Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal Author Quest by J. M. Lee

Author:J. M. Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2014-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Isla Hagan

For two days they gathered materials for fixing the ship and searched for anything to eat other than more turblaroots. Zale tried to help Eily with the ship repairs, but all he could think about were the contents of the journal. Every night while Eily slept, Zale read more and more of the book. The story was becoming very disturbing. Through Hagan’s words, Zale now knew that everything the Skeksis told them was a lie. He knew how skekTek, the Skeksis scientist, was experimenting on live Gelfling. Somehow, skekTek drained them of their vitality, almost their very souls, and from it created a shining blue liquid for the emperor to drink to keep him young and strong.

Zale read the last entry, unable to stop:

The darkened crystal hangs above a shaft of air and fire in the center of the castle. I never knew why the scientist made an opening into the crystal chasm in the wall of his lab or why he affixed a reflector to the opposite side of the shaft. Now, I know that the reason was to beam the reflection of the crystal above into the eyes of a test subject. Seeing the reflection of the Dark Crystal’s light drains the victim’s essence away. It was how they made the Podlings into mindless slaves.

Even though I tried to hide what I knew from the Skeksis, the scientist suspected me. I think it was because I tried to avoid eye contact with him whenever I saw him coming. I couldn’t get the image of that poor Gelfling girl out of my mind, and I still can’t. She was so young and innocent, pleading with the scientist, and he just stared at her with that cold, lifeless eye. She couldn’t have been a rebel. The worst that she could be accused of would be forgetting to do one of her chores.

She was one of my own clan, and I didn’t even try to stop him. I was there and I just sat there frozen, watching. I’m a disgrace and don’t deserve to be called Gelfling. The Podlings suffered for so long, and I ignored their plight, too, thinking of them as lesser beings. How did I let the Skeksis change my very way of thinking? Why did I let them teach me how to be cruel and violent like them?

If the Skeksis do the same thing to me before I can escape, I’ll deserve every bit of it, but I have to somehow tell the others. I can’t risk waiting one more day. I’m going to attempt to run away tonight. If I get caught before I can get this journal to one of the elders, it’s up to whoever reads it to tell them the truth. It’s a burden that no one should have to bear but me, since I was the fool who turned a blind eye to what the Skeksis were doing, and the implications of it in the first place.

The next day, even though he was trying to assist Eily, Zale just couldn’t concentrate.

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