Queen

Chapter 6

Queen- Chapter 6

Nanette was plunged into darkness. Scenery of lush forest materialized before her. It was like watching a movie, only she could smell the environment around her as well. Everything looked somehow sharper, clearer. The rest of her senses seemed enhanced as well. The earthy smell of the forest floor, the musical chatter of birds and insects. It was almost overwhelming, but at the same time intensely pleasurable.

She was moving, but realized not actually walking. She looked down and saw none of herself. No body, no feet, no hands to reach out and touch the beckoning leaves, but gliding along nonetheless.

As she floated on and around a cornered path she came to a very small clearing between a circle of trees. Sun shone through the hexagonal structure of nature, and she stood face upturned. She scanned the treetops, then realized she was floating upward. She floated in awe, enjoying the sensation. In the top of a distant tree, a pair of what she thought at first were huge, colorful fans materialized. "Like the kind the showgirls have in Vegas" she thought, "only without the feathers". Black and flaming orange fluttered toward her so quickly they were a blur. She realized as they grew closer they were in fact wings. Attached to these wings there was an insect, its body black with a substantial patch of white along its midsection. She realized the appearance of this magnificent creature ("being" she thought once again to herself) was not at all surprising to her. There was no shock, no awe, no terror, none of the emotions one would experience encountering something so utterly alien. It floated before her, resting on a neighboring branch. It's eyes were not those of an insect. They were human, only larger, roughly the shape of golf balls. They were also kaleidoscopic. Hues of blue, green, and violet flowed elegantly within her irises. The rest of her face was not that of a human, and Nanette realized she resembled a mantis. Her head tilted as that of a mantis, and her appendages also favored that of a mantis. Long, spindly legs perched upon the branch, then extended until she was standing to her full height. She must have been 6 feet tall with a wingspan of another six feet.

Feelings of amazement were finally bubbling up into the forefront of Nan's consciousness. "What are you?" She breathed the question rather than asking it.

"I don't know what you mean by this." the being whispered back, "I am. That is all I know. What are you?"

"I'm human, I know you know what humans are, you saw us when you were..." Nan's voice trailed off. She realized they could possibly be communicating in the past, before she had been captured. Assuming it was she who was in the lab now.

"I don't know humans. No matter, if we are communicating now it is because you have something to communicate to me. What is it you seek?"

"I have questions about your origins, your kind." Nanette proceeded cautiously. She did not want to frighten the being, she did not know what would happen if it were. "Are you the only one of your kind?"

"No, there were others. They have migrated to other ecosystems on your planet, in this place it is only I who remains here." She tilted her head inquisitively and moved closer to Nanette. Her movements were graceful and soundless. "What other questions do you have?"

"How are we communicating right now? How did I get here?" Nanette realized she was not speaking with the same entity who resided somewhere deep inside the prison of an ugly government building. "Where are we?"

"I am again unsure of what you are asking. We are here. We are not with the others whom I call brothers and sisters. My origin is that of the black star, it has no other name to us. We traveled a great distance to survey your planet. We are communicating through another of my kind, I sense through you she is dying. This is most likely why she sent you to me. We are communicating through her consciousness. She has answers to give you."

Nanette was beginning to understand. Not because of the direct answers she received but by virtue of the simple connection to her mind. "You are all female?"

"No, there are males. They cannot communicate with other entities as our females can." She paused, "You were sent by a Queen." Nanette knew there was heavy implications to this statement.

Nanette had a hundred more questions, yet she knew she would not ask them. She knew to know too much of these beings would mean their destruction, and she would absolutely not be the cause of that destruction. Inside her psyche she knew this would be like burning a miracle at the stake.

"We will part minds" the being whispered to her tenderly "I wish you well."

Before Nanette could reply, she was plummeting through space. She felt as if she were falling from a high building, the kind of falling one had in a dream right before they would jolt awake on the sofa during an afternoon nap. She came back to consciousness on the cold, white floor in the lab. A sense of despair overtook her, and she found herself sobbing before she could even open her eyes. The tragedy of what was happening somewhere in that building choked the breath from her. She felt as if the sun would disappear completely, leaving them in the cold, dark void of space they deserved. The nausea overcame her again, and this time she couldn't fight it. She crawled the three feet to the trash can and purged her last meal. What was it? Lunch? Breakfast? How long had she fucking been here?

As she hung with her arms wrapped around the back of the swivel chair at her station, she tried to catch her breath. She avoided looking at the trash bucket, the nausea hadn't left her and she knew the retching could commence at any time. She sat up a bit straighter, and doing so noticed her blood stained slacks. She had made a trail from where she lay initially to the end of the table when she crawled to the bucket. It was dark, indicating to her she had been lying there for some time. She looked at her watch before it could dawn on her that she couldn't remember what time it was when she lost consciousness anyway. She had no idea how long she'd been gone yet still here.

Lost in this puzzle that accompanied the despair growing inside her, she was startled when the door opened then slammed shut. It was overwhelmingly loud to her, and she winced at the pain it caused to hear it.

"Oh my God, Nanette! Help!" It was Sophie Merrill, they had been together since their postdocs to the promotion that followed. She was kind, and a good friend. "Help! Nan, can you hear me?" Nan could hear her. There was no way Nan could speak. Sophie fumbled with her watch as she dialed 911, Nanette heard the muffled, frantic conversation. She felt Sophie put her cheek to her chest and then speak to the projection again. "Please, please hurry! She's bleeding badly!" was the last thing Nanette heard before she drifted into darkness once again. This time, there was no magnificent celestial being to talk to.