror, she compares the golden strands she once had to her now silvery tresses.

She has the unnerving sensation that she is now an intruder in her room.

She throws the hairbrush on the floor and swiftly walks out of her room and into the backyard, running towards the stables while trying to dismiss her conflicting thoughts, Blazer following her everywhere.

She glances at the parked cars and helicopters waiting beyond the rear fence while their occupants, not daring to make a move, keenly stare at her through their binoculars.

She opens the large wooden stable doors, and her two horses immediately recognise her, kicking and neighing as she approaches them.

“Go, my dear friends, be free,” she says as she opens the fence gates, letting them run out into the open countryside, galloping past the baffled onlookers.

Once back inside the kitchen, she cannot contain her tears as Blazer is jumping at her, trying to lick her face. But she must move on.

As much as she tries, however, she can’t keep ignoring Blazer’s insistent gaze and sorrowful whining.

“Oh, my dear Blazer, how can I ever give you up?” Turning off her shield momentarily to be close to him, she picks him up from the floor and strokes his smooth hair and velvety ears, rubbing her fingers on his belly while Blazer happily licks her nose.

As she finds a brief moment of solace playing with her beloved dog, everyone outside is waiting for her next move. No one dares approach the farmhouse fence, even though they know the impenetrable dangerous barrier has reformed further back.

Sam is sitting next to Captain Walker, inside the police car, his parents and sister at the back.

“I suppose she’ll come out eventually, don’t you think?” Walker comments hesitantly.

“We have to wait. Don’t do anything silly like the Lobarts.” Sam stresses his words, turning around to face his parents. Then firmly staring at Walker, he adds, “From what I’ve seen so far, she has some powers far beyond what we can control or even understand.”

“What did she do? What did she tell you?” Walker asks while staring probingly at Sam.

“She wanted to say goodbye.” Sam tries to contain his quivering voice, so he changes the subject. “But she also said that she brings a message from the aliens—something like they are friendly, and they are ready to talk to us.”

“I don’t see anything friendly about her!” Stella quips.

“The aliens … eh?” Walker rolls his eyes in mockery.

“Come on, Walker, you have to start taking this very seriously. Look at what happened in the courtroom, and look at what has happened to the Lobarts. Right now, we’re all waiting here, at her mercy. She obviously has some powers we cannot yet understand,” Bill Sheppard interjects.

“Everything has an explanation, Mr Sheppard,” Walker replies, looking incisively at Sheppard. “But it must be a credible explanation.”

“She can fly her alien craft using telepathy,” Sam eagerly explains. “She can create electric fields … and control them with her thoughts. I could feel sparks all over my body when I tried to touch her.”

“As you seem to know her better than most, what do you suggest we do next?” Walker finally relents.

“We need to hear what she has to say first,” Sam suggests.

The captain’s face shows he remains hesitant.

“Ah! And she can listen to my thoughts … even control my actions,” Sam adds as the captain twists his mouth in a dismissive gesture.

Their conversation is suddenly interrupted by a knock on the windscreen.

Walker opens his door and jumps out of the car to greet an anxious Professor Khan, who has come to see him, accompanied by a group of ARA’s soldiers.

The heavily armed, uniformed men, stone-faced, take up their positions in front of the police line, their weapons at the ready.

“What is this? Ready to go to war?” Walker says with scorn while extending his hand to the professor.

“How’re you doing, Mr Walker?” Khan responds, ignoring the captain’s irony and not shaking his hand. “We’ve come to find out once and for all what is going on. We need to get that girl, Erin. ”

“I see. Easier said than done,” Walker replies in a sceptical tone, immensely annoying Khan.

“We have come prepared. The ARA’s Space Defence team is here, our specialist rescue robots are here, and General Stewart is leading the task force. We are ready!”

“Well, first things first. How are you going to get her out of there?” Walker says sarcastically, pointing at the farmhouse.

The large stone and steel building seems eerily quiet and uninhabited. An uncanny peace lingers on the front lawn as the sunset looms, the grass bending under a soft breeze. Behind the police cordon, the onlookers’ clatter sharply contrasts with the ghostly farm scene.

Several soldier units have arrived, displacing the people farther and taking positions close to the surrounding fence. Behind the police and soldier units, the world’s media have now managed to set up their broadcasting camps, while a large group of onlookers are still refusing to go home.

“We have to convince her to come out. Then we’ll surround her. Where is her friend?” Khan wonders, looking through the driver’s window.

But Sam, who has been listening through the partially open car windows, promptly gets out of the car, only to bump against the guards’ tight circle.

Khan walks towards him while shaking his head.

He puts one arm on Sam’s shoulders, trying to calm him down, but Sam backs off and tries in vain to run away again.

“Listen, boy, you’d better help. Or she will end up dead, dead!”

“You know what is dead, Professor Khan? Your plan, Professor Khan! You’ll never catch her. You’ll never succeed,” Sam firmly states.

“Let me tell you something, Sam. Mr and Mrs Lobart are now critically ill in hospital. Who’s going to be next? That girl, Erin, is a danger to us all—”

“The Lobarts brought it upon themselves. What about me? She has never harmed me,” Sam remarks.

“Because she is using you. Can’t you see that? She is using you,” Khan ripostes.

Sam’s expression changes from upset to confused.

Could it be that she is using me for some yet unknown lethal purpose?

He feels afraid. As he stares up at the sky, the buzzing sound of the surveying drones fills the air.

His mind is clouded with the frightening thought that Erin might not be his friend but, instead, his deadly enemy.

His vision blacks out, and he feels as if he’s about to faint. As he tumbles, his father’s arms hold him firm, preventing him from falling flat on the ground as Stella runs towards him, staring pitifully at him.

“Oh, my dear brother, what has she done to you?” She sighs while hugging him tightly.

“I am so confused,” Sam mumbles, “so confused.”

Stella keeps staring at him with a sympathetic, thoughtful gaze, trying to comfort him while stroking his cheeks.

Then, her face muscles twist into a sour grimace, as she can’t contain her resentment any longer.

“I knew it all the time. There was something odd about her. I never trusted her, never. But you, my dear, you were totally under her spell.”