More Than a Star Traveler

Chapter One

We have to go. Chap put one paw on Francesca Durand’s shoulder and connected his thoughts with her dream world, projecting the scene of a fire.

Mostly still asleep, Chessie stumbled out of bed and pulled on a shirt and jeans. Her hooded sweatshirt sprawled across the overstuffed chair beside the fireplace, looking as exhausted as Chessie felt when she tossed it there before falling into bed. Her running shoes lay criss-crossed on the hand-made rag rug where she sat to slip them on.

Then, with a hand on Chap’s furry head, she touched the merkaba necklace encircling her neck to transport herself and her collie to the nearby small town of Mystic in Oregon’s coastal foothills.

When they arrived, Chap ran toward the wooden clapboard house, in spite of flames visible through the windows and smoke seeping out the eaves.

Chap! Stop! Chessie dropped to her knees as her collie pushed open the side door and disappeared inside. She felt the intensity of the blaze as it singed his fur. Struggled to breathe as smoke filled his lungs.

Suddenly, she was eight years old again, standing beside the crooked wooden cross that marked Chap’s grave. Tears tracked down her cheeks as anger at her grandfather blazed through her belly. He could have paid for the surgery to keep Chap alive after he was hit by a car saving a young boy’s life. But Alston refused.

You were a mean old man, Chessie whispered.

Never again, my beloved granddaughter. As Alston’s voice whispered in her mind, Chessie drew a deep breath into her lungs and the burning against her skin cooled as the night air caressed her arms.

Inside the burning building, Chap hunkered low to the floor, moving in a serpentine path around smoldering furniture and chunks of burning papers and melting movie cases toward the bedrooms.

Use your angelic powers. Alston’s image shimmered amid the flames in front of Chap. You are not limited by your physical body.

Chap closed his eyes, envisioning a glass-like tunnel impervious to the fire and heat, leading to the doorway of the bedroom where a child lay, still clutching a mewling gray and white kitten in his arms.

Chap grabbed the boy’s pants leg in his teeth and tugged, inching his way backward through the tunnel and toward the door, dragging the semi-conscious boy and the kitten.

Finally, Chap stumbled across the threshold and into the night, backlit by the flames of the fire, and was instantly soaked with the spray of water from the firefighters’ hoses.

Omigod! Omigod! Brecken! The mother’s water-drenched hair clung in flame-tinted strands against the pallor of her face as she fell to her knees beside her child. He was right beside me a minute ago!

~ * ~

As the firefighters turned their attention to the child, Chap staggered onto the lawn of a nearby house and collapsed at Chessie’s side, where she had been banished by law enforcement controlling onlookers at the scene.

Chessie touched the necklace of triangles amid a circle around her neck and envisioned her suite of rooms at the farm, as she always did when commanding the merkaba necklace to take them home. But when she opened her eyes, she still knelt beside Chap on the lawn of a house near the fire.

Shivering now in the chill of the autumn air, Chessie once again touched the merkaba and envisioned her home. Nothing. A third time and still no response from the merkaba. Baffled, she cried out, You’re not going to die on me again, Chap. Come on, dammit!

Here, let’s wrap him in this and I’ll hook up an oxygen mask.

Through tear-filled eyes, Chessie watched the blurred shape lift Chap gently into the burn sheet to cool his furry body, then held an oxygen mask over the dog’s nose.

Chap immediately sneezed and shook his head.

Good job, boy.

As Chap struggled to get up, the man placed a gentle hand on him to rub the dog. Just lay there a minute and relax, my friend.

With a swipe of her sleeve across her eyes, Chessie looked at the man to thank him—and realized it was Doug Burkhart, who Chap had died saving when Doug was a little boy.

Now an adult, Doug wore the uniform of a deputy sheriff, smudged with soot from the fire and stained with water from the hoses. He stared at her with narrowed eyes. Heard you got another collie.

Momentarily speechless, Chessie wasn’t sure how to explain in fifty words or less how this wasn’t another collie, but Chap come back from the Other Side. And you saved him.

Doesn’t make up for causing Chap’s death some twenty years ago.

But it does. He saved you and now you saved him. The debt is paid.

Standing up, sadness filled Doug’s eyes. Don’t try to give me an easy out.

As he walked away, Chessie pulled out her cell phone and called her best friend, Kiki. If the merkaba wouldn’t transport her and Chap, they would just have to get home the old-fashioned way–riding in a car.

Fortunately, the farm wasn’t far away, and soon the warm, caring arms of her best friend enfolded Chessie in a tight hug. We were so worried when we got your call.

For a moment, Chessie relaxed into Kiki’s embrace. When she opened her eyes, she also saw her grandmother, Maeve, in jeans and a plaid shirt, trying to be a normal woman in this rural community. In her mind, Maeve would always be the mysterious shaman with a healing touch who showed up on the farm several months ago and spent the summer introducing Chessie to the mystical ways of their Irish ancestors.

Your mother’s best apron would be in a wad if she knew what you were doing. With one eyebrow slightly raised, Maeve surveyed the scene around her.

Firefighters were making steady progress knocking down the house fire with a barrage of streaming water that sizzled and turned to steam as it tangled with the flames. The smell of sodden and charred wood was beginning to replace the heavy smoke that had so recently hung on the air.

The truth of her grandmother’s statement made Chessie catch her breath. The agreement that allowed Chap to come back to Earth Three and keep his powers as an angel was he and Chessie would go on assignments to help those in need.

Though some assignments, like this one, terrified her for Chap’s safety, she was so very proud of her collie. The satisfaction of seeing a boy and his kitten rescued was the kind of heart-warming news Chessie usually shared with her mother. However, knowing Marlise would indeed lose sleep worrying, Chessie kept these assignments to herself. Her mother had been hurt so much, but always had a hug and words of encouragement. The least she could do was protect her mother from more stress and worry.

The fire investigators will have questions for you. Doug Burkhart had returned, his formal tone of voice brought Chessie back to the current situation.

We’ll be at the farm. You know that address, don’t you?

Doug nodded as he jotted something in his notebook.

You might also want my phone number. Kiki gave him the number. In case you have questions. About anything.

A reddish tinge flushed Doug’s face as he brushed at the soot on the sleeve of his uniform. Th-thank you, ladies.

He was blushing, Kiki whispered to Chessie.

Just the glow from the fire. As adrenaline waned, exhaustion filled Chessie. I’m more than ready to go home.

In the car on the way back to the farm, Chessie crawled into the back seat and cuddled with Chap, while Kiki chattered to Maeve about the cute deputy.

Was I selfish in wanting you to return to the physical world? Chessie telepathically asked Chap. I didn’t think about the cost to you. I only thought about what I wanted. Of how much I missed you.

This was my choice too, Chap replied. It’s just taking me some time to figure out how to use my angelic powers within the limitations of a physical body. It will get better.

The merkaba didn’t work either. I thought I was powering the necklace and helping by transporting us to the fire, but it wouldn’t take us home.

We’ll figure this out. Chap nuzzled Chessie’s face and settled deeper into her arms.

But Chessie wasn’t so sure. If Chap’s angelic powers weren’t as strong as before and the merkaba stopped working, what would prevent him from dying again? Especially if all his missions were as dangerous as running into a burning building to rescue a child.

~ * ~

Remember these coordinates. They will bring you back to this stargate here at the farm. Peter Stravel stared at RT, a teenager who had accidentally fallen into the stargate and was now hooked on the adventure of traveling the dimensions. Over the time he had been with Chessie’s family, his purple hair had grown out to a brownish-blond and was now trimmed short. However, his attitude of not considering consequences remained from his earlier life with a drug-addicted mother.

Peter, RT, and a half-grown, black and white pitbull named Zodiak, stood in front of a huge slab of rock about a hundred yards inside a cave on the farm. The slab closed off a stargate that allowed travel to other dimensions. Worlds different than life here on Earth Three.

Can’t I just write them down?

So you can lose the piece of paper or invite every evil demon back here? Peter reminded himself to be patient as the young man repeated the coordinates over and over until he could do so without stumbling or looking to Peter for a clue. Children in his home dimension were always obedient, not like so many of the out-of-control youngsters here on Earth Three.

Of course, potential parents on Earth Five were not allowed to procreate until they attended parenting school and passed rigorous physical and mental exams to prove their fitness as a parent. Rather like obtaining a college degree here on Earth Three, Peter imagined. After preparation, their names were placed on a list to await an opening in the population chart. Only when a citizen chose to transition was a new life allowed to be brought onto Earth Five to avoid overpopulation of the domed cities. Then the entire community would help raise the child, as Peter had been raised.

No child on Earth Five was abused or made to feel his only option to survive was to run away as RT had done to save his life and that of his beloved pitbulls; a female named Star who gave birth to four puppies last summer, including the half-grown male who followed RT everywhere.

Okay, got it. RT rattled off the coordinates with confidence and Peter nodded.

Now, take us to Celtic Zero.

The smug look on RT’s face dissolved into a few minutes of concentration. Zodiak woofed encouragement. Um, I’m not sure how. The stargate just sucked me in before and that’s where I ended up.

Did you bring your computer tablet?

RT dug the tablet out of his backpack and handed it to Peter.

I’m going to program the coordinates for Celtic Zero into your computer. I’ll also enter the coordinates for this stargate here on the farm.

Then why did you have me memorize the farm coordinates? RT scowled.

So you can always get home. What if your tablet is lost or stolen or destroyed?

RT shrugged in reluctant acknowledgement of Peter’s statement.

Rule number one of stargate travel is to always know where you are going. You got lucky when you were sucked into the stargate for your maiden voyage. You landed among a friendly hunting party. Could have easily been cannibals who would shrink your head and eat the rest of you for dinner.

I don’t scare that easy.

Think, RT, think. And be prepared.

Nobody cares what happens to me–

If you’re going to pull that attitude, we’ll stop stargate travel right now.

You can’t do that!

I can, and I will. You’re as close to heaven as you’re going to get in this dimension with Chessie and her family. They were terrified for you, and I could have landed in an ambush when I followed you through that stargate. We could have both died and devastated Chessie’s family–

Okay, okay, I get the message. RT set his jaw and turned away from Peter. Zodiak whined at him.

Do you, RT? Do you feel their love? Are you man enough to really let them into your heart?

RT’s eyes blazed when he whirled back to confront Peter. I’m a man. I’ve been through more than most adults.

Peter stared at him a moment, then opened his arms. Then give me a hug.

RT stepped back and looked at Peter warily.

With the lift of an eyebrow, Peter dared RT to do as he asked.

You-you’re just crazy. RT shook his head and turned away again.

What if takes more courage to love than to fight? Or to run away?

They were gonna kill Star. That’s why I ran.

This isn’t about Chessie and her family at all, is it? It’s about the hell-hole of a life you endured before you came here.

Yeah. RT closed his eyes as he hugged the dog, who put his paws on RT’s chest and licked his face. When Bennie gets out of jail and comes after my dogs, I can take them and escape through the stargate. He won’t ever find us.

And if he kills Chessie and her family because they won’t–and can’t–tell him where you are?

Chessie’s merkaba will protect her. And Grandfather Alston will intervene. And Marlise has her shotgun. They all have something to defend themselves.

They have each other, RT. And you’re one of the family now. I’m still a maybe family member, but they’ve fully accepted you. Could you really betray them?

RT’s deeply in-drawn breath echoed in a jagged sigh off the walls of the cave. I don’t know how to be part of a real family. You know, one that really cares what happens to me. People who would miss me if I died.

You get to learn. Peter handed the computer tablet back to RT. With each different destination we travel to, I’ll enter another set of coordinates in your computer and you can jot down your thoughts and whether you want to go back. Ready to go to Celtic Zero?

Yeah. Just one thing...

What’s that?

RT held out his arms and Peter embraced the younger man. We both have a lot to learn about this very interesting Earth Three family. Now, let’s go see your friend.

Zodiak woofed and wagged his tail as Peter and RT settled their backpacks over their shoulders.

With a nod, RT consulted the coordinates on his tablet and realized Peter had also programmed the computer to operate the stargate so he didn’t have to use his shield. A bit disappointed, RT hoisted the shield to take with him anyway. Kind of an oversized good luck charm.

~ * ~

When Peter, RT and Zodiak stepped out of the stargate, RT paused and leaned against the rock wall of the canyon that framed the stargate. I feel funny.

Peter looked at him. I should have explained the energetic vibration of your body will change to match the vibration in that dimension. This adjustment is part of the coordinates we use to access different dimensions. I’ve done so much travel through stargates I take it for granted. Simply rest for a few moments as you are doing and breathe deeply. Like getting your sea legs when you are on a boat. It won’t take long to adjust for a healthy, young man like you.

Why didn’t I feel this the last time I traveled here?

Your adrenaline was probably running so high from being sucked into the stargate and dumped in this dimension you didn’t notice the more subtle adjustment to your energies. Your body was in survival mode.

Makes sense. I think I can walk without staggering now. A few slow steps away, RT turned to look at the stargate. It looks like a circular entry to a garden. Where does the path on the other side lead to? Or is it just an illusion?

I haven’t done any exploring in this dimension. This is only my second visit here also. With the