Palm Springs Eternal -- Part Five

Dahl and her friends slept in the downstairs of Lisa's house that night, on cots that Lisa and Mina had brought down from the attic. Once their guests were comfortably tucked in, Alec's family retired to their bedrooms upstairs. After the long day and late evening, everyone was very happy to get some much needed rest.

For Mium and Demi, however, it was another story. Usually, the two androids went into their dormant "stasis" modes while their companions slept, in order to recharge themselves. But the night that they spent in Lisa's house, the two androids were far too excited -- and anxious -- to rest.

They sat in front of the window of the downstairs room, staring out at the land, moons, and stars outside.

"Two moons," Mium said. "Just like old Palm."

Demi nodded. "This has been quite a trip for you, hasn't it Mium?"

"Hmmm? Well, it's been pretty...exciting for all of us. Why do you single me out?"

"Because since we came to New Palm, things have kept happening which must have an especially great impact on you. Leneopolis is a virtual carbon copy of a pre-Collapse Palman city, just like the one you lived in. Even the tree in Key's lobby was like the trees you remember. Then we come here, to Landian territory, and we find that not only are you not the last Mieu left alive, but your kind are practically regarded as saints here. Your head must be positively spinning."

Mium smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's so strange, Demi. My life, I mean. How many experiences can one person have? Androids are designed to live a long time. But don't you sometimes feel like there's a point where you lived too long, and the world has become too different for you to go on living in it?"

Demi put an arm around Mium's neck. "I know what you're going through," she said. "I'll never forget the day that Rika Ashley died. She was the last of my friends from the great adventure, where Wren, Rika, myself and others banded together to destroy the Profound Darkness. And Rika was very old when she died. Even her son was an old man by then, sweet thing that he was. But when Rika passed away, I felt like my last hold on the world I knew had slipped away. The way I looked at it, my life had never truly happened until the lunatic Zio kidnapped me. Until that point, I was just an automaton in the wreck of Mother Brain's machine. But because of what Zio did, I met Rika and the others, and my life started in earnest. And when Rika died, I saw all that I'd gained slipping away."

"How did you handle it?" Mium asked.

"I met new people. I realize it might sound cold, Mium, but it's not. I still love Rika, and Chaz, and all of the wonderful friends I've known over my long life. But I realized that just because my first set of friends had left didn't mean I couldn't make new ones. And my new friends were always a part of the 'new world.' They kept me in touch with what Algo had become. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

Mium nodded. "I understand."

Demi gave Mium a hug. "I know it must be especially hard for you. You were...away for so long. Everything changed in your absence. But you'll become a part of this world, Mium. Just as you've become a part of our little family."

Mium gave Demi a squeeze. "Thanks...kid."

Demi laughed. "You're very welcome."

It wasn't long after that the sun began to rise and Lisa came tip-toeing down the steps. Demi and Mium were still at the window. They turned to look at Lisa when they heard her footsteps, and they were surprised to see her dressed in light but complete battle armor, with a plain sword at her side. Her finger was pressed against her lips. The androids understood and sat still. They didn't say a word until Lisa had made her way over to them.

"What's going on?" Demi asked.

"My father doesn't understand the severity of the situation," Lisa whispered. "You think this person you are seeking has come to awaken the sleeping demon. If that is so then he must be stopped immediately. Papa thinks it is best to leave the old town alone. But how can we do that if there is a risk that someone is trying to free the demon?"

"Lisa, what are you saying?" asked Mium.

"I'm going to lead you to the old town," the girl said. "I know the way there. I passed by it once while Papa and I were taking supplies to a town touched by famine. Papa pointed it out to me."

"Are you sure you can lead us back there?" Demi asked.

Lisa nodded. "I'm sure."

"Where did you get that armor?" Mium asked.

Lisa was silent for a moment. "I'll explain that later."

Behind them, Dahl stirred and awakened. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Dahl, get up," Lisa told her. "And awaken your friends. We've only got a few minutes before Papa gets up."

Less than ten minutes later, Mina came down the stairs in her robe. She was confused when she saw the row of empty cots.

"Lisa!" she called. "Lisa, can you come down here?"

No reply.

Mina walked over to the foot of the stairs. "Lisa!"

Still nothing.

Mina looked all about the room, and she noticed a piece of paper lying on the table. She picked it up and read it.

Mina fell into a chair and squeezed the edge of the table until her knuckles turned white. "Alec!" she called, between her sobs. "Alec, hurry! There's something I have to show you..."

Demi and Mium drove the landrover at Lisa's direction, and Lisa guided them onward using crags, trees, and even little stones as her signposts. They traveled northwest, through a dead forest, a dry riverbed, a small canyon, and several bogs. It was a largely uneventful trip. The scenery was unpleasant and the only animals about were tiny rodents and a few thin birds. Everyone noticed that the farther west they traveled the darker and more green the sky became.

For most of the day they traveled, never stopping and hardly speaking, fearful that they would find Dark Force waiting for them in the old city. Though none dared give voice to their doubts, all of them wondered if they had what it would take to best Dark Force this time around. That is, all wondered except for Lisa, who was kept ignorant of the target's true identity. No one was sure that the girl could even understand what Dark Force was. And if she could, there was no need to terrify her needlessly.

Azur, tired and sore after her lackluster night's sleep, lay in the back of the rover and tried to rest. On more than one occasion she considered asking Lisa if she knew what the creature back at the mountain pass had been. But each time Azur's aching joints and weariness distracted her, and she failed to ask.

Still the Elsydeon was strapped to Demi's back. And it was glowing then, but very dimly. And in the ample light of the sun Beta 6-7-9, no one noticed.

As afternoon passed on into evening, the rover came face to face with a cliff so sheer it was nearly impassable.

"It's up there," Lisa said. "The ship that brought my people to this planet landed atop this plateau. And it was up there that the people built their city."

"This is just lovely," Dahl said. "Are you telling me we're going to have to climb?"

"If memory serves, the other side of the plateau has a gentler slope than this side does. But we will have to leave the vehicle at the cliff's base, yes."

"Very well," Demi said. "Let's get this over with." The androids drove the car around to the opposite side, where a shabby semblance of a staircase had been hewn into the side of the mountain.

And so they climbed.

At the front was Lisa, guiding her companions onward. All but Mium struggled to keep up with her as they leaped across gaps and balanced on ledges. Stones gave way beneath their feet, but still they were there to catch each other before they fell. Demi, who had led them always, brought up the rear.

Lisa began to hum and sing to herself as she danced across the rocks that she knew so well. Her upbringing in the bad lands had obviously taught her well. Her footwork on the cliff side would have left a Numan acrobat aching with jealousy.

She smiled and sang, "For Alis, a palace; for Noah, a cave--"

As soon as she heard the words, Mium jumped and stopped Lisa by gently, but tightly, grabbing the girl's wrist.

"Lisa..." she said, slowly, carefully. "What was that you just said?"

Lisa froze at the android's touch and merely stared into Mium's eyes for a moment. Mium remembered the reverence Lisa's family showed at the very sight of a Mieu; Mium knew the girl must be afraid she'd displeased one of Sister's "special ones." Lisa's brow was furrowed when she asked, simply, "What is it?"

Mium brought her face closer to Lisa's. "What was that you were just singing? Lisa, please, this might be important."

Dahl, followed by Azur and then Erol, then Elm and lastly Demi, managed to catch up with Lisa and Mium. Dahl saw Mium holding Lisa's wrist and asked, "Hey, what's going on here?"

Mium shook her head. "Something Lisa just said... Lisa, please repeat it."

Lisa, still staring at Mium, shrugged. "Okay. I said, 'For Alis, a palace; for Noah, a cave--'"

"For Odin, the kitten; for Lassic, the grave," Mium said, completing the rhyme.

Lisa laughed and clapped her hands. "Yes, that's it! How in the world do you know it?"

"No," Mium said. All humor was gone from her voice. "The question is, how do you know it?"

Azur's eyes grew wide. "My God..."

Lisa laughed, a little nervously, and she looked from one of her companions to another. "What? What is it? I don't understand... Everybody knows that little rhyme."

"Do they?" Azur asked. "Lisa, that's a nursery rhyme from somewhere around AW 300. That makes it almost four thousand years old. How could you possibly have known it? The only reason Mium and I know that rhyme is because our field of study is the Alisian era."

Demi cocked her head to one side. "And while you're at it," she said, "Could you now explain to us how it was that you came by that armor?"

Everyone looked at Lisa. Lisa took a half step backwards and looked at the others again. Slowly, hesitantly, she said, "I...don't know. About the rhyme, I-- I guess... I guess I just thought that everyone knew it."

"Well, where did you first hear it?" Dahl asked.

Lisa thought for a moment, her eyes searching the ground as if for a lost thimble. But before long she had to look up into Dahl's eyes and say, "I'm...I'm sorry. I just don't remember."

The others looked to each other. Demi said, "And what of the armor?"

"All right, I'll tell you about that. I didn't want to say anything at the house because I feared my parents would be overhearing me. But now let me tell you what I told Dahl last night, about what happened to me." Lisa then told the others all about her disappearance, and how she was eventually rediscovered.

"But how did you come by the armor?" Mium asked.

"I had it here, first. It's my only memory from the time before Seamus discovered me at the Castle. I remember walking around in this armor, right up there, in the old city. And I remember wearing it as I walked to the Castle. I hid it under a boulder there when I heard some people coming. I hid from the people, not knowing what they were, but one of the people had heard me scurrying around in the shadows. So they sent Seamus out the next day to see if he could find anyone lurking in the Castle. And he found me. After I was reunited with Mama and Papa I went back to the Castle to retrieve the armor, but-- I don't know where I got it to begin with. I must have found it in the old city while I was wandering around for all those years."

Erol raised an eyebrow. "Quite a story."

"Please, please believe me!" Lisa cried. "I do not mean to deceive you!"

Dahl walked up a couple more steps and stood next to Lisa. "Come on, guys," she said. "As Lisa mentioned, I spoke with her about this last night. She's telling us the truth. I can feel it."

Mium's words rang in Demi's head.

"But we trusted Favia, too."

But when Demi looked up into the tearing eyes of Lisa, she made herself dismiss her suspicions.

"Look, I'm sorry I asked about the armor," Demi said. "I had no idea that you had such a complicated past. Perhaps we can all help you to sort things out. But right now, we have other business to take care of."

Lisa nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. "You're right. Let's keep going."

And so they did, higher and higher.

Halfway up, the plateau split into two branches. The mountain had one base, but two peaks. For a moment Lisa had to think about which way they should go, but quickly she decided to head right, and so they did.

As it turned out, the road off to the left reached its destination faster, as the tabletop it led to was lower than the one the old city occupied. At one point Lisa stopped walking and pointed off into the distance, towards the other plateau. Mium and the others looked to where she was pointing, and they were astonished by what they saw.

There was a massive sphere on the upland plain, its lower half made of metal and the upper half of glass. The glass was cracked and shattered in several places, but enough of it remained to give the onlookers a sense of its massiveness, its majesty. The sphere was hundreds upon hundreds of meters tall, and the ruins of immense engines were still visible at its base. Low clouds filled the upper portion of the skyward dome.

"My God..." Mium whispered. "It's the Neo Palm." They all stood and stared at the one dome-world for a very long time. The elephantine condors that swooped and soared around it looked like specks of pepper in comparison.

It wasn't much longer before Lisa's boots passed over the edge of the plateau and set down upon level ground. As her companions lined up behind her, Lisa climbed up on an old tree stump and surveyed the surrounding flatlands.

She could see that the ruins of the old city were not far ahead, but details were obscured by the thick fog that covered the area. Lisa could see a few humble buildings, perhaps a church spire, and a crumbling structure with ramparts on the top. The place was utterly dead. Looking upon the old city was like looking at the corpse of a town.

"So this is it," Dahl said. "How pleasant."

"Even Tiro's tent looks cozy compared to this hole," Elm muttered.

"Everyone, prepare yourselves," Demi said. "There's no telling who -- or what -- we might find up here."

Dahl, Azur, Erol, and Elm all pulled out their sonic guns. Mium readied her claws. Demi charged up her photon eraser. And Lisa unsheathed her small sword.

"That is a beautiful weapon you have there, Demi," Lisa said, pointing with her sword to the Elsydeon on Demi's back. "Don't you ever use it?"

Demi stammered, not knowing how or even if she should explain. Remembering the look in the Bishop's eyes when he gave Demi the weapon convinced her to be honest, so she said, "No, Lisa, I don't. This sword is not for me."

Lisa nodded, but clearly did not comprehend.

The party stepped forward into the fog side by side and back to back, a compact and highly effective unit. Demi led them and Mium watched their backs, just as they had done when they barged in on Dark Force in his Dezorian den.

The town was not at all what Dahl and the others had expected. After seeing Leneopolis and hearing the spot referred to by the Landians as a "city," they had expected something grand and even intimidating. Instead what they saw was a collection of sad, ramshackle houses, similar in design to Lisa's but built far less sturdily. All of the buildings were alike: two stories tall, box-like design, triangular sloping roof. All of them were as brown and dry as old clay. At the far end of the town was a ruined fortress with a single flag pole. And in the town square was a black fountain that housed a breathtaking statue.

"What a beautiful fountain," Azur said.

"Yes, and that woman is Alis," Dahl added.

"Lisa, do you know what, if anything, is in these buildings?" Demi asked.

Lisa looked to each of the structures and was clearly in deep concentration. But she ended up shaking her head and saying, "I'm sorry, Demi. I just can't remember."

"Then I recommend we start with that little fortress," Demi told them. "There, at the end of town. Come on. Let's go."

They crept towards it slowly, sticking as close together as they possibly could. The slightest sounds set the Algoians off, but Lisa, remarkably, seemed totally calm. Not even a loud crash caused by a bird landing on a broken fence startled her.

They entered the courtyard between the fortress and the wall that surrounded it. The fog was very thick all around them, and the inside of the fortress was very dark. The only light within came from occasional holes in the fort's roof.

"He might really be down there," Demi said. "Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded, solemnly, except for Lisa.

"Who is this person, anyway?" she asked. "Why are the likes of you so afraid of him?"

Demi sighed. "Lisa, forgive me for not explaining this to you earlier. It is no man we seek, but a creature. He is a wicked and ancient demon. We don't know why he's come to this planet, but the Landian story about the monster sealed here is our best lead, as freeing that demon is exactly the sort of thing our 'friend' would like to do. If he's down there, you have everything to fear. Legend has it that this being can even turn your own doubts and worries against you. But what you must remember is that all of us, together, can destroy him." With one hand Demi reached onto her back and held the Elsydeon aloft.

"Lisa," Demi said, "this sword is Elsydeon. It is the holy blade Alis Landale and countless other heroes used to defeat the very demon we are about to face. We are assured of our victory if we have this weapon with us. Are you ready? Do you think you can handle it?"

Lisa took a deep breath, and nodded. "Yes."

Demi put the Elsydeon back in its sheath. "Then let's do it."

The halls within the fortress were narrow, and they had to walk single file. Demi, Dahl, Erol, Azur, Elm, Lisa, and then Mium. They walked in complete silence. Only the cobwebs got in their way.

The walls and floors were all gray and cold. After following a few gray winding hallways and ending up at a few gray dead ends, the party discovered a gray staircase and made their way down. At the bottom of the staircase there was a long gray hallway lit only by torches. The end of the hall could not be seen.

"Someone lit these torches just recently," Dahl whispered. "Look, they've hardly had time to burn at all."

They kept walking, slowly, slowly, slowly. After what seemed an eternity a door became visible at the other end of the passage. They kept walking, and walking, and walking. There was total silence.

Until Lisa screamed.

It was over nearly as soon as it began. One moment, Lisa was between Elm and Mium. And the next second, she was gone, swallowed by a trap door that was slammed shut almost as soon as it was opened.

"Lisa!" Mium cried. She knelt down by where she thought the trap door had been, and she pounded on the floor over and over again. But the opening had concealed itself too well.

"We'll find her," Demi said. "But it won't do us any good to just stand around here. Come on. We've got to keep moving." As Demi spoke she reached the door at the hall's end. She had just started to turn the knob when the door suddenly flew open, seemingly of its own accord.

And from the other side of the door, a deformed but familiar face stared back at the startled Demi, licking its wounded hand.

When Lisa opened her eyes she was in total darkness. She could hear nothing except for the pounding of a beating heart. She felt around, but her sword was gone. Lisa's immediate instinct was to back against the wall, but she had no idea where the wall was. And she dared not move around in the dark for fear of running into whatever it was that had such a furiously loud heart pounding and pounding and pounding.

All she could manage to do was croak out a nearly inaudible "Hello?"

There was no response.

As Lisa trembled in the darkness her eyes adjusted somewhat, and she was able to detect a row of yellow lights only an arm's length away from her. The lights were very faint, but something about them seemed familiar. What was it about them? The hue? The placement? The configuration?

She couldn't remember. Damn, damn, this worthless memory! Lisa cried out in her mind. What good is a life if you can't remember any of it?

Having no idea what to do next, she reached out and touched the area where the lights were. Her hand met cold, flat, smooth metal. It felt like a sword, but when Lisa reached out further the metal went on and on. It wasn't narrow and finite, like a sword's blade. The metal went on forever, and there was something wicked and wonderful about it. Why did the metal make her smile?

As Lisa stood and then fell atop the metal the beating heart got louder and louder. She was no longer sensing fear in the sound; no, it was excitement! And Lisa realized that the sound was only within her own ears. She was hearing her own life blood's beating. Lisa cried out, a mindless, primal sound, and she listened to how the acoustics of the room amplified the noise and made it echo over and over again.

"Mama?" Lisa asked, smiling but in tears. "Mama, is that you?" She crawled forward, further across the metal, and felt herself slip down into a recess in the smooth surface. She curled up as comfortably inside it as a child lying down for an afternoon nap. She scarcely noticed when the opaque glass cover slid over her body, trapping her inside.

And Lisa, quite contentedly, began to dream.

To Be Continued...