Twinks in Space: Fantastic Voyage - Part Two - 30. Chapter 30 - Through the Forest

Alihte stuck her head into the Galaxy Surfer’s cockpit and declared to Stawren and Lyoth, “We need to go back.”

They did not understand.

“Back?” Stawren asked. “Not back to the Children, right? Did you forget something?”

Alihte looked serious. “My daughter.”

Lyoth and Stawren were startled by the revelation.

“What do you mean?” Lyoth asked gently.

Stawren was a bit more perturbed. “Your daughter?! You said you didn’t have any family! Do you mean daughter, as in your own real child and not just another of Mama’s so-called Children?”

Alihte nodded, and she began to cry. “Yes,” she confirmed, “I left my daughter so that I could escape the Entry of Ecstasy. Mama told us not to think of ourselves by the standard family titles. We weren’t supposed to use words like mother or father or parent or child for any of her Children.”

Stawren noticed Alihte left off the word goddess, and she was proud of her, but she was still angry. “Ugh, so many parents are terrible people. Explain yourself,” she demanded.

Lyoth handed Alihte a cloth to wipe her eyes.

She looked scared. Alihte had eaten a decent portion of food that Lyoth and Stawren had provided her once they were settled on the Galaxy Surfer, and she was feeling more clearheaded than she had in a long time. She did not like some of her thoughts.

“Mama really pressed upon us to only think of ourselves in terms of being hers. She taught that all of us Children under her were siblings of one another. I haven’t even thought of Nunta as my own child in years.” Alihte continued to cry.

“Wait,” Stawren interjected, “years? How long were you out there?”

“I arrived at the Entry of Ecstasy almost eight years ago.”

“And Nunta,” Lyoth added softly, “is that your daughter’s name?”

Alihte smiled through her tears. “Yes, my Nunta is my treasure. Or… she was before we joined Mama.” Alihte then added to herself in a frustrated voice, “And I’m the one who brought her there!”

Lyoth looked at Stawren. “What do you say? Are you up for a rescue mission?”

Stawren turned to Alihte and then back to Lyoth. “Alright, let’s go get Nunta. We should bring the ship down far away from Mama’s community.” She paused and asked Alihte, “You really don’t know her name? I hate calling her Mama, like I really loathe it.”

“No, I don’t know any other names she’s been called.”

Lyoth gave Stawren’s elbow a playful smack. “Why don’t we come up with a nickname for her? Something like the infection?”

Stawren laughed. “Yes, we need to do that!”

The Cometskipper dropped out of orbit above Jitha and landed in the darkness of the forest, but Stawren and Lyoth had still not come up with a replacement name for Mama. They discussed several options, including body parts, ailments, and animals. None stuck but several had been amusing, the Nostril, the Canker, the Verruca, the Leech.

Stawren disengaged the ship’s exterior door, and the trio exited.

“I’ve got a question,” Lyoth said to Alihte as they made their way through the trees.

“Yes?”

“What kind of evil stuff do Mama and the Children do?”

Alihte was confused. “We are doing divine work. We aren’t practicing any evils! We’re helping Mama as she cleanses the sins of the universe. There’s nothing evil going on.”

“And that may be what you believe,” Lyoth replied in a calm voice, “but many groups like yours have dark secrets underneath.”

Stawren understood Lyoth’s train of thought and followed along. “Yeah, are they like into punishment? Do people get beaten? Or is there weird sex stuff going on?”

Alihte was appalled. “We were all celibate!”

“Wait a second,” Lyoth replied. “You deny yourselves intimacy? I find it highly unlikely that everyone would stick to that rule.”

“No, no,” Alihte insisted a little too quickly, “none of us practice carnal desires. I mean, well…”

“Okay, so what about…” Stawren began, but Alihte interrupted her.

“We need to be quieter now,” she whispered. “We’re close to the edge of the Entry of Ecstasy.”

Lyoth leaned close to Stawren, “What if we call her Mama Dirt?”

She scrunched up her face and shook her head.

In the darkness through the trees, the trio could see a glow.

“They are building a banishment fire,” Alihte informed the other two under her breath, and she added, “for me.”

Lyoth held up a hand for them to stop. “Tell us what they’re doing so we know what we’re walking into, and where will your daughter be? How will we find her?”

Alihte sighed. “Only a few Children have ever left Mama, but their banishment was always similar. Once we realized someone had left our group, Mama was informed, and she would scream at all of us until the tronidra knocked her out, but not before we made a huge bonfire each time. She would blame us and require that we sacrifice our own possessions to the flames, anything connected to the person who left.” Alihte added in a voice full of sadness, “They’re doing that to me right now.”

“Will your daughter be at the fire?” Stawren asked.

“Yes, Nunta will be there. I’ll point her out to you, but how are we going to get her away from the group?”

Lyoth shook his head. “Don’t know yet. Stawren and I need to assess the situation before we decide on the best course of action.”

They crept the rest of the way to the edge of the clearing where the Children were dancing around the blazing fire. Some sang, while others whooped and hollered. Mama was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s your daughter?” Stawren whispered.

Alihte did not reply. She was staring intently at the group. Suddenly she pointed as a young woman in grey came leaping out from behind the flames. “That’s my Nunta.”

Lyoth and Stawren were confused.

“I thought you said she was eight years old,” Stawren hissed.

“What? No! She’s nineteen. We’ve been here since she was eleven.”

“Wait a second,” Lyoth said under his breath. “I thought we just needed to figure out how to get a little kid away; your daughter is an adult. This is going to be much more challenging. Does she even want to leave?”

Alihte knew the answer to his question, but she did not reply.

“She doesn’t, does she?” Stawren whispered.

Alihte remained silent.

“Godsdammit,” Lyoth mumbled. “Okay, can you tell us how long these events usually last?”

“All night.”

“Maybe we can snatch Nunta on her way to bed,” Stawren suggested. “Where does she sleep?”

“I’ll show you,” Alihte replied, and she began to lead them through the trees along the perimeter of the clearing where they were still hidden. A moment later she pointed. “That’s our sleeping building.”

“Alright, let’s keep an eye on it,” Lyoth said, “and when she eventually decides to call it a night, we’ll grab her.”

“How are we going to keep her from freaking out?” Stawren asked, but the answer came to her immediately, and she turned to Alihte. “What about those blood pills? Lyoth was seriously out of it.”

Alihte seemed to consider the idea. “There’s a good chance the Children will take some goutria blood pills later, especially since we’re not allowed to get drunk on tronidra, and goutria blood is the only thing we take that alters our mood.”

“Do you think she’ll take any?”

Alihte shrugged and said, “Probably, she’s a true believer in Mama goddess. Nunta is one of Mama’s premier acolytes.”

Lyoth frowned at Alihte. “So this isn’t a rescue mission; it’s a kidnapping.”

The three fell silent and waited in the darkness.