Search for the Swan Maiden by Todd Calgi Gallicano

Author:Todd Calgi Gallicano [Gallicano, Todd Calgi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781682619889
Publisher: Permuted
Published: 2021-02-03T13:49:07+00:00

Communicating with a creature who could only express herself in colors that were sent telepathically was understandably difficult. Sam had made his best effort to interpret the many colors the worm sent to him by deciphering the feelings they evoked when they were received. He had so far deduced that red equaled anger—that was an easy one—blue meant sadness and despondence, orange was warmth and a feeling of welcome, purple seemed to be frustration, green was friendship and tranquility, yellow was a sense of caution and concern, white appeared to communicate a lack of understanding or uncertainty, and black, well, Sam hadn’t figured out what black meant. It flashed when Sam asked what the creature’s goal was in bringing him there. Sam speculated that perhaps black was simply the worm’s way of not saying anything or avoiding the question.

Sam had gotten good at sending colors back to the worm. He would concentrate on a color to trigger an emotional response in the worm that helped to further confirm Sam’s color-to-emotion conclusions. Unfortunately, despite Sam’s effort to translate and duplicate the worm’s telepathic language, he was still stuck in the worm’s lair. He was hoping he would be able to use his limited comprehension of this color-based communication to persuade the creature to return him to the surface, but it was much too complex of a message.

Exasperated by his lack of progress, Sam rummaged through the worm’s collection of baby-related items and found a few crayons. He grabbed a page from one of the kid’s books and returned to the worm in the center of the cave, where he then attempted to draw out his proposal. He drew himself as a stick figure, then followed with drawings of Vance, Tashi, and Ranger Jaran. But Sam was an awful artist and his pictures looked like a pumpkin-headed giant, an old woman with a cane, and some sort of giant bat with legs. The worm’s flashes of white became increasingly more blinding. Sam was abandoning his artistic attempt when he noticed dozens of hairy humanoid creatures pouring into the cave from one of the holes.

The worm was instantly alerted to their presence and spun around. She stretched and rose up to her full height. The hairy creatures formed a line at the end of the cave and didn’t advance. They were joined by Ranger Jaran, who flew in from the hole, carrying Vance and Tashi. She put her two passengers down and landed beside them.

“Get away from that thing, Sam!” Vance shouted. Sam could sense the worm growing angry, her mind colors increasingly tinting toward red. Sam quickly stepped between the worm and the others.

“Wait!” Sam demanded. “She doesn’t mean us any harm. She needs our help.”

“She?” Jaran repeated.

“Yes, Ranger. Mongo should probably be Monga.”

“It’s a girl?” Vance asked.

Sam nodded. “A mom. That silver case Boone Walker had? Maybe it didn’t have footage of the death worm in it. Maybe it had her baby. That’s why she’s so upset.”

“We have never known of the death worm to have offspring,” Jaran told them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.