Related by Sheridan, Twilit Majz of the 23rd Generation
 

Lora left in the infernal company of Pon and Zygon some months ago. 

What an idiot!

I had put them all out of my mind, forced the whole bizarre episode with Pon, Lora and Zygon into its proper place on my mental ‘just 3 blonde hairs shy of a complete waste of time’ shelf. I had better things to do, like helping Adana recover from her assault by Bot. Like helping her deal with her symbiosis with the Harr. Like falling in love with each other all over again.

As for Bot, he managed to escape one dark, stormy evening. He ran off wildly hooting something about how his native superiority had allowed him to prevail over the inferior creatures of Earth. 

Ooops! 

Somehow he managed to trip and tumble down the steep hill just outside our compound…the one that slopes suddenly, inexorably to the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. It’s a great place to watch the sunrise!

Yeah, he drowned or was beaten to death by waves pounding against implacable rock.

There’s a real poetry in that!

Anyway, someone retrieved his battered body, but I never bothered to find out exactly what aspect of his little misadventure killed him. All that mattered to me was that one big problem had just solved itself and there were only 6,342 more to go…6,342 human, normal, everyday kinds of problems that is.

Yes, life was really beginning to look up, to stabilize into a pattern worth living. Then the Beni showed up sans Zygon. Once the Morah stopped fighting the Beni off long enough to ask why Zygon wasn’t with them, they learned he had been hacked to bits by an infuriated mob on Rathe.

Well, about fricking time. Could a half-asleep sloth living the quiet life upside-down in the forests of Brazil have predicted that one? I know I did.

In spite of everything he had put them through, the Morah were broken all to bits by news of his death. They wailed for three long weeks, during which time Raynah was unable to establish any kind of interface with them. 

Needless to say all our work involving the Portal came crashing to a halt. We have 16 different projects going on with people scattered through 6 different times to monitor. Luckily no one died while the Morah cried. It seems they were mourning the loss of Zygon’s memories. Once they got a handle on their disappointment, they proceeded to re-establish their symbiosis with the Beni. We got some work done then, made sure our people were safe, and to be honest, made use of the Portal’s enhanced range, now that the Beni and their power were on board. At this point Raynah learned that Pon had met his utterly predictable end as well – something about torture and beheading. 

Somewhere on Rathe is a big jar with his lifeless head floating in it. I understand three of Zygon’s tentacles, dreadlocks, or whatever they are called float in a similar jar.

Well, okay! Two headaches taken care of once and for all, that’s what I say. I haven’t a tear or faintly bruised neuron to spare for either one of them. They were way more trouble than they were worth!

All Zygon’s idealism about affecting Universal sentience like mold spreading irrevocably made me laugh at the time he spouted that nonsense!  The fact that he and Pon are both molding in jars on Rathe makes me laugh even harder. 

Sadly enough, though carved up like a holiday ham, Zygon is having the last laugh.

The Beni have returned. Their mold has overrun the Morah. The Morah and their mold have spread to Raynah like an infection. Raynah can’t stay out of the Harrs’ electromagnetic mind-mold and hell, here I am recording my mold into Raynah tonight.

Where is a good dose of fungicide when it would do some real good? 

I don’t know. All I know is that once the Morah calmed down and started to communicate properly, Raynah found out Lora is alive and well and stranded on Rathe in the middle of a full-blown, all-out civil war. Once zie found that out, everyone in interface with zir found out too, notably Kora, the Harr, and Adana. 

The Harr were triumphant. They have always predicted the Iglendas would come to a bad end. Like the rest of us, they love to be right. They love to be right so much they are tickled pink (or is that flame-on orange), vindicated by the reality of dead Iglendas piling up right and left. That knowledge doesn’t thrill or appall me. It leaves me feeling helpless, confused, and oddly enough, filled with pity.

Anyway, now the mold of Lora and her predicament is in my brain…and it’s spreading out of control.

Dammit. We have to go and fetch her. We can’t just leave a 4th generation interstellar human noob to fend for herself in the middle of a bunch of 12 foot alien lunatics hell-bent on perpetual, suicidal vengeance, can we?
 
 

to be continued...
 
 

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The Dark Side of Love series ©2006-2007 by TDunyati-Long (TDHawkes)