The Plane’s Children – Chapter Ten – Emersli1

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In the end, Tony had to follow Alone back through the Void.

They’d work on that, when they had time.  Now … now they were headed to Little Rock, Arkansas to find Jason Ramsey.  And what they were sadly certain would be the body of his long-time guide and wife Velma Travers.  The couple had been together for nearly forty years, raising a family and recently retiring to dote on their grandchildren. 

The S/G Center in Little Rock had been notified, and were keeping a close eye out for anything in advance of the team’s arrival.  Seeker was apparently a walrus in their otherself, and there weren’t a whole lot of walruses in Arkansas so hopefully they’d have something by the time they landed.

Mick Brandon was looking into abandoned properties with siloes, but in central Arkansas those were sadly a dime a dozen.  Nonetheless, he kept to it doggedly, determined to do his best to help his team.

Steven Ramsey met them when they landed.

As the Ramsey’s oldest son, he might have been there anyway.  But Steven was the director for the Little Rock S/G Center.  There was no way to shield him from the investigation.

“Do you know anything?”  Blair was quick to jump into conversation as soon as they were all in the S/G vehicle headed to the center.

“No.  I’ve read the case file for the Vernon/Caulfield situation.  I’ve had our guides searching for Dad, but if he’s in a shielded room like Caulfield was … well, it’s a long shot at best.  We’ve been scrolling the newsfeeds for reports of walruses or unidentified bodies.  Nothing yet.”  Steven looked at them intently.  “Now, what do you know that isn’t in the file?”

Tony and Blair looked at each other. 

“Before I answer that, how many people do you see in this car?  Not counting you and the driver.”

Ramsey looked at them as though they were crazy.  “Seven.  There are seven of you.”

Nodding, Tony took over.  “OK.  That seventh person you’re seeing?  The one you weren’t introduced to in the airport?  This is my spiritmate, Alone.  What you would incorrectly term a spirit animal.  And you weren’t introduced because we never can tell how well sentinels can see them.”

“What?”  Now Ramsey looked spooked.  “I didn’t know spirit animals could take human form.”

“OK, first of all…”  Blair bulldozed into the conversation.  “Our spirits that come to us … they’re not animals.  They’re people.  They call themselves the children of the Plane, and they originate and live most of their lives on the upper plane.  When their spiritmate is born on the lower plane, they assume what they call their otherself so that they can join us here.  Alone has never assumed an otherself, we think because they needed to be able to speak with Tony.”

Alone took up the conversation on their own behalf.  “The first victim was the one we called Flicker.  They returned to the Plane savaged physically, which shouldn’t be able to happen.  They unbecame.  I was sent to work with my spiritmate Tony to find answers to how this could happen.  And to stop it if I could.  Flicker was Amalda Vernon’s spiritmate.”

Steven took a deep, pained breath.  “That’s how you know Mom’s gone, isn’t it?  Mom’s … spiritmate … went back to the Plane hurt and died, right?”

Alone shook their head slightly.  “They unbecame.  They are one with the Plane again.  But your mother … you’re not meant to live without your spiritmates.  When you die, we return to the Plane to wait for your rebirth.  We have never unbecome in this fashion before.  Through violence done to us.  So we only have one case to judge by, but …”

Swallowing quickly the man nodded.  “I understand.  But …  Matthew Caulfield is still alive?  Dad might still be alive?”

Jim spoke up this time.   “We think so.  But he and your mom were together a long time.  And you know sentinels … we don’t do so well without our guides.”

Steven nodded, looking out the window at the Center as they pulled up in front.  “We have everything ready for you, as you requested.  And any other help you need.  Just ask.  I’ll be staying at the Center until we find them, so just ask for me.”

Climbing out of the vehicle, the investigative team moved into the building.

Hopefully they would know something soon, but in the meantime … there were whiteboards to set up and basic searches to run.  Things that would matter.

But first, they needed to find Jason Ramsey.

A report finally came from a park ranger at Pinnacle Mountain State Park.

He had been making his usual rounds and been dumbfounded to find a walrus in his path.

“I thought it was a bear at first.  It’s so big and dark.  But those tusks … yeah, so.  Not a bear.  I was afraid people were going to think I was drunk or out of my head, but I had to report it.  That’s why I called the zoo.  I honestly didn’t know what else to do about a … walrus.”

“Don’t worry about it.  But maybe be on the lookout for … , well, we think there should probably be a dead body somewhere.  We just haven’t found it yet.”  Blair tried to blend tact for Ramsey with information for the ranger.

“What?  You think the walrus killed someone?  They don’t eat meat, do they?”  Now the guy looked completely freaked out.

Brandon could see Tony was a hairsbreadth from coming apart at the seams, so he jumped in to defuse the situation.  “Well, walruses are pinnipeds so yes, they eat meat.  Mostly fish and seals.  But this isn’t a walrus from the physical plane.  It’s a spiritmate.  So it’s not hunting or eating anything.”

“A spirit?  You mean like a ghost?  Why would the ghost of a walrus be haunting an abandoned ranger station in central Arkansas of all places?”  Now the man just looked confused.

“Because their sentinel is welded into a room in that station, and they want to make sure we can find him.”  Bethany Parker was fed up with the man.  Honestly.  You’d think he’d never had anything unexplained happen in these woods.  She grew up in these parts.  You didn’t spend time in the Ouachitas and not meet something unexplained.

“Oh.”  The man apparently got the message he was pissing off the sentinels and subsided into silence.

Tony shot Parker and Brandon grateful looks.  So did Steve Ramsey, who had insisted on coming along.

Having to hike the last six miles was just the cherry on the sundae, but eventually after much climbing through dense underbrush, they came to the small clearing with a decrepit ranger mid-station almost out of sight under the trees.

Of course, the walrus was front and center, letting out a tremendous bellow when they came into view.

Alone and Tony approached together, Alone reaching out.  “Seeker, we are here now.  Just as we promised.  You can rest.  We will care for your spiritmate.”

The walrus just gave them a pointed look and moved away from the door, remaining visible … at least to the sentinels and guides in the party.  Alone quickly drew some psionic energy down for the tired spirit, giving them an exasperated look as they did so.  Stubborn youngsters!

The party breached the door to the old station, built to shelter rangers overnight at the midpoint of the rounds in the park, and were unsurprised to see the modifications.  Two small rooms built into the walls.  One door open, an empty gallon bottle of water on the floor.

The other door closed and welded shut.

This time they’d brought their own blowtorch and protective gear, so Emmet Jackson fired it up and got to work on the seams.   It didn’t take long for him to open enough space for the sentinels to get hold.

The three of them wrenched the door open, and Steven Ramsey staggered into the room to the side of the man crumpled in front of the door.  Frantically feeling for a pulse, as his dad rolled his head towards him.

“She’s gone, Stevie.  Your mother.  She was so frightened.  I could feel it.  And the nightmares …”

“It’s OK Dad, you can tell us once they’ve got you feeling a little better.”  Ramsey held his father’s hand tightly.

The older sentinel looked as badly beaten up as Matthew Caulfield had.  Brandon had already summoned a medevac crew (without having to be hinted at) and the clearing had just enough space for them to land, so there wouldn’t be much of a wait.

“I have to Stevie … my chest … the pains have been getting worse.  It’s coming, and I’m not going to fight it.  She’s gone.  We were just walking, like we always do in the evenings.  He came out of a storefront.  Tazed me.  Your mom was screaming and beating on him.  He jabbed me with something.  Then I woke up in here.  Velma wasn’t here, but I knew she was nearby.  She sent Nyx to check on me.  But she was scared.  I felt her get more and more scared.  And last night, or maybe the night before … time doesn’t mean much in here … I felt her go.”

The sounds of the helicopter were getting louder by the minute.

“Dad, you have to stay with us.  Please.  We’re not ready to lose both of you.”  Steven Ramsey begged his father to hold on.  “Help is coming.  You hear the chopper?  That’s your priority ride.  Please Dad.  Fight to stay.”

The man gave a tired sigh.  “White man, about my height so 6’ or so.  ‘Bout 180.  Brown and brown.  Looked about 30 … maybe off by a little bit either way.  No distinguishing marks on his face, but his hands … he has a tattoo on the back of one hand.  His right hand.  Some kind of bird.”  Jason Ramsey had been a police officer for nearly forty years.  He knew how to give a report.

The paramedics moved quickly as soon as the helicopter was safely landed.  Steven Ramsey went with his father, and none of the rest knew what to expect as the ultimate outcome.  Tazing a man with a heart condition could easily bring on an arrest, not even considering all the other stress.

Tony and Alone searched through the two small rooms, finding nothing unexpected.  Being able to focus his sight on the tiniest things didn’t help much when there wasn’t anything to see.  Discouraged, they left the spaces to the forensic professionals, and moved out to join the rest of the team.

Quietly they began the hike back to the Information Center.