She brought her concentration to bear on the center of the soles of her feet where the foot chakra, the Malkuth, brought energy up from the Earth and transmitted it into the body. When she felt the gentle pulse, she moved her concentration up to her womanhood until she felt the gathering surge there. The chest came next. The throat. Then the crown, the Kether, where the energy flowed upward and outward like a fountain to cascade again to the Earth.
Bixie felt the tugging, first in her umbilicus.
“Oh mon!” she stated in her mind. “Dis be the big trip comin’. Dis be da journey to end all journeys.”
Bixie Cottontree was then torn from her body as a leaf is snatched from a tree in a gale.
[ 28 ]
Bixie flew through space toward a distant orangish orb.
The planet came fast to her and she settled down through the thin atmosphere to the desert below. She came to rest at ground level and walked along a dry canal.
Minutes later she saw the figure of a man facing away from her on a high cliff overlooking a broad valley. Beyond the silhouette figure, the sky was pink with streaks of violet in broad bands toward the far horizon.
“Dis be da Planet Mars,” Bixie said to herself. “I be here. I be here, now.”
Although the man was in silhouette, he appeared tinged with fire, as if he burned from within.
“Dis here be dah Golden Man,” Bixie said to herself. “He be a waitin’ for us.”
The thought gave her a sudden chill. The blackness, the nothingness between the stars was what she felt.
The Golden Man turned and his gaze met hers. It was then that she realized that the Golden Man had no eyes. He had no nose, no mouth. He wore no clothing. Instead, he regarded her with his entire body. He measured her from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. He measured, weighed and calculated her as if she were a sack of hominy corn offered at auction. To the Golden Man, to it—even though he was in all outward aspects a man, still, Bixie knew this thing to be the antithesis to man, something antithetical, even, to a soul—to it she was as nothing.
“I don’t think I be likin’ this here Golden Man,” Bixie stated to herself. “No suh! I don’t be likin’ ‘im one bitty bit.”
The Golden Man raised a hand palm forward to her and she was cast back to her body in a roaring, whirling wind.
Bixie snapped back inside her body so hard it jarred her. She was onboard the Argent, the ship of the good people—the rescuers. Her hair stood on end as she became aware that there was another presence in their midst. And behind that presence, another dark presence, coming. But somewhere ahead there loomed an even greater darkness.
“Oh my Lord,” Bixie said. Her eyes popped open wide.
Ekka and Billie turned to regard the woman’s frightened face.
“What’s the matter?” Billie asked.
“The black ship, she be comin’. But dere be another somebody here who don’t belong! And ahead is the China Man!”
Ian and Carter were the first faces to the rear window. A flickering speck emerged from the blue and white planet below.
Carter turned to Billy.
“It’s the black ship that attacked us. It’s coming. Fast!”
[ 29 ]
“Guthrie!” Billy shouted into the cone. “Get up here!”
“Coming, Billy. I saw the Kracken just now. Also, we have a dozen singleships coming from ahead. Please engage the main drive.”
“Singleships? Ahead? Where?” Billy shouted into the speaking tube and leaned forward, peering ahead. “I can’t see a thing but blackness.”
“I believe there must be another large ship, or possible a space type station we have not detected somewhere ahead in the ether.”
“Space station, you mean, like a space fortress?”
Guthrie didn’t reply. Likely the robot was already in motion, headed for the bridge.