CHAPTER 23

THE STARGIRLS TRAPPED in a ghoulish reality. Laya, their warden and otherworldly friend, was no more. Life cheaply played out for Aagaatar’s indulgence to torture them into submission.

“The Aagaa craves death and destruction, an ethos of death,” Jill lamented.

“It’s a mantelpiece of atrocities premeditated to inflict fear, chaos, and terror to control Aagaatar’s enemies and our minds.” Ali added.

“How can you fight terror and insanity? How can we rout humanity’s scourge?” Mad implored.

Sade felt an opening to size up Lyn and said, “Maybe Lyn can help.” The Stargirls guardedly approached who they believed was Lyn, isolated in a corner of the cell. “Lyn, we’re at a loss to find a way out of this mess. What do you think?”

Lyn’s face contorted, her lips twisted cruelly. “Your fear of Aagaatar’s truth defeats you. We must do what he says or die. We are the Stargirls—remember. One for all—blah, blah, blah . . .” Lyn’s outburst shocked them.

Sade ignored her attack and countered, “If necessary, we would die for each other—right?”

“Don’t play stupid games, just do what he says.” Her stinging retort left them more confused than ever.

Sade frustrated bit her lip, feeling the Stargirls oneness fracture, while Jill wondered what happened to the sister she loved, fearing Sade was right. The thought ate at her. Sade angrily said, “Your response is baffling and falls on deaf ears. Can’t you do better than that?”

Lyn angrily replied, “You seek freedom in all the wrong places. Freedom is surrender. I shall say nothing more.”

Jill intervened. “Okay, enough,” and stomped away. Dissension like poison brewed between Lyn and the Stargirls, an ill feeling they had never experienced before. Ali moaned. “Is this the end to the Stargirls?”

Horrified by the question, Jill cried, “No.” Suddenly the cell door burst open and a creepy-crawly thing dragged Lyn away. Stunned, they gaped at each other, not knowing whether to protest or feel grateful. “What’s happening to us?” Jill murmured.

Sade, at a loss, stared at her. “I wish I knew.” “We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” Jill vowed.

* * *

Lyn’s clone, suddenly, delivered to Aagaatar. He had awakened groggy from the Ogganda and goaded with its failure to enlighten his mind. Infuriated, his massive brow bunched in consternation as he waited for her report. She entered his inner sanctum and a deadhead greeted her with a nauseating grin. She bowed and said, “Lord Master, what is your desire?”

Aagaatar’s saw blades clicked viciously and he snarled, “What do I desire? Are you a test tube imbecile or freak of genetics? Did you persuade them to serve me?”

“Lord Master, I fear the aliens sense something is wrong; they stare oddly at me and their questions are hostile. I have the aliens’ memories, but cannot relate to these creatures’ emotions. Their ways are strange. I need your help.”

Aagaatar’s face turned a vile red. “Lucky you still have your head, having failed God Aagaatar. You must use their fear and doubts against them. Make them believe serving me is their only hope. Fail me again and you will feel the blade of Aagaatar’s vengeance across your throat. Tell the aliens you were tortured. I will help.” He motioned to his Zurkaa guard.

“Thank you, Lord God Aagaatar.” She turned to leave when the Zurkaa’s deadly eyes viciously beat her to the floor and a creepy-crawly seized her. She screamed in agony. Aagaatar howled, “The help you asked for is granted. Now they will beg your forgiveness and be putty in your hands, so you can mold them in my image.”

Lyn’s shocking abduction had caused the Stargirls to question their doubts about her. Jill said, “Regardless, I’m concerned about Lyn.”

Ali’s voice trembled. “No matter what, she’s still our sister.”

“You’re both right,” Sade said. Suddenly the portal opened and what Sade saw made her wince. A creepy-crawly was dragging Lyn’s hemorrhaging body across the cell floor. Her gory face made them weep. They rushed to her side.

Jill frantically screamed, “Get back . . . let me tend to her. She needs to breathe—get some cold compresses.” She checked for signs of life from the sister she loved. Ali handed her wet towels, wondering how she could have doubted Lyn. She turned cold and shivered, looking at Lyn— close to death. Tears clouded Jill’s vision. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and choked back sobs. “Lyn, can you hear me?” Lyn was unresponsive.

“She’s got a pulse—she’s alive. Did you hear me? She’s alive.” Ali put her hand on Jill’s shoulder.

“Yes, thank God.” Mad struck her fist into her palm and swore, “Aagaatar.” Sade’s head sagged with guilt. Jill pleaded, “Please, God, let her be okay. Please—”

* * *

Down a claustrophobic passageway, within earshot of the Stargirls, the real Lyn lay cloistered in her cell. Her translucent prison door cast jagged light that played coldly on her glazed eyes. She lay paralyzed and semiconscious with her eyes frozen open. She could not turn from the glittering light that engulfed her and glinted off her pale face and impassive eyes. She felt caught in a strange fog, under the impression she was driving through mountain mist that rose from melting snow near Lake Tahoe. The headlight glare, reflecting off the fog, made her anxious while perilous cliffs threatened violent death. Nightmarish faces leered through fogged-over windows, and shrill screams broke the night air. She jammed on the brakes to gain control, but the brakes failed. She careened out of control down the mountain pass—then everything went black. She thought she heard something, the hiss of a serpent . . . it made her quake. The serpent’s hiss grew louder and closer. What was it? The hissing penetrated layers of her dim consciousness. It felt like a surgeon’s scalpel probing her brain to detect electrical activity and signs of life. The ominous hissing changed into a voice that gripped her.

The garbled voice grew clearer and anxiously called out, “Lyn . . . Lyn. Wake up. You must wake up. Death stalks you, death calls to you and the Stargirls . . . wake up . . . wake up.” Drugged and under Aagaatar’s spell, Lyn grasped for reality, hanging on to the unfamiliar name. She felt groggy, as if she was flying blind into a mountain until one eye focused . . . then both. The vision of a phantom floating above her shocked her. The backlight revealed the outline of a huge snakehead swaying as large, luminous eyes stared at her—and broke Aagaatar’s curse. Lyn gasped as her sensibility returned; she realized who she was and said, “Who are you?”

“I came to save you and the Stargirls.”

Lyn got her bearings and said, “You are the serpent with three eyes that Sade talked about.”

“Yes, Aagaatar’s mystic sorceress, enslaved to do his will—but, more importantly, here to help you. Your life is in danger and Laya is dead.”

“Laya is dead?”

“Yes, Aagaatar killed her. We plotted together to end his Final Solution. I am the Star people’s rebel leader.”

“You?” Lyn paused, “Are you the one Laya said would help.”

“Yes.”

“How do you speak English?”

“I don’t. Our minds are linked in a hyper-psychic state.”

“Are the Stargirls okay?”

“Yes, but they are under Aagaatar’s psychic siege. He replaced you with an impostor to trick your sisters into surrender.”

“How is that possible?”

“Remember—a Zurkaa rammed you just before you entered Aagaatar’s space-time projector.”

Lyn looked at the spot of blood on her sleeve and said, “You mean he recreated me?”

“Yes, your genetic material replicated by a molecular mutation device.”

“Oh my God, how could it mimic me?”

“Easy—it has your memory, although it has one major flaw.”

“What?”

“Emotionally it is a child—and its stubbornness is hard to miss.”

Lyn shook her head in disbelief. “Great, but what do we do?”

“I removed Aagaatar’s hex on you; and when it’s safe, I will return to purify you. A mind-altering drug poisons you. Death awaits me if Aagaatar discovers I am betraying him. I will help . . . but must go.”

“Wait. What’s your name?”

“Soulmaa—but my people, the Trions, call me the Pyramid Lady. When I return, we will fight for life—beyond Aagaa death.” She vanished in a blaze of ion light. Lyn’s numbed body tingled back to life. The thought of an evil twin masquerading as her horrified her. She would use the Stargirls’ love against them. She tried to think, but her jumbled mind refused; the powerful drug made her yawn, trying to control her. She fought back and raised her fist in defiance, shouting, “Aagaatar, we will defeat you.”