99.
Lira massaged her wrists as the metal cuffs were removed. She
felt blood rushing back into her fingers, which had grown numb
after wearing the restraints for several hours. Etar was doing
the same, stretching his arms to relieve the stiffness caused by
the unnecessary bonds. He stood next to the wagon which had
ridden them there, in the middle of a meadow by the road.
The soldiers were climbing back into the wagon, and their
commander watched the horizon. He was wary of any other groups
of rebels which could be prowling around these parts.
"And remember" he said, still looking along the southern
horizon, "that you are no longer welcome in the city. Spread
your word of peace and love around the countryside, but you will
stir up too much trouble if you return. Governor Taythlin has
more important things to do than to baby-sit preachers."
He turned from Etar and climbed atop the front of the wagon.
Taking the whip in his hand, he snapped it onto the perspiring
back of the left terskix, which moaned and leaned its head
forward.
Lira watched its muscles tense, and it stepped forward, very
slowly, as it dragged the left side of the wagon. The cart
wheeled gently about on the gravel road until it faced the city.
"Thank you for your help" Etar said. "We must continue to
follow the will of Lamper."
"See that the will of your god does not interfere with our
will."
The commander turned back to the terskix. Cracking both with
the whip, the wagon began rolling along the road, kicking up a
small cloud of dust as it went. The early morning light made
the wagon's interior glow, and the soldiers' helmets glinted as
they were jostled back and forth over the rough surface.
Lira and Etar stood silently, side by side, watching until the
wagon had disappeared around a turn. Lira turned to face Etar,
who was standing with eyes closed, listening to the distant
sound of the wood wheels rolling over ruts and stones.
"We are lucky to be alive" she said at last.
"Lamper looks after us, all of us. Lamper provides food and
clothing for us. Lamper makes the sun shine down upon us and
puts the solid earth beneath our feet."
"Where should we go next?"
She was worried that Etar would immediately want to return to
the city. That would be unwise, since the Cinrekkian soldiers
were probably instructed to be on the lookout for him. If
apprehended again, she wasn't so sure about trusting the mercy
of the governor.
"Perhaps we can rest here for a while, praying amongst the
trees and the meadow. It is true that our presence might cause
more trouble amongst the villagers. Many of those who were in
the procession to deliver us to the Temple have probably
scattered throughout the city, telling of what happened."
"Most of them were probably either killed or taken prisoner for
questioning" Etar replied. He looked into her eyes, and she saw
sadness in them.
"Oh, that the people of Mishria would not close their minds to
my words, the will of Lamper. They don't know the happiness and
fulfillment that they are missing. Surely, I know very well
that life under the Cinrekkians is not free in the worldly
sense. But if we change the way they think and feel, by
witnessing to Lamper and being a sister and a brother to each of
them, they will see the wisdom in our ways, and that wisdom will
slowly move through the whole world, until even the Emperor of
Cinrekkia will bow to the will of Lamper."
"Then what do you want to do?" Lira's pragmatic side was
speaking, and Etar knew it.
"You can't be afraid, Lira. It is not foolish to want to help
others. I want to rejoin our close friends, who were left
unharmed in the northern villages. They are no doubt still
there."
"Weren't they following us towards the Temple?"
"During the Cinrekkian attack, I didn't see them anywhere
behind us. I assume that they followed us for a while, and then
were either turned away by the angry mob, or they fled back to
the north to help those in need."
"What is the best way of getting there? If we take any of the
main roads from here, we're going to have to face more
Cinrekkian soldiers. If any of them recognize us--"
"I agree. Our best bet is to take an indirect way to get
there. If we sweep out to the east, around the city, through
the mountains, we can probably be there by midnight. That's if
we keep walking and take few breaks."
"I can do that" Lira said. "Do you know the routes?"
"Yes, I used to travel into the mountains, to escape the
crowding and noise of the city, as a boy."
"Did you used to go there alone?"
"Many times, yes. I never came to the slightest harm. The
terrain there is too rugged for roads between the city and the
fisheries. It will be a beautiful journey, though a tiring one."
"Time is wasting, Etar. Let's go."
They set off further south, until, arriving at a fork in the
road, they took a thin and less traveled road, which wound its
way through groves of trees towards the northeast.
100.
Mark had been hiking for several hours, and, as the sun rose
towards noon, he felt thirsty. Sweat had soaked his shirt, and
it stuck uncomfortably to his back as he continued.
He had used the cloaker for the entire journey, as an extra
precaution. Mark checked the battery power every couple
minutes, just to make sure that the system was functioning
properly.
"I can't believe I'm doing this because of a dream I had" he
thought. He said this to himself as a critique of his
superstitious nature. He believed that, somehow, Aron, or what
was left of him, was providing guidance and protection for the
expedition.
"But why would he do that, for me, for us?" he wondered. Aron
had worked for only a short time with Mushlik, and then he had
suddenly disappeared, never to be heard from again.
"He must be dead" Mark thought as he climbed over fallen trees.
"There's no other way to explain how his ghost could appear to
me."
He thought through the evidence which supported his belief -
the strange dreams and the motion of the emergency satellite.
For the hundredth time he asked himself the same questions.
"Could the satellite have drifted due to a malfunction? If its
guidance unit malfunctioned, then perhaps the onboard computer
didn't know that it had changed position."
Then he recalled his celestial mechanics. If the satellite had
been in a stable, stationary orbit for so long, how else,
without being impacted with a meteoroid or firing its own
thrusters, could it have moved such a great distance in so short
a time?
That was the missing piece that had ultimately convinced him
that Aron had induced the satellite's motion. Somehow, by
purely mental means, Aron had been able to influence physical
reality.
Stopping for a break, he wiped the sweat from his brow. He was
standing beneath a canopy of trees, beyond which the path curved
to the left and out of view, amid tall grasses. Insects were
buzzing amongst the flowers which grew between the blades, and
Mark remembered the butterflies and bees of Earth. These
insects looked remarkably similar to their Earth counterparts.
Mark wondered if any of them had stingers. Deciding to avoid an
encounter with venom from an alien insect, Mark steered clear of
them, stopping occasionally when one flew near him.
As he continued along the curve in the path, he descended a
gentle slope, and the air felt still and cool, as tall bushes
grew on either side of the walkway. He trotted to the bottom of
the slope and swung slowly to the right. As he continued
jogging, he heard the sound of running water up ahead.
Soon, he saw a small stream. He stopped and immersed his hands
in the refreshing coolness. The rocks were slippery and smooth
as he ran his hands along the bottom. Looking to his right, he
saw that the stream continued uphill for about a few hundred
feet. Just above that, a ledge of rock extended out over the
waters, which had emerged from below ground.
"The dream!" he said aloud. He jumped up and ran up the path,
forgetting the water's coolness. Indeed, as he stopped where
the water foamed and bubbled from underground, he saw that the
main path branched off to the right, but that a smaller one
continued to the left.
Weeds had grown to conceal the narrow route, but Mark noticed
that no bushes or small trees grew along a certain width of
ground. He walked into the tall grass. The path continued for
a distance, and then it curved to the right.
By his study of maps in the area, he knew that he was only
about a quarter mile from the original cave entrance discovered
by Aron. He continued along the grassy path for several
minutes, until, up ahead, at the top of the hill that he was
ascending, he saw a clearing. Large rocks and boulders peaked
above the swaying grasses.
Mark felt his heart thumping in his chest as he hoped for the
fulfillment of Aron's instructions. As he climbed over the rock
standing in the path, he looked about at the large area of loose
rock and gravel. Many of the boulders had eroded from the rocky
slope which extended beyond the clearing, but Mark could see no
path continuing further.
"You will know" he remembered.
He looked impatiently about, searching for some marker or clue
as to the entrance to the cave. When he saw none at first
glance, he decided to walk further, inspecting the ground for
anything hidden beneath the grass.
As he stepped down from the rock, he noticed an unusual looking
boulder up ahead, in the midst of the clearing. Walking towards
it, he marveled at its smoothness. He now stood before a dome
shaped boulder, about five feet in diameter. He knelt down and
felt the edge of the boulder, where it met the ground, and the
rock continued down, beneath ground level, for as far as his
fingers could penetrate the soil.
Then it hit him. He saw himself back on Earth, at the
observatory, staring for the first time into the newfound
subterranean tunnel. He remembered feeling the smoothness of
the dome shaped boulder which had once covered it.
"Covered it!" he shouted. He stepped back from the boulder and
removed the blaster pistol from its holster. He increased its
setting to maximum power. He checked the scanner, setting it
momentarily to full range. Nothing showed on the detector's
four inch screen. He walked further away from the boulder.
Turning, he lowered the barrel until it pointed directly at the
rock's center. He pulled the trigger.
The region of impact of the energy pulse shattered a large
portion of the boulder, sending chunks of hot rock flying off in
every direction. Mark shielded his eyes and knelt down on the
ground, as he was surprised by the power of the blast. He felt
small bits of rock and dirt hitting his chest and legs, and,
when the fall of debris had subsided, he lowered his arm.
The dust had blown clear of the boulder, and he saw that about
a quarter of the rock had been shattered, with fractures
radiating from the deep pit that the weapon had dug. Raising
the pistol again from his position on the ground, he fired a
second pulse, and he heard the entire boulder come apart. He
rolled to the side when he heard an impact next to him, and when
he looked, he saw that a large chunk of rock, perhaps weighing a
hundred pounds, had struck to his left.
The dust blew away on the breeze, and Mark saw an indentation
in the ground, about three feet in diameter, surrounded by the
rubble that was once the boulder.
Mark approached the indentation, and, as he neared it, he saw
that it was actually a passageway. Standing next to it, he
removed the flashlight from his pack and knelt down next to the
hole, shining the light inside. The thick dust from the blast
had filled the tunnel, which, Mark saw, was cut into solid rock.
The surface was scarred with blast marks, as though the passage
had been dug with some sort of energy beam weapon, similar to
his pistol but more powerful.
The slope was at about a thirty degree angle, and Mark felt a
draft moving from the opening, cooling his sweaty face as he
held it over the center of the entranceway. The passage slowly
cleared, and Mark switched the flashlight to high intensity, but
he could still not see the bottom.
He looked up, half expecting himself to be back on Earth,
staring into a similar passage that had led to the artificial
cave holding the Kremlagite cube. All he saw were the drooping
tree branches on an alien world, at least a thousand light years
from his Earth.
"Aron traveled to Earth" he realized. "Why did he journey
there? Did he collaborate with Dr. Kapp, the inventor of the
antimatter synthesizer?"
The realization that they were one and the same hit him, and he
felt faint. He rolled onto his back, dumbfounded at the
realization that Kapp, one of the greatest physicists the galaxy
had ever known, had been to Earth and Dalthigia. On Earth, he
had hidden the key to the antimatter synthesizer. Now Mark
wondered what he had brought to Dalthigia.
As he crawled to the edge of the tunnel and lowered his legs
into the opening, he felt the cold draft, and his whole body
trembled.
"Don't be afraid" he told himself.
Mark began the descent.
101.
Taythlin reached the top of the stairway, and he paused to
listen to his officers ending their afternoon conference. As he
began walking along the dimly lit corridor, he remembered the
screams of pain from Osher, as he stood poised above the metal
daggers which, a moment later, had pierced his bowel.
He descended into gloom following executions, even those
involving the leaders of a rebellion against the Cinrekkian
Empire. Taythlin had respected Osher, for though they were
enemies, he knew that he would have behaved similarly were
Cinrekkia invaded by some outside, superior force.
His legs felt like lead as he entered his bedchamber and sat on
the edge of his bed, patiently undoing the laces on his boots.
As he pulled them from his aching feet, he heard the wind
whisper through the cracks in the shutters which covered his
window.
"The garden" he thought. He changed into his summer robe,
realizing that, in his tired state, he would feel hot in the
afternoon air. He had felt safe in the garden throughout the
revolt's aftermath. With his soldiers guarding the palace
grounds, there was no way for a stray arrow or rock, let alone a
rebel, to reach the garden.
He walked quietly down the hallway, tying the sash which his
father had given him, so many years ago, before departing for
the conquest of yet another nation. The breeze blew through the
doorway, and he saw two guards, keeping their watch, at the far
end of the west wing. He saw the gleam of their armor, and
their spear points cast sharp shadows on the wall behind them.
Walking outside and into the garden, he breathed in the warm
air. He began threading his way along the path, his feet
scraping over the inlaid stones. Looking up into the blue sky,
he uttered a silent prayer to Dyzan, the god of war.
"Oh, bless me, your humble servant, with the strength to
continue the conquest of the world in your name, manifest
through the Emperor of Cinrekkia. May I be an instrument of
that conquest."
As he stopped and began to sit down on a stone bench, he
smelled something strange, an odor he hadn't detected for a
while. It was accompanied by heat, which slowly descended about
him, until his toes felt hot. He stared up into the sky, seeing
a strange shimmer in the clouds. A rumbling sensation moved
over and through him, and the heat began to blow down upon him.
Taythlin fell to the side when a thud sounded to his left. He
looked over to where he had stood. A motionless body lay on the
ground. Attempting to stand, he gasped for breath in the heat.
Moving to the body, he saw that the man's eyes were frozen open,
his skin a strange, pale color.
He felt the man's neck and noticed no pulse. Then, just as he
had felt so many times while in the garden, he knew that eyes,
alien eyes, were focused upon him. Turning to call for help, he
saw the ghostly form of the minion of Dyzan, standing before
him. It took on solidity, and he was now staring into the
faceplace of a Bellikan soldier, clad in its spaceworthy armor
suit.
His jaw dropped open, and the Bellikan's hand swung from above
its huge head. A blade pierced Taythlin's heart. As the metal
was withdrawn, he fell to his knees, unable to scream as the
pain coursed through his body. All images became liquid as he
grabbed onto the metal foot of the soldier. Taythlin's eyes
froze, and blood dripped from his mouth onto the cold stones of
the garden.
The Bellikan soldier took the other knife he had brought, and
he stabbed the Mishrian body several times, in the chest and
abdomen. He placed this dagger in the lifeless but warm hand of
Taythlin, and he placed the other dagger into the hand of the
Mishrian farmer. The Bellikans had plucked him from a field
earlier that day, with no one close enough to hear his shout for
help.
That farmer would be known from that time on, amongst the
Cinrekkian officers who revered Taythlin, as the man who killed
their leader, their friend. The farmer's wife and family would
never know the destiny that he had met, as a mannequin of death,
lying cold with a blood stained blade in his hand.
The heat soon departed from the garden, and three hours later
the guards found him there. By that time, both corpses were
cold.
102.
During his descent, he kept the video recorder switched on,
attached to the front of his infrared visor. He had flipped
down the visor and adjusted the display level for comfort. Now,
he could see the walls clearly, glowing more faintly in infrared
as the stone became colder.
He touched the edges of the stone cylinder. It was slippery,
as droplets of water were condensing along its length. He
looked down the sloping passageway. Ten feet further down, the
layers of stone changed from the tan color of clay to a dark,
brown stone. His breathing was deep, and he smelled the
dampness and mustiness in the cave. It smelled just like the
caves of Earth. The smooth surface enabled him to slide on his
rear, using the rubbery soles of his shoes as brakes. Despite
the moisture on the stone, he was in no danger of slipping. His
breath condensed as the air grew ever colder, and his face began
to feel numb.
Mark wondered whether caves on Dalthigia were inherently colder
than those on Earth. Due to the similar sizes, ages, and
geologies of the two planets, Mark thought they would be
similar. Then he remembered the coldness of the manmade cave
near the observatory.
"Why would Kapp come all the way here, bore into solid rock,
and then claim the cave had collapsed, if he didn't hide
something valuable here?"
At last, he saw the floor below, through the remaining dust
stirred up from his pistol blasts. He found that the tunnel
ended abruptly, about four feet above the floor. Finding a rock
ledge about halfway down, Mark used it for footing.
Stepping onto the cave floor, he was amazed at what he saw. He
was now inside a natural cave, and a variety of delicate
stalactites hung from the ceiling. Water dripped onto him, and
he felt refreshed by its coolness.
He turned and examined the tunnel, realizing that Kapp must
have located the cavern and then produced an alternate,
artificial entrance. Using his electronic compass, he found
that the main passage branched to the northwest, opposite the
direction of the cave that Aron had documented and supposedly
explored.
"Perhaps they are connected" he thought. He moved toward the
center of the chamber, which he surmised to be about forty feet
in diameter, with the lowest stalactites hanging several feet
above his head. The ceiling contained many dips and
irregularities, ranging in height from about ten to fifteen
feet. This chamber narrowed into the passage that he saw ahead,
and the ceiling drew very close to the floor.
Now calmed from the descent, he began walking through the
chamber, swinging his headcam from side to side. From the
length of the descent, he estimated himself to be about a
hundred feet underground. The chamber ended, and he walked ten
yards into the following passage. Lowering himself to a crawl,
he passed into a low region, and he felt his pack scrape against
the ceiling. The ceiling rose to its original height in another
twenty feet, and he saw that the passage widened. Water had
pooled on the passage floor. He sloshed through the puddles as
he continued through the cave.
"All right Kapp" he said aloud, his voice echoing through the
passage. "I'm here. I can see you didn't want to attract too
much attention to this second cave, so you managed to make some
discoveries in another one, nearby but probably unconnected.
All I want to know is why?"
He stopped walking, hoping to hear some answer. There was only
the sound of water dripping into the pools on the cave floor.
As he resumed his pace, he felt his shoulder grow cold, as
though a piece of ice rested against it.
Turning around sharply, he saw only the stone walls of the
passage. He breathed easier. "I'm spooking myself again" he
said. "There's no one in here but me."
He was reassured by his own words, and he continued, as the
passage began to slope downward.
103.
During the previous day, the Bellikan base of operations on
Dalthigia had been in utter disarray, as various shuttles were
found to be in disrepair, hampering the evacuation. Most of the
communications equipment, particularly the long-range array
systems, had already been dismantled and stowed on several
shuttles.
A Bellikan destroyer was en route to Dalthigia, throwing
caution to the wind in an effort to completely evacuate the
planet and erase all evidence of their occupation. It was due
to arrive within a day. The extra ship would afford much needed
storage space as well as fresh crews and more shuttlecraft to
ferry the sensitive computer and communications equipment from
the base.
As an additional stress to the evacuation, the base commander
was still trying to locate the Council outpost, to destroy it.
He was sure that the Council citizens had, in one form or
another, recorded evidence of the Bellikan presence. The fact
that he believed a magnetic mine had destroyed one of his
shuttles, deliberately planted there by the Council observers,
had cemented those opinions. As a result, one shuttle was
reserved to continue the search for the outpost. It flew day
and night, returning to base every six hours to refuel.
Maintaining the cloaking device was very fuel costly.
Crews rotated through this duty, keeping a constant search in
process. Scans were made over all high probability areas.
Hilltops were searched, since they afforded a better view of the
surface. Valleys, affording ready sources of water near streams
and lakes, were also scanned. After dropping explosives onto
the supposed position of the base, the commander was reticent to
openly display force until he was sure that they had located the
enemy.
104.
Enjai piloted the shuttle for one of the daily sorties,
beginning roughly two hours before noon. The other occupant of
the shuttle continually tuned the scanner's sensitivity,
watching with fatigued eyes as flickers and pops on the screen
distracted him.
They were searching several miles east of the capital city of
Moga, and the sky was clear and sunlit, affording them perfect
ground visibility. The scanners performed more efficiently in
low humidity, and they were penetrating at least thirty feet
below ground level.
"Take us near the base of those cliffs" Roj requested. He
pointed on the viewscreen to a region of sparsely foliated
terrain, above which rock had eroded from a steep ridge to the
north.
Enjai granted his wish, slowly banking the shuttle towards a
northerly course. Roj swung the scanner to the top of the
ridge. Adjusting the detectors with his huge fingers, he
brought the beam slowly down the ridge.
"Shit! I was hoping we would've found something here. This is
the highest ridge within twenty miles of the city!"
Enjai felt the fatigue creeping through his body, and this new
frustration wasn't helping. Roj continued to watch the screen.
As he brought the pointing motors to a stop, he saw a flicker of
brightness on the left side of the screen.
He gimbaled the detector several degrees to port and began to
raise it, very slowly, until a square region of bright green
light centered on the screen.
"We've found it!"
"How do you know? Another metal deposit?"
"How about a perfectly rectangular metal deposit, with a hollow
interior?"
Roj switched on his headset, sending a message to base. He
marked the location as he spoke.
"Destroy immediately" Grob's voice barked over his headset.
Roj turned to his pilot, who nodded in acknowledgment. He
armed four warheads, instructing the ordinance to seek the
scanning beam's target.
"Ready to drop?" Enjai asked, his voice filled with nervous
anticipation.
"Affirmative" Roj replied.
The weapons officer touched a button on a control stick, and
four black pods fell away from the shuttle, their fins spreading
into the sky as they glided noiselessly towards their target.
At the same time, the outpost computer sent out a massive burst
of microwaves, to trip Mushlik's warning system.
"Dump memory" the computer told itself. In another
microsecond, its banks were erased.
The bombs found their mark precisely, and a shower of flame,
rocks, and soil shot into the air.
"Secondary explosions" Roj said over the headset. "We got
them."
"Remain until all scanning sweeps indicate negative" the
commander ordered.
"Aye, sir." As Grob's voice cut off, they watched the thick
smoke rise from the ground. They hovered there for another half
hour, until, sure that all was clear, they flew in for a closer
look.
105.
Mark saw a faint glow up ahead, illuminating the passage wall.
The air was very cold, drafting into his face. This made him
skeptical that the light originated from an entrance, since the
colder air within the cave should have drafted toward such an
entranceway, not away from it.
As he neared the source of light, he saw a curious, blue
pattern on the wall to his right. He stepped before a loosely
stacked pile of rocks, between which shards of bright light
glared in his eyes. Without delay, he began grabbing the rocks
from the top of the pile and tossing them to the floor. The
noise from falling rocks echoed through the passages.
Soon, growing impatient at his slow progress, Mark began
shoving the rocks atop the pile forward, into whatever chamber
lay beyond. In a matter of minutes, he had cleared a crawl
space about two feet high near the ceiling, large enough to
traverse.
He found the footing on the stacked rocks to be loose, as they
tilted from side to side as he placed his weight onto them.
Carefully balancing each new foothold, he raised himself high
enough to see through the crawl space.
Bright blue light caused him to squint, and he struggled to
behold the source of this brilliance. As his eyes adjusted, he
saw that there were four metal posts, forming a square pattern
on the floor. Each post was topped with a dazzling cone of blue
light, identical in appearance to those he had found in the
artificial cave on Earth.
"A cloaking device!" he whispered to himself. He wriggled
through the crawl space and rolled to the chamber floor. As he
sat up and looked about himself, he saw the large, rough stone,
positioned at the center of the array of cloaking field
generators. The top of the stone was smooth and level, forming
a base for the black cube that swallowed all light cast upon it.
Mark crawled forward, towards the cube. As he touched the
surface of the exposed cube, he felt its cool smoothness. His
mind flashed back to the cube he found on earth, and he
remembered the terror of the Bellikan attack. He heard a voice
inside his mind, that of Kapp, whispering through his
consciousness.
"Take it" the voice said.
Mark knew that his mind had conjured up these words.
"Why would Kapp lead me here if it weren't to find the cube and
take it back with us? But why bury and cloak the cube here, on
Dalthigia?"
He felt the presence near him again, and he spun around,
looking around the chamber with jerky motions of his head, his
eyes wide with anticipation that Kapp was about to reveal his
presence.
Mark heard only his own breathing, and a faint hum which
emanated from the cloaking generators. Sitting back against the
rock pile, he relaxed by breathing deeply, exhaling clouds of
vapor into the chamber.
"Kapp worked for the Captain. He was the genius in his employ,
the physicist who solved the secret of efficient, mass
production of antimatter. When Kapp knew that there were
saboteurs and spies at work around him, he fled, with the final
remaining piece, the key, to the antimatter generator.
"He sealed it in Kremlagite and obtained a ship, whereby he
arrived on Earth and somehow, amazing for a man at his age,
constructed an artificial cave in which he concealed the cube.
I found that cube, by accident."
He paused, reflecting on what he had felt within that chamber
on Earth. It had been the fear that an unfriendly presence was
watching him, hoping that he would leave the cube alone.
"He didn't want me to take the cube!" Mark said loudly into the
cave. "But, when I did, Kapp must have approved of the cube's
destruction. If he didn't approve of me taking the first cube,
then why did he want me to find this one?"
Mark wondered which cube had been placed first, the one on
Earth, or that on Dalthigia. He was forgetting the dates and
sequences of Mushlik's involvement with Aron.
"The Bellikans" Mark continued. "The Bellikans, if left
unchecked on Dalthigia, might have, were they mining the planet
for resources, find the cube. Mushlik believed that mining was
their probable reason for being on Dalthigia in the first place.
Then they would discover its contents and have the last piece
to the puzzle of the antimatter generator."
"The first cube contained a device which would allow the
intricate machine to synthesize huge amounts of antimatter.
What does this cube contain? And, if I try to take the cube
out of here, will the distortion of the cloaking field activate
resonance generators? I don't want to have to run for my life
again. This cave will take longer to exit than the one I found
on earth. The passages here are very rough."
"Take it" he heard the voice whisper again.
Mark placed his hands on the sides of the cube and applied
pressure. The cube lifted from the rock with surprising ease,
as though it were thin and hollow. He shook it gently,
convincing himself that the object was indeed solid. Nothing
jostled within the cube.
A smile appeared on his face as he knew that both Kapp and
Mushlik would be proud of him.
"The blueprint!" he said aloud, hearing his voice boom through
the cave. "Kapp supposedly destroyed the plans. He must have
sealed them in Kremlagite and left them here."
As he grasped the cube, this time with firm resolve, he looked
around the chamber again, hoping to see the ghostly form of Kapp
hovering before him.
"I won't let the Bellikans have them."
He hoisted the cube from the rock and began to exit the cave
with lightning speed.
106.
As the Bellikan shuttle circled slowly about the remains of the
Council outpost, the pilot saw that the smoke was clearing,
affording the cameras a good view. The infrared cameras were
useless, because of the heat radiating from the blast.
Switching on the recorder, Roj saw that the lens was trained on
large sections of metal structure, which gleamed dully in the
sunlight. Behind the twisted metal, he saw layers of ceramic
which had formed the floor of the base.
Just then, the pilot heard a buzz from the communications
transceiver, and he grabbed the hand piece.
"This is shuttle 1, Commander Enjai speaking."
"This is base. We just began monitoring a pulsed signal. It
is not from any of our vessels."
"What kind of signal?"
"A regularly pulsed beacon, with a period of about 0.1 seconds.
It originates approximately six miles southeast of your present
location. You are ordered to investigate the nature of the
signal. We believe it may denote the location of any Council
spies who escaped from the outpost."
The pilot grew tense, wondering if the base commander felt that
they had telegraphed their approach, allowing the spies to
escape.
"Since we have not monitored any vessels other than shuttle 1,
the spies must have left the outpost long before your arrival."
The pilot breathed a sigh of relief.
"This beacon is transmitting in hyperspatial modes, leading us
to believe that this is some sort of long range distress signal.
If that is the case, perhaps they will be easier targets once
you arrive there. Now feeding precise coordinates and terrain
maps to onboard computer."
The computer screen indicated that the data had been received
and processed.
"Shuttle 1, now heading for new target. Estimate arrival in
three minutes. I feel we should proceed on magnetic drive, and
cloaked, so that we can catch them off guard."
"We concur. Base out."
The pilot switched off the cameras and activated the magnetic
drive. The shuttle veered to port and traced its way slowly and
silently towards the signal, now registering on their onboard
sensing system.
107.
"What the hell is that?" Mushlik exclaimed, rushing to the
signal processing system which buzzed and whistled loudly.
Tanaria rushed with her father to the boxlike device, topped
with the antenna array.
"Maybe it's the Corona, sending us a signal!" Tanaria said
anxiously. "Could they be here already?"
"No, no!" her father bellowed. Mushlik held the miniature
microphone which was attached to the side of the monitoring
system.
"Describe the nature and direction of the signal" he asked the
onboard computer.
"Signal is 500 watts, 2.5 hyperspatial band. Simple pulsed
beacon, period of 0.12 seconds. Originates from 1.5 miles,
azimuth 175 degrees."
"Good God!" Mushlik screamed. "What is that man doing? He'll
give us all away!"
Tanaria collected her thoughts and suddenly realized that her
father was right. Somehow, Mark was sending that signal. She
also knew that it didn't match any of the characteristics of his
personal emergency transmitter.
"Wait!" she hollered, as Mushlik began collecting a small pack
of emergency gear. "Where are you going?"
"To rescue him, and turn off the blasted thing, before the
Bellikans find him!"
With that, they grabbed a small pack, filled with first aid
supplies. They strapped pistols to their belts and switched on
their personal cloakers.
108.
Mark scrambled through the passageway, bouncing his shoulders
from the cave walls. He fell several times before reaching the
low portion of the passage, and he rolled the Kremlagite cube
ahead of him and fell onto his knees.
The humming noise had by now become a rumble, and dust filled
the passage behind him. As he cleared the low ceiling and
grabbed the cube, he continued charging up the gentle slope. A
flicker of blue light shone on his face as he ran, and he looked
down to his signal monitor, strapped to his belt. It was
flashing warning messages to him. He stopped for a couple
seconds, trying to read the full message which was printed on
the tiny screen.
"Hyperspatial signal" it flashed on the first line, followed by
"Range: 0.2 meters."
He spun around, terrified as the cave came apart around him.
As Mark held the cube next to himself, he saw the message
change to "Range: 0.11 meters."
"Oh no!" he shouted. Switching on his personal cloaker, he
held the cube against his chest, hoping that it would help to
conceal the signal beaming from the cube.
Resuming his dash for the access tunnel, he saw the cavernous
chamber up ahead, where the passage widened and a dim patch of
light was visible on the cave floor. Small chunks of rock fell
onto him as he continued, and he heard a loud crunch behind
himself.
As he began choking in the dust, he felt the rim of the tunnel
above him, and he tossed the cube into the exit passage, quickly
climbing upward. His feet found good footing on the rocks at
the base of the tunnel, and he began the ascent, now holding the
cube as closely as possible to the cloaking field generator
nodes.
The ascent was painful, mostly from the sharp corners of the
cube, which dug into his ribs and neck as he climbed. The layer
of dust rose with him, and he couldn't hear himself scream as
the cave ceiling gave way, creating a prodigious vibration that
nearly sent him back down the tunnel. Cracks appeared in the
tunnel walls, and he focused his thoughts on the circle of
skylight that he saw, now less than fifty feet away.
"Please!" he shouted. "Let me live! Kapp, help me! Why did
you bring me here in the first place, you son-of-a-bitch? To
die?"
The rumbling slowly subsided, but he still shook with fear,
forgetting the wounds which bled patches of red into his shirt.
Looking upward, Mark saw that freedom was close at hand. The
blue sky beckoned him upward, and he felt nauseous from the
exertion of this climb. The signal monitor was still flashing
its warning, but Mark knew that this was natural, since the
device was inside the perimeter of the cloaking field, along
with the cube's signal generator.
As he felt the first hint of warm air from above, he swallowed
hard, trying to clear the dust which had coated his throat. His
body was covered with brown dirt and mud, and he felt small bits
of gravel in his eyes. He boosted himself those last several
feet, and his head poked up through the opening. He breathed in
the hot wind and emerged completely from the hole, rolling onto
his side as he struggled to catch his breath.
"It's so hot out here" he thought. He rolled onto his back,
the cube on his chest, wrapped tightly in his bruised and
bleeding arms.
He smelled a strong chemical odor, and the wind rose. Flipping
down his infrared sensor, he strained his eyes through the layer
of dirt encrusting it. Mark's eyes widened as he saw the
wedge-shaped Bellikan shuttle, moving slowly towards him, less
than twenty feet off the ground.
He struggled to a kneeling position, facing away from the
shuttle to minimize the visibility of the cube. Then he stood,
feeling his knees ache with incredible pain. As he began
running amongst the boulders, he decided to make for the nearest
trees, now only fifty feet to his right. The ground suddenly
exploded next to him, and he fell to the ground. Another blast
just missed him, and large chunks of rock smashed his right leg.
Rolling onto his back, the cube tumbled to the ground and
stopped several feet away from him.
He watched the shuttle descend, the trees shimmering through
the heat from the engine exhaust. As he watched the cube, he
knew that the they were monitoring its signal. A hatch raised
from the center of the spacecraft, and Mark prayed for help.
109.
Mushlik hadn't run this far in years. Tanaria was doing
better, and she occasionally slowed down to let her father catch
up. They came to a fork in the path, and Mushlik read the
scanner again, which indicated that a large craft was now only
800 feet to the southeast. This was also the point of origin of
the rhythmic beacon that he had monitored, and he stopped in his
tracks. Tanaria had already taken the right fork, but she
stopped and watched her father.
"This way! We must take the left path!"
He gasped for air and began running again, and Tanaria followed
him, as they began ascending a gentle slope.
"Switch on cloaker!"
As they vanished from view, Tanaria watched the indentations
made by her father's shoes in the grass. Up ahead, they heard
the dull roar of spacecraft engines.
110.
Mark had made it to his feet and was running for cover when he
felt a violent shove from behind himself. As he fell to the
ground, he saw sparkles of light dancing about his visible body.
He recovered from the shock to see the sparks of light vanish,
leaving his cloaker completely inoperative. He checked the
power indicator and saw that the control unit had blown, now
only a scorched, metal box attached to his belt. Mark climbed
slowly to his feet again. As he turned, he saw two metal clad
Bellikans walking towards him. They covered several feet with
each stride, aided by motors within the metal suits. He saw the
yellow faces behind their faceplates, and both held large
rifles, aimed in his direction as they proceeded.
Turning to run again, he heard a raspy voice, coming from the
Bellikan's external speaker. With his own translator shut off,
Mark assumed that the Bellikans were ordering him to halt. He
began running again, this time parallel to the edge of the
forest, and he dove over a large boulder, crashing to the ground
behind it as he heard a whistling noise.
The top of the boulder exploded, and hot gravel sprayed onto
his back. He fought back his impulse to scream, realizing that
the rock had just saved his life. Mark heard the crunching of
their boots grow louder, and he grabbed his pistol and switched
it to the maximum power setting. Crawling to one edge of the
rock, he could see the Bellikan spacecraft while still remaining
out of view of the soldiers.
"If I try to fire on them, they'll fry me" he thought.
He aimed the pistol into the cockpit windows at the front of
the shuttlecraft. Pulling the trigger, the gun emitted a loud
crack, and the front of the shuttle erupted in a shower of
sparks.
As the sparks dispersed, he aimed for the same spot, now
visible as a blackened dent in the shuttle's hull, and he fired
again.
Something exploded as the energy pulse penetrated the hull.
Amid the crackle of metal fragments tearing free of the hull, he
heard loud voices squawking. Mark rolled down the slope, trying
to keep the boulder in their line of fire.
His intuition was correct, as the entire boulder suddenly
exploded. Chunks of rock were spinning over his head and
rolling by him, smoldering and black from the rifle blasts.
"Mark!" he heard. "Hurry, they're right behind you!"
He spun his head forward, suddenly realizing he had heard the
voice of Mushlik over his earphone. He threw the black cube
ahead of himself, and it continued rolling down the hillside.
Ahead and to his left, he saw Mushlik's head poking above a
ledge of rock. Mark heard the Bellikans gaining on him.
Mark thought of leaping into the air, taking flight over the
ledge of rock, not knowing whether he would fall two or twenty
feet on the other side, since heavy brush was growing near the
edge. He heard a loud crackling sound, followed instantly by an
explosion behind him. More crackling erupted near Mushlik, and
another explosion knocked Mark to the ground.
As he turned, he saw that the faceplate of one of the Bellikan
soldiers had been shot out, and the huge, metal clad soldier lay
motionless on the ground.
The other soldier was struggling to stand, a blackened hole
punched through the center of the metal suit's torso. Mark
checked his pistol's energy charge, finding that it was down to
twenty percent, good for one more full power blast.
Aiming it directly at the Bellikan's head, he pulled the
trigger, and the soldier was knocked violently backward to the
ground, bits of glass and metal scattering about him. Mark felt
hands grabbing his legs and shoulders. He looked up into the
faces of Mushlik and Tanaria, who carried him awkwardly those
last several steps, down over the rocky ledge.
Laying him in the grass, Mushlik and Tanaria turned from him
and looked over the ledge. Mushlik aimed a rifle at the
shuttle. After several pulls of the trigger, the front of the
craft exploded violently, crumpling the port landing gear, so
that one half of the wedge now lay on the ground. Smoke poured
from the cockpit.
"Let's get out of here" Mushlik said.
111.
Lira stopped when she heard a loud explosion, somewhere far
ahead. Etar also listened, his expression becoming very serious.
"What was that?" she asked.
Etar didn't say a word, as he stood and stared straight ahead,
at a cloud of black smoke that was now rising into the air.
Another explosion, this one much louder, caused the ground to
shake, and they saw a rolling cloud of flame rising into the
sky. The cloud of fire faded into the black mushroom cap, which
rolled and rumbled higher into the sky.
Several people, whom they had found camping in the forest and
were now traveling with them, fell to the ground, kneeling with
their faces in their hands. Lira turned to Etar, convinced that
he knew what was happening.
"What is it? Is it Kerone?"
Etar turned his face slightly towards Lira, keeping his eyes
focused on the rising cloud.
"No" he whispered. "We must go there. Now."
He stepped forward, and Lira grabbed the back of his sleeve.
"Wait a minute. Perhaps those are more Cinrekkians."
"The Cinrekkian soldiers are not involved. Only you and I
should go, however. Tell the others to stay and await our
return."
In his trance-like state, Etar began walking further along the
path. Lira told those accompanying them to wait, and she ran to
catch up with Etar, who was now walking very quickly down a
slope in the path.
Soon, he began running, dodging thorny branches that swung at
him in the breeze. The path made a turn to the right, and they
ran up a small hill. Etar had abandoned the path, and he
occasionally lost his footing in the tall, waxy grass. Lira
struggled to keep up with him, and she was terrified at what
could have driven him to this. She heard an intense fire up
ahead, and they soon topped the hill. Lira stepped back,
wide-eyed at what lay before her.
A great wedge of metal was on fire, torn in half by the
explosion that had made the ground shake. Hot flames poured
from openings at the front of the wedge, and smoldering wreckage
was strewn for hundreds of feet in all directions. She turned
to her left, seeing that Etar had not slowed his pace upon
reaching clearing, and she shouted to him as she tried to catch
up with him.
He was running down the hillside, interspersed with rocky
ledges and boulders. Lira watched him run by two giant, metal
statues, lying motionless on the ground. As she neared the
statues, she remembered the words spoken by some of the
villagers, who had claimed that a minion of Kerone had appeared
before them.
Terror filled her as she skirted the minions. Etar was still
about fifty feet ahead of her, his cloak rippling in the breeze
as he reached the edge of the clearing. He stepped down slowly,
and Lira could now see only his head and chest.
She finally reached the tall grass, in which Etar was kneeling,
his face somber. Lira stepped into the grass and heard a
moaning sound, as of an animal in pain.
"They are badly hurt" Etar said. "All three of them. But they
are still alive."
Lira took another step forward and almost fainted. There were
three beings, like people, but pale in color. Their faces and
proportions were all wrong, but, by their length on the ground,
Lira knew that they were very tall.
One had a massive open wound in its side, and dark, red liquid
was pouring in a steady stream onto the ground. Another, one
with grayish hair, was unconscious, its arm twisted strangely as
though it were broken. The third, one with long, brown hair,
was writhing in pain on the ground, its skin scorched, perhaps
from the heat of the explosion.
"Who are they?" Lira asked, trembling with fear.
"They are not of this world. I think they were battling with
the others lying on the ground, in the clearing."
"The others are minions of Kerone. Some of the villagers saw
one like them. It tried to kill them."
"These three are not of Kerone. They need our help."
Lira watched in amazement as Etar placed his hands onto the
open wound and whispered quietly to the creature. It groaned
and opened its eyes, and they grew wide with fear. Etar looked
peacefully into those of the alien, and he removed his hands,
now covered with blood.
"I need your help, Lira. Tend to the older one."
She surmised that he meant the one with the gray, thinning
hair. Its skin was more worn and wrinkled than that of the
others. Lira knelt down next to the being and placed her hands
on his arm, moving it around until it was straight. She prayed
for the healing power of Lamper and felt the arm growing warm.
The creature began to stir.
The younger one, with long brown hair, was slowly regaining
consciousness. Etar had laid his hands on its forehead, and it
stopped writhing in pain, opening its eyes. Its mouth trembled,
as if it were going to speak. It reached down to its waist and
pulled a small metal cylinder towards its mouth, connected by a
black rope to the box fastened to the creature's belt.
Then Lira heard it speak, its words strained and airy. The
words were impossible to understand, but then she heard her own
language, in a dry, monotone voice, speaking to her.
"We need help" the voice said. "Please take us back to our
camp. We can all find protection there."
Etar marveled at how the strange creature spoke their language,
and he looked to Lira.
"Let's help them."
Etar helped the long-haired one slowly to its feet, and Lira
noticed what appeared to be two breasts, beneath its clothing.
Lira walked up next to it and steadied it from falling.
"I am Lira" she said. "Are you a woman?"
"Yes" the dry voice replied. "I am Tanaria. Thank you for
your help."
The older one was now sitting up on its elbows, holding a
cylinder to its mouth, like the woman had done.
"I am Payter. We are here as your friends. This man, named
Mark, is hurt badly. We must get him back to our camp, just
north of here. Will you help us?"
"Yes" Etar said.
Payter pressed something into his ear, a spongy mass, anchored
to a metal headband that he was wearing, and he smiled at them.
As Mushlik stood with Etar's help, he began walking, as though
he were searching for something. His foot struck a solid
object, and he bent over and placed his hands in midair.
"We must take this with us" he said.
Etar stood back as Mushlik picked up the object. Some
invisible force flattened his shirt against his chest. Etar
stepped forward and placed his hands onto the invisible object.
Lira heard a rubbing sound as he moved his hands, and she
followed suit, feeling a cool, smooth surface. Tracing her
hands around the surface, she felt sharp corners, realizing that
Payter was holding some kind of invisible box.
Tanaria and Mushlik unrolled a woven mat on the ground and
lifted Mark onto it. They hoisted the flexible pallet from both
ends and began walking down the hill.
"Let's go" Etar said. They both followed, dizzy with amazement
at what they were witnessing.
112.
Grob had been observing the departure of an evacuation shuttle
when the message came over his personal channel.
"We've lost the shuttle."
"Which shuttle?" Grob asked, filled with rage.
"The patrol ship. It had just found and destroyed the Council
outpost when we monitored the hyperspatial beacon. It went to
investigate."
"Well?"
"We received a transmission from the shuttle. The pilot
indicated that the signal was coming from underground, and that
he had found a hole blasted into the ground. I personally
advised the shuttle to touch down, so that the crewmen could
investigate the source of the signal, using the subterranean
entrance to access the signal with their portable sensing
equipment. They did so, and then we lost their signal."
Grob paced along the edge of the loading area, straining to
hear above the shuttle's engines as they powered up for flight.
"In another hour, the destroyer will be here. They can help us
deal with the Council problem!"
He thought he heard his officer's voice over the speaker, but
he turned it off, just as the shuttle lifted off from the deck
and moved slowly towards the hatch, bound for orbit around
Dalthigia. There, it would rendezvous with the destroyer Abrax.
113.
Mark remembered being dragged and then carried by his
girlfriend and her father, over a ledge and down a hill. He
remembered his disorientation and hearing Mushlik's reassuring
words. He knew that he had recovered the cube and narrowly
escaped death in the cave. The cube was in their hands, and he
knew that, for the moment, they had escaped the clutches of the
Bellikans.
Looking up into Tanaria's face, he felt warm, knowing that she
loved him and that he loved her. And then, in a bright flash
which suddenly lit the sky around her face, everything went
dark. He recalled feeling a tremendous blast of heat and
something ramming him in the side. As he struggled to regain
consciousness, he felt the incredible pain in his side, a pain
that grew much more intense as he tried to twist free of it.
Then he experienced something even stranger.
He heard words of another language, produced by an inhuman
voice. He felt his side growing warm, then hot. The heat
masked the intense pain. He felt peace, washing away every
worry.
The heat subsided after several minutes, and, as it did, he
noticed that the pain did not return. Instead, he felt tired
and weak. Opening his eyes, he felt frightened at who was
looking at him from above.
A Dalthigian male hovered over him, gazing with a peaceful
expression into his eyes. He moved to the side, and he saw
Tanaria and Mushlik, scorched and bruised by whatever had
incapacitated him, and he heard them speaking with one or more
Dalthigians, using their language translators.
Then he was being lifted onto a stretcher and carried from the
scene. Soon, the deep green of the forest trees stretched above
him. The sounds of birds filled his ears, and he felt tired,
too tired to talk or remain aware of his surroundings. Mark
fell asleep.
114.
Mushlik raised the microphone to his mouth and spoke softly to
Etar and Lira. "We are close now to our camp. Only a little
further."
Lira still felt like this was all a dream, meeting beings that
she feared were demons, and then thought of as angels. Seeing
them injured and bleeding made her realize that these creatures,
whoever they were, were flesh and blood.
Their blood was a different color, but they were mortal. When
she saw this about them, she felt more at ease. As they carried
the bleeding one to safety, Lira realized that the power of
Lamper could heal not only Mishrians and Cinrekkians, but beings
as different from her as these three.
"Who are you?" Lira finally asked them, as they moved over the
forest floor.
"We are friends from another place, a place you have never nor
will ever see" Mushlik replied.
"What place? Across the oceans?"
"In a way, yes. We are from far away, but we are your friends."
Tanaria decided to take the initiative.
"The others, the two clad in armor that you saw near the fire,
they are our enemies. They are from far away, like us. They
have been helping the Cinrekkians."
Etar looked up at her with a start.
"How do they help them?"
"They have given the Cinrekkians weapons of great power, to
help crush the revolt against their rule."
Lira looked blankly at her.
"Why would they do this?"
"It is so complicated. We don't understand fully, but they
were working together, against the people of Mishria."
"Are you here to help Mishria? Are you to liberate us?" Lira
asked.
"No" Mushlik replied, glancing quickly at Tanaria as he spoke.
"But we know that the other foreigners are wrong to help the
Cinrekkians, and they will soon face harsh judgment, possibly
war, for what they have done."
"When will this judgment happen?" Lira asked.
"Soon" Tanaria replied. "Probably in a few days."
"I know you are of Lamper" Etar said. "You are not of this
world."
Mushlik stopped again, straightening his back. "You are right,
Etar. We are here to watch your people, to learn from them.
Little did I know that the power of Lamper would heal us,
through your hands. Thank you."
Etar smiled at them, and Lira watched him closely.
They continued on for another half hour, until, at last, they
reached camp.
115.
The Bellikan destroyer Kandek attained orbit around Dalthigia,
immediately signaling the base that the evacuation could be
completed. Grob was relieved upon the arrival of a true
destroyer, since the weaponry onboard the Abrax had largely been
stripped, allowing it to serve as a transport vessel. He knew
that dealing with the Kandek's commander would not be easy.
Base commander Grob then spoke with the captain of the Kandek,
briefing him on the presence of the Council force and the series
of events which had led up to the destruction of two
shuttlecraft. Both agreed, following this discussion, that a
small battle force, consisting of several reconnaissance and
fighter craft, should be dispatched to the region around the
city of Moga, specifically in the forest regions to the
southeast.
This was done within several hours. It was first necessary to
load terrain maps into the flight computers of the spacecraft,
and the base officers briefed the pilots. They departed from the
Bellikan base, cloaked and flying slowly to avoid detection by
both the Council soldiers and the Dalthigians.
116.
Mark felt several pricks in his right arm. When he opened his
eyes, he saw that Tanaria was pulling an intravenous injector
away from him.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
"Very weak" he replied. "Better than before, but still weak."
She was kneeling on the ground, gently tousling his hair
between her fingers. She bent over and kissed him on the
forehead.
"These stimulants and rejuvenators should have you back into
shape in no time. Your injuries are already healed, though
there are still some scars, on your side."
Mark remembered the feeling of warmth. He remembered Etar
looking into his eyes.
"He healed me, didn't he?"
"Yes."
Mark rolled his head to the left. There was Mushlik,
conversing through his translator with Etar.
"He is the prophet we observed being questioned at the Mishrian
palace. His companion, a woman named Lira, believes him to be
the Rellaj, the holy one sent by Lamper."
As Etar spoke to Mushlik, he fixed his gaze on Mark, smiling
when he knew that Mark was looking back at him.
"You realize we've now interfered with the Dalthigian culture"
Mark said.
"Yes, but we were unconscious when they found us. Etar claims
that he felt our pain, just after seeing the explosion of the
Bellikan shuttle. At least only two of them have seen us. This
is nothing like the cultural poisoning induced by the Bellikans."
"True. How long are they staying? I guess your dad is looking
at this as a golden opportunity."
"Don't you see it that way, too?"
"I guess so."
Lira was now speaking into Mushlik's recorder, recounting her
personal history, especially the beginning of the Cinrekkian
invasion of Mishria. She spoke more freely than Etar, becoming
impassioned at times, waving her arms about to convey the drama
of what she had experienced. After a while, Mushlik embraced
Etar and Lira. Neither of them reached the level of his
shoulders, and Mark marveled at their grace. Etar walked over
to Mark and extended his hands. Mark sat up slowly, placing his
hands into Etar's.
"Thank you."
Etar merely smiled.
"Farewell, and may the grace and power of Lamper be with you"
Etar said.
"And with you also" Mark replied.
As Etar exchanged the gesture, Lira stepped forward and bade
them both good-bye. As Lira stood next to Etar, Mark knew that
they would tell no one of what they had encountered. Though
they could never understand the technological wizardry that
surrounded them at the camp, they accepted that there were
fellow creatures in need. He hoped that Earthlings would
someday be so tolerant.
With that, Etar and Lira left the camp, disappearing
noiselessly into the forest. Mushlik and Tanaria sat down next
to Mark, who was feeling his side and examining what had almost
been a mortal wound.
"I envy you so much" Mushlik said.
"I have never been healed in such a way" Mark replied. "I
cannot explain my feelings. I'm half dazed by the whole thing,
and still a little weak."
"Despite the fact that we are still alive" Tanaria began, "we
know that the Bellikans will be utterly enraged by what we've
done. No doubt they're sending out quite a strike force. What
are our chances of remaining hidden here for several days?
We're less than a mile from the wreckage."
"You're absolutely right" Mushlik said. "Let's pack up camp
and get out of here. We can leave our recording equipment here.
Let's take the memory modules, to preserve all the data we've
gathered, but those cameras and recorders are too heavy.
Besides, the more we're carrying, the more quickly we'll use up
our cloaker power supplies."
Mushlik gathered the essentials together, unpacking a new
personal cloaker system. "We have one more spare" he said.
"Let's pray we still have enough battery power until help
arrives."
"How much longer?" Mark asked.
"At least two days, I'm sure. I hope that our rescue ship is
well armed. You can bet your life that the Bellikans are
evacuating their base. They have to load a huge amount of
equipment, requiring a large ship to do so. And we know that
Bellikan ships are usually heavily armed."
"Are you well enough to walk yet?" Mushlik asked.
"I have to be" Mark replied, slowly staggering to his feet.
After packing their gear and rigging a new cloaker system for
Mark, they headed to the southeast.
117.
"Where have you been?" a man asked as Etar walked towards him.
Lira saw that about a third of the group had disappeared,
presumably tired of awaiting their return.
"There were some up ahead, in need of help. They are close
friends of mine."
"Did they make the great ball of fire that rose into the sky?"
the man asked.
"No, but they saw it and were very frightened."
"Did you see Kerone?"
The others in the group looked to Etar, anxious for him to
answer.
"Why would you think that?"
"We were talking, and none of us could think of anything else
to explain the ball of fire. It rose from the earth, in a cloud
of black smoke. Is this Kerone itself, rising from Hell to
destroy us?"
"No, and if Kerone were to rise from Hell, do you think it
would have any power over those who follow Lamper?"
The man looked around at his fellow travelers for an answer.
When there were none, he shrugged.
"Of course not" Etar answered for him. "Good is always
victorious over evil. If you wear the seal of the salvation of
Lamper, then no power of darkness can touch you. Now let's go.
It will be dark soon, and we must at least reach the main road
by then."
"How far do we have to go?" Lira asked.
"Probably about another four hours" Etar replied. He began
walking, and the followers, grumbling amongst themselves about
Etar's terse explanation of his delay, slowly stood and followed
him.
Etar led them further to the north. To their right, a thin
column of smoke still rose into the air, and they smelled
something burning.
"The fire, it still burns" a woman said as she saw the smoke.
"Perhaps we should go to see what happened."
Etar stopped and turned to her.
"We have only a little time until dark, and we must reach the
road."
She looked at him suspiciously.
"What is up there? Why do you hide it from us?"
"I seek nothing but to help those of our people in need, to the
north. We must get there as soon as possible."
"I am going to see what is there, on top of the hill!" the
woman proclaimed. "Who is going with me?"
Two young men stepped forward.
"We're not afraid" they said. "Perhaps there is some power
there that you keep for yourself. We will find out."
"Any others?" the woman asked.
No one else stepped forward, so she turned, and the three of
them began walking up the grassy hillside.
"Here are Etar's footsteps" she said. "They are still fresh in
the ground. Let's see what he really found up here."
She said this towards Etar, trying to take on more recruits to
accompany them. When she saw this was futile, she began talking
to her companions.
"Let's go" Etar said. "We haven't much time."
Etar and Lira continued down the path, and the others followed,
some standing their ground for a moment, watching them ascend
the slope. When they had disappeared into the brush, the
remainder of the followers took up after Etar.
118.
"They are foolish. We have seen the power that this man has.
If he went to meet Kerone, perhaps it is by its power that he
performs these miracles."
"I agree" one of the young men said.
"What is your name?" the woman asked.
The taller one, the first to step forward at her challenge,
answered.
"I am Diono, and he is my brother, Ishak. Who are you?"
"My name is Krolia. I am a mystic, having studied the art for
over twenty years. I knew Etar as a boy, and he had no miracles
up his sleeve then. Somehow he gained that power, and I've been
following him, trying to watch his every move in the city. Now
I realize that his source of power, if it be Kerone, must keep
its face hidden. What better place then, than well beyond the
city, here in the forest?"
The two men looked worriedly at one another.
"If Etar has this power, then I shall have it too, and be much
the greater, since I am already versed in sorcery and
spell-casting."
The smell of burning gave way to a sizzling sound, as though
something were being cooked over a fire. The wind changed
direction for a minute, and a thin cloud of smoke blew over
them. They coughed in the stench.
"That isn't wood or grass burning. Did you ever smell such a
thing?" Krolia asked. The other two were silent.
At last they topped the hill and broke through a wall of brush.
They stood now on a flat boulder, about two feet high. She
walked to the center of the large rock and pointed at the
burning wreckage.
"There! That is no campfire!"
She trembled as she pointed, and the men were afraid. One of
them pointed to the left.
"There! What are they? Giants?"
They saw the giant, metal suits, scorched and punctured.
Krolia jumped down from the rock and began running towards them.
"Wait!" they cried together. She continued on.
Just then, Diono and Ishak felt a rumble. They jumped off the
rock and tried to hide in the tall grass.
Krolia soon noticed the disturbance also, turning just in time
to see the massive, winged demon materialize in midair. Falling
to the ground, she bowed to the great wedge of metal, with
glowing eyes and a breath of fire.
The Bellikans opened fire on her, causing her to explode.
Training their guns on the other two, they fired several shots.
The blue pulses of light engulfed them and the boulder, killing
them instantly and pulverizing the rock.
The weapons officer sensed no further infrared signatures in
the area, so the ship settled down. In a matter of minutes,
they had stowed the dead soldiers in the hold of the shuttle.
Lifting off the ground, the shuttle skimmed across the ground
until it hovered over the smoldering wreckage of the ship. They
doused the flames with a mist of chemicals. The pilot set up a
magnetic attraction field, and the shuttle moved slowly skyward,
lifting the bulk of the wreckage with it. Unable to cloak
themselves due to the massive power consumption, the vessel rose
into a layer of clouds and limped slowly back to base.
119.
Mark felt puzzled for a moment.
"I still can't believe that your former colleague was the
greatest physicist in the galaxy!"
"I too find it incredible, but there can be no other
explanation" Mushlik said. "The two were one and the same. It
is consistent with his secrecy of the cave explorations during
the last expedition, and it also explains his sudden
disappearance."
"He went to Earth then" Tanaria said. "He buried the plans
here, since he felt safe on the Corona. Also, the Corona
ventures to many primitive worlds for research purposes."
"Yes, working for our Captain, Kapp would have known about the
Corona, her missions, capabilities, et cetera. He was probably
planning to use the Corona for his getaway all along, if it ever
came to that, at least near the end of the antimatter generator
project." Mushlik continued.
"How did he get to Earth, though?" Mark asked.
"I bet his assistant, Gottlieb, knew of Aron's, I mean, Kapp's
plans. He probably followed him to Earth. Perhaps he helped
Kapp hollow out the cave. By the date of construction, it must
have happened while people were using your observatory. I'm
amazed he was able to pull it off."
"Why there, though?" Tanaria asked. "Why not in the middle of a
desert, where the chances of finding it would be much more
remote?"
"It must be that he was in trouble. Perhaps his health was
failing, or he was being tailed, and he had to bury the thing as
soon as possible. Maybe that's where he first landed on earth."
"That sounds reasonable, Payter" Mark said. "If he had
possessed complete mobility, he most certainly would not have
buried it in such a populated area."
"Along another vein," Tanaria said, "is there a chance that he
might still be alive, somehow blending in with the native
Earthlings?"
Mark's eyes lit up. "That would be incredible! Perhaps we
could return and find him! Think of the stories he could tell
us!"
"With his ability to pull off the concealment of both
kremlagite cubes, while being trailed by Bellikan intelligence,
he's probably fairly immune to us. Because he buried the cube
on Earth where he did, it's my supposition that he is dead.
Perhaps he even killed himself, sensing that enemy agents were
nearby."
Tanaria continued her father's thoughts. "The Bellikans, like
the Council, have advanced ways of tapping into the thoughts of
a prisoner. With their disregard for life, they would have
killed him trying to extract the information."
"Certain other factors in my dealings with him also hang
together" Mushlik said. "Like the scars on his face. Hell, he
must have just had some cosmetic surgery done. If he was
getting too panicky, he probably hadn't let the wounds heal
properly before beginning his expedition to this world.
Somehow, either he or some contact operating in collusion with
him must have altered his records as well as possible. I'm no
expert in falsification of records, but whoever helped him out
must have been very accomplished."
Mark thought of some kid on Earth trying to change his year of
birth on a driver's license, to get served in a bar. He laughed
to himself, thinking of the absurd similarities.
Mushlik looked at his watch. "We'd better check the cloaker's
power supply. We don't want to let the Bellikans hear that
signal again."
"How can we check the cloaker's battery power level if the
whole thing is invisible?" Mark asked. "Won't we have to
uncloak the cube?"
"That would be disastrous" Tanaria said. If its signal is
permitted to flow freely for just a second, the Bellikans will
catch up with us in no time."
"Quite right" Mushlik said. He unpacked a new power supply.
Holding it in his hand, he unrolled the power cable and held the
three pronged connector between his fingertips. As Mark held
the cube, Mushlik felt over its top surface, finding the
cloaking field generator, anchored via a metal strap to the cube.
"There are two power supply inputs."
As Mushlik felt for the second power input hole, the innermost
quarter inch of his hand vanished within the cloaking field.
"There!" he said at last. "Let's hope everything works."
He removed the original power jack, and the cube remained
invisible. He breathed a sigh of relief and undid the partially
spent battery pack. As he pulled it away from the cube, Mark
saw that the power meter was still at about twenty percent.
"Better safe than sorry" Mushlik said as he held the power
indicator so that Mark and Tanaria could read it. "Well, let's
continue."
They were walking in complete darkness now. As a result, they
had switched off their personal cloakers. The danger lay in
that, even with their cloakers on, their infrared signatures
would still be visible to the Bellikan scanners. With the aid
of the infrared visors, the terrain was completely discernible.
They crossed a small stream and continued up the next ridge.
The terrain was becoming progressively more ragged, as they
crossed foothill after foothill, slowly approaching the Sethena
Mountains.
Earlier geological analysis had revealed the mountain range to
be very old. Their rolling slopes were mostly tree covered,
with heights topping about five thousand feet from base to
summit. The valleys between the ridges were becoming more
densely foliated, as they were approaching the Pelosian Sea,
still about forty miles to the south.
There were no roads or paths in these foothills, making their
progress slower through the thickening vegetation. When they
heard the rumble of thunder in the distance, Mark swore under
his breath. He was the first to break out his raincoat, and
Mushlik and Tanaria soon followed suit, as flashes of lightning
lit up the sky. Thunder rolled over the mountains and through
the valleys, and Mark occasionally removed his visor, to watch
the flashes of lightning bathe the forest in an eerie glow.
Though they had no clearly defined positional objective, the
general idea was to get deep into the rain forest valleys, only
about ten miles further, where the vegetation and wildlife would
be dense enough to mask their presence from surveillance.
Due to exhaustion, Mark was taking stimulant pills. The
dizziness induced by the drug was beginning to take its toll,
however, and Tanaria had to help him across fallen trees, as he
had lost his balance several times already.
"We will have to be very careful about interpreting any signals
that our emergency beacon detects" Mushlik said. "The Bellikans
might send out their own signal, trying to mimic that emitted by
a Council vessel. They would hope to trick us into switching on
our beacon."
"How can we know?" Mark asked.
"The processor within the beacon should be able to tell the
difference, assuming that the Bellikans haven't figured out how
to precisely duplicate the signals. Unfortunately, this system
doesn't require the transmission of a particular password or
code to identify the nature of the sender."
"Right" Tanaria interjected. "These beacons are meant for use
in nonmilitary applications. It's assumed that the beacons
would only be used in friendly environments. For military use,
the beacons are always equipped with code verification systems."
Mark shivered at the thought of saying "Hello out there, here
we are!" to the Bellikans, only to watch in horror as they
descended from the sky to destroy them.
"Can we rest for the night?" Mark asked. "I'm completely
exhausted. I can't go another mile, let alone another ten."
"I suppose we'll have to. There's no way we can carry you such
a distance over this kind of terrain. There's a really dense
stand of trees up ahead, with overhanging vines. That should be
good enough cover."
"When I'm mentally recovered" Mark said, "we have to discuss
the experience of being healed."
They stopped in their tracks.
"I was hoping you would wish to discuss it soon" Mushlik said.
Tanaria put her hand on Mushlik's shoulder. "But, in his usual
way, he waits for the person with the information to voluntarily
discuss it."
"Quite right" Mushlik said. "I bet you never thought that you
yourself would be one of the subjects of our expedition."
Mark remembered the warmth he had felt, both physical and
spiritual, as Etar had laid his hands upon his wounds. He felt
the psychological echoes of that moment.
"Then we'd better wait until you've rested a little" Tanaria
said, seeing the look on Mark's face.
"Perhaps. But I don't want to forget the experience. It's
still fresh in my mind. I already can't remember many details,
probably because of my injuries. I've never been closer to
death, at least not that I know."
"Many" Mushlik said, "believe that the person being healed must
have faith in the process. In your case, you were hardly
conscious. There's no way you could have known what was
happening."
"Then Etar, the prophet, or the Rellaj, as Lira called him,
must have that power within him."
"Lira does as well" Tanaria said. "She laid hands on me, and
my pain vanished. I didn't understand what she was doing. I
consider it a miracle."
Mark looked at her suddenly.
"What's wrong?" she asked, putting her arm around him.
"I've always resisted using that word. The Bible is full of
miracles, instances where there is no physical explanation for
what happened, when a supernatural power, beyond our physical
perceptions, must have been at work."
"Ah" Mushlik said, "You don't think miracles can still happen
today. They only happened long ago."
Mark blushed.
"Okay, okay" Mark said, looking into Tanaria's eyes. "It was a
miracle. It's a miracle of Lamper that I'm alive."
120.
The air was cool, and the clouds thinned enough to allow the
moonlight to light their way. Far up ahead, the tops of the
trees were edged in a faint glow.
"There, the village."
As Lira pointed to the light, she was relieved to no longer see
flickering, orange flames.
"Some of the homes must still be standing" Etar said. "At
least the soldiers spared something. Thanks to Lamper."
Lira felt a growing excitement, of returning to her village and
meeting up with friends and relatives. The loss of her
immediate family made it imperative that she reestablish bonds
of familiarity.
"I pray that my aunt Fia is still alive!" Lira said. Etar
heard the trembling in her voice.
"Etar?"
"Yes?"
"Did you know the strange foreigners who we healed? Before we
saw them, I mean."
"No."
"How did you know that they needed help? I saw you run
straight past the armored ones."
"I felt it, Lira. That's the only way I know to describe it.
I sensed them, by feeling the pain they were experiencing.
We're lucky to have reached them when we did. I think that the
one named Mark would have died without Lamper's power."
"Who are they? Do you know?"
"I don't think they are of this world. But, somehow, they are
linked with us, at least in that we are all children of Lamper.
When a child of Lamper is in need, be it man, woman, child, or
beast, we must help, to the best of our ability, always trusting
in Lamper as we do so."
"The one was a woman, I could tell. She had two breasts."
"Yes, they are pale, too. And so tall and strong."
"They are dwarfs when compared to the metal giants."
"I sense that they are not of this world, either. They are not
minions of Kerone, for I know the face of the evil one."
"Are they good, like the pale-faced ones?"
"I don't think so. The pale-faced ones are enemies of the two
clad in armor. For the time being, it seems that our friends
have the upper hand. Beyond that, I am as confused as you are
about them, where they came from, and their goals."
Lira prayed in her heart that they would be safe, from the
metal giants, as well as from the Cinrekkians. As they neared
the village and saw some houses standing in the distance, their
windows filled with a warm glow, all thoughts of the aliens
vanished.
Lira began running, as quickly as she could towards the light.
Etar called for her to stop, and he began chasing her. As she
rounded a bend in the road, she smelled the odor of burnt wood
again, now very faint and shifting on the breeze. She knew
that, to her right, lay the remains of her home. She began
crying again, wiping the tears from her eyes as she ran.
"Slow down!" Etar shouted.
"I can't! I have to find them!" she cried, turning her head
towards Etar, who was still keeping up with her.
"We don't know yet who is up there. There could be more
rebels."
Lira stopped, turning angrily towards him.
"Oh, and that might jeopardize your safety, right? Because of
what happened before?"
Etar pointed into the distance and walked towards her, his brow
furrowed.
"I understand what you're going through. But we have to be
careful. We don't know who, be they your family, rebels, or
Cinrekkians, are in those houses. Do you hear what I'm saying?"
She lost herself in her sadness, the excitement crumpling away.
Once again, Lira felt the death about her, and she fell onto
Etar's shoulder, crying.
"Shhhhh" he soothed. "I understand. It's okay."
They stood there for a while, until Lira had calmed. She
turned again towards the glowing windows in the distance, and
they continued walking along the road. As they neared the
houses, they heard people shouting, and Etar stopped. Looking
silently about, he whispered to Lira, "I think we are being
watched."
Feeling tension, she glanced to either side of the road. They
resumed their walk, drawing nearer to the shouting. Lira could
discern several voices, sometimes trying to speak together, and
other times in turn. Suddenly, she heard the sound of something
being smashed, and there was silence.
"Stop right there!" Lira heard. Etar spun around and saw two
men, standing to their left, amid the gently swaying branches of
trees that had survived the Cinrekkian immolation.
Lira's first instinct was to turn and run south from the
village. As she swung around, she saw that at least a dozen
others, about half men and half women, had appeared in the
street. Their forms were barely visible as they faced the lit
windows up ahead.
"Let's do as they say" Etar said, his voice nervous.
As Lira turned around again, she saw the two men approaching
them. Others had filed onto the road, ahead of them. They were
surrounded. One of the men produced a lantern from under a
black cloak, and his scarred face danced in the flickering light.
"Who are you?" he said, his face solemn, yet betraying a sense
of hostility.
"I am Lira. I grew up here. I'm looking for anyone who is
left."
The man's eyes slowly shifted to Etar.
"And you?"
"I am Etar, and I wish to help you, and all those here north of
the city. I know you have many injured and dying."
The other man now stepped forward, into the lantern's glow.
Both looked unfamiliar to Lira.
"Is that really him?" the first asked.
The second's eyes were wet and dark in the light.
"Yeah, he's the one that Osher and his men caught. He's the
troublemaker, all right."
"What do you mean, troublemaker?" Lira asked. "Etar is just.
He is a prophet of Lamper, and the Rellaj of our people."
The crowd around them became evident as some laughed and others
cursed them. Lira heard them moving forward, and they became
more visible as they neared the lantern.
Several came forth and grabbed Etar, holding him tightly about
his arms. He struggled to maintain his balance but did not try
to free himself. Two men also held Lira's arms, and she
struggled at first. A woman stepped forward and slapped her in
the face. Lira felt the painful sting, and the right side of
her face went numb as she fell to the ground. The men lifted
her up again, and Etar asked for the violence to end. Lira
gasped for breath, tasting blood in her mouth.
"I don't recognize any of these people" Lira told Etar.
"I don't suppose you could tell us where our leader Osher is?"
the lantern holder asked.
"We were ambushed by Cinrekkian soldiers, near the Temple" Etar
volunteered. "The soldiers took us to the palace, along with
Osher."
"And, what of him then?" the man asked.
"He was to be put to death" Lira said.
The crowd erupted with anger.
"And why were you two freed? Weren't you considered his
accomplices?"
"The soldiers saw that they had bound us and were leading us
against our wills. They freed us, knowing we meant them no
harm."
"Did you hear the woman?" the man shouted. "Osher is dead, and
these two were set free, to do more spying! We'd better get
them inside, before the soldiers ambush us too!"
Their captors jerked them forward, leading them along the road,
towards one of the houses. The crowd still surrounded them,
spitting on Etar and kicking them occasionally. Etar and Lira
wept, afraid for their lives, and saddened that their own
people, those they had come to help, were doing this.
121.
Mark fell instantly to sleep, and Mushlik and Tanaria stayed
awake for a while longer, beginning the recharge of the cloaker
power packs. The air was cool, and, now that the rain had
stopped, a fragrant breeze moved through the forest. Above,
high in the canopy of tree branches, they could hear the wind's
intensity, as the new weather front moved towards the sea.
"How do you explain what happened, other than calling it
miraculous?" Tanaria asked.
"I have no other explanations. What an honor! We're on this
planet only a few days, and then we are not only witnesses to a
religious experience, we are part of one. I only wish I could
remember more about what happened to us. I felt so at peace
upon regaining consciousness."
"So did I" Tanaria said. "And I knew that, somehow, we were
all okay. It was as though Etar or Lira delivered some kind of
subconscious message to me, calming me and reassuring me that we
were safe."
"We're lucky the Bellikans didn't arrive to destroy us all"
Mushlik said.
"Why didn't they? With the location of their base, one of
their shuttles could be here in ten minutes in an emergency."
"Either they have fewer resources at their disposal than we
previously thought, or they were already preoccupied with some
other emergency, causing a delayed reaction to the shuttle's
destruction."
"They obviously know of our presence" Tanaria said. "Hell,
they destroyed our outpost. They must be searching for us, to
erase their tracks."
"I agree" Mushlik said. "If they are evacuating the planet or
preparing to do so, then such a large move would involve the use
of almost all of their resources."
"Where are they evacuating to?" Tanaria asked. "There must be
some other larger vessel or vessels, either on their way or in
orbit already around Dalthigia."
Mushlik felt a pit form in his stomach.
"I hope that whatever Council ship arrives to rescue us is well
armed, enough to deal with whatever the Bellikans can bring to
bear."
"Unless they know about the nature of what we're carrying.
Mark believes it's the plans for the antimatter generator."
"That sounds reasonable" Mushlik replied. "Also, since these
Bellikans never took part in the search for the cube, they
didn't recognize the nature of the hyperspatial signal that it's
transmitting. They probably thought it was us sending out a
distress signal to any Council ships in the area."
"I hope the Council finds us before the Bellikans. The moment
we get the hailing signal from orbit, we have to switch on our
beacon" Tanaria said. "We know the risk of that."
"Yes" Mushlik agreed.
With that, they each climbed into their sleeping bags. Tanaria
soon heard her father snoring, and she sighed deeply. For a
moment she felt at peace, surrounded by the beauty of the
forest, the sound of night insects filling the air. She rolled
onto her side and lay against Mark. He slept like a rock as his
body regained strength. Watching his motionless form in the
glow of the recharger's power light, she reached behind her head
and placed her raincoat over the recharger.
All was black around them, as the moon had set, and they were
much too far away to receive any light from the city. She
prayed that they would return to the Corona safely, to relay the
information about the Bellikan interference on Dalthigia. The
footage they carried with them in the form of the memory modules
would be enough to convict the Bellikans of complete and hostile
interference with the evolution of this world.
As she began drifting off to sleep, she heard a faint chirping
noise. For a moment, she thought it was some insect that had
entered their campsite and was calling out into the darkness for
a mate. As she opened her eyes, she saw that the infrared
scanner had picked up something. She climbed out of her
sleeping bag and switched off the sound of the alarm and jerked
her father's hand. He awoke with a start.
"The infrared scanner just went off."
He sat upright and examined the display screen.
"This signature isn't due to any animal. It's riding at least
a hundred feet off the ground."
The object's path was as straight as an arrow, with no changes
in direction that would be associated with a flying bird.
"What's its speed?" Mushlik asked.
Tanaria requested target velocity from the scanner.
"About ten kilometers per hour. It's still about a kilometer
away."
Mushlik shook Mark, who slowly and unwillingly woke up.
"What's wrong?" he grumbled loudly.
"Be quiet" Mushlik urged him. "The scanner just picked
something up, heading slowly in our direction."
Mark shook the cobwebs from his head and crawled over to the
scanner. He listened to Mushlik take more readings on the
object's speed and distance.
"Is it a shuttle?" Mark asked.
"I don't think so" Mushlik replied with a whisper. "Too small
of a signature to be one. Even when using magnetic levitation,
they're engines are fairly hot."
"We can't hide anywhere else" Tanaria said. "What if we're
spotted?"
Mark pulled out a pistol from his pack and made sure it was
fully charged.
"Let's cover everything metal with our sleeping bags and then
lay low, under the ledge. That should reduce our metallic and
infrared signatures. If this thing is some kind of probe, it
will probably be looking for us in a variety of wavebands."
They covered the monitoring system with Mark's opened sleeping
bag. Mark held his pistol under the edge of the blanket, and
they stowed the remainder of their packs behind them, furthest
under the ledge.
The lip of gray stone was about a foot thick, and their crawl
space beneath it was about three feet high and four feet deep.
This enabled good concealment from the sky above. If the craft
descended to their level, near the ground, however, they would
be visible.
Mushlik switched off the scanner.
"Why'd you do that?" Mark asked.
"I don't want to be generating any electric or magnetic fields
of our own."
"Then how will we know when it's gone?"
"I'll switch on the scanner in about fifteen minutes. If the
craft continues at present speed, it will pass us in a few
minutes. In fifteen minutes, therefore, if it hasn't detected
us, it should be safe to monitor its presence once again."
Mark nodded in approval, his heart racing as he grew more
anxious.
The sky was clearing, and Dalthigia's second moon was about to
rise. Mark could see the patch of cold, yellowish light,
appearing on the eastern horizon.
Tanaria unfastened one half of her sleeping bag, converting it
into a large blanket. She tossed it over their laps, and each
of them brought the blanket as far over their chests and
shoulders as possible, to further conceal their heat radiation.
Mark thought of how ridiculous it would be if a bird of the
night was moving overhead, forcing them to take these
precautions.
Then, he heard a noise which quickly dispelled such notions.
From above the treetops, a humming noise was audible, very low
in frequency, and growing steadily louder. Mark turned in the
complete darkness towards Tanaria and whispered quietly into her
ear.
"Something's close by."
He felt her head nodding slowly next to him. Mushlik was
utterly soundless, perhaps holding his breath, praying the
danger would pass. The moon peeked above the horizon, and a
loud, high pitched whine suddenly emanated from the vehicle.
Within seconds the whine vanished, and Mark wondered if the
rising of the moon had triggered one of the vehicle's sensors.
"If that were the case" Mark thought, "then it must be an
unmanned probe. Any pilot would see the light and then realize
that it was the moon rising."
The hum sounded as though it were overhead. As the moon
continued further above the horizon, however, they heard a small
hiss, and the source of the sound seemed to begin moving again.
Over the next few minutes, they listened to it grow fainter,
until the rustle of leaves masked it.
For another ten minutes they sat in complete silence, Mark's
hand growing sweaty against the metal butt of the pistol.
Finally Mushlik exhaled, and Mark heard the click of the power
switch for the scanner.
"It's almost a kilometer away" Mushlik said softly. "Still
continuing on its original course."
"Do you think it was some kind of probe?" Tanaria speculated.
"Yes" her father replied. "There are probably many of them
now. Let's hope that reinforcements haven't arrived. If that
is the case, then I suggest we stay right where we are until
help arrives. Our present rations will last another two days,
and with our filter we can use water from the stream that we saw
just ahead."
"Okay" Tanaria said. "Let's just sleep where we are then, with
this blanket over us."
"And most importantly" Mushlik added, "beneath the ledge. I
was really hoping we could reach the dense rain forest. We
could gather fruit from bushes and trees, and the larger amount
of wildlife there would provide additional cover."
"If we're really careful here, do you think we can avoid
detection?" Mark asked. He swallowed hard and hoped for an
affirmative answer.
"That all depends" Mushlik replied, "on what effort they are
exerting to locate us. If there is a single shuttle and several
of these probes, I would say that our chances are good. But if
they send out several dozen shuttlecraft, especially ones fitted
with advanced detection and surveillance gear, and a hundred
probe drones, then I think we're sitting ducks."
"And what if one of these probes suddenly spots us?" Tanaria
asked. "If we blast it, the immediate danger may be gone, but
they would know its position to the nearest meter."
"I believe so" Mushlik said. "They would have troops here in
about ten minutes, assuming, again, that this is a high priority
search to which they're very committed."
"So" Mark said, "what you're saying is that, we have to avoid
ever being detected in the first place. Once we are, we're
pretty much done for."
"Quite right" Mushlik said.
122.
The large man, hesitating in his circling pattern around Etar,
bent over and braced his hands on his knees. He looked the
prisoner directly in the eyes.
"How long have you been in the Cinrekkian employ?"
"I am not employed by the Cinrekkians, nor any longer by any
Mishrian."
"What? You're a beggar then?" the man bellowed.
"No. The Cinrekkians completely destroyed the salthouse, so I
have no job to return to."
"Well then, you're in the same boat as the rest of us. All of
our jobs are gone, half the shops and businesses in the city
razed to the ground! But I don't believe for a minute that
you're on our side."
"I do not take sides between warring factions. I am for all
people, of every race and religion, whether they be poor or
rich, strong or weak."
"Then tell us why the Cinrekkians freed you and the woman,
while Osher was executed in public?"
"Simple" Lira said.
A group of rebels moved away from her, exposing a line of sight
between the two prisoners.
"Osher was already wanted by the Cinrekkians, for being a
high-ranking member of the rebellion. From how they spoke as we
rode on the wagon towards the palace, they knew who he was
before the ambush. In fact, I believe the ambush was laid as a
means to capture Osher and his officers.
"We, on the other hand, were seen to be held against our wills
by Osher. Taythlin, the Cinrekkian Governor, knows that we mean
no harm to either Mishrian or Cinrekkian, and thus set us free.
He warned us to stay out of the city, or that we would be
imprisoned, or maybe worse, by his soldiers."
The interrogator's eyes widened, and he continued his walk
around Etar's chair.
"And why did you return, instead of fleeing into the
countryside?"
"Because we must help the Mishrian people" Etar answered, "no
matter what the possible consequences to us. We came here to
help you."
"How did you wish to help?"
"You have sick, starving, and dying. Through our hands, we can
heal many, by the power of Lamper. We can help you restore your
farms, and bring peace to those who have lost their families and
homes in the carnage."
"Well, we know that there is only one way for you to help your
people" the interrogator shouted, standing to Etar's right, his
mouth less than a foot from his ear.
"Help us to fight the Cinrekkians, wipe them out, drive them
from our land. If we bloody them enough, they'll leave us
alone, in favor of easier lands to conquer and control."
"I am against violence" Etar said. "I will not do such a
thing."
Just then, the door behind them burst open. Leaves accompanied
a man through the doorway. He walked into the room, lifting the
cloth from his head.
"Gorin" the interrogator said. "What news is there from the
city?"
"The Governor is dead!" he shouted.
His face showed a morbid sense of glee, and the rebels around
him grew silent, hardly able to believe their ears.
"What?" the interrogator asked.
"Yes, it's true! We heard and saw the death procession, within
the palace grounds. Soon after that, we saw his former first
officer wearing the governor's robe and helmet!"
"This cannot be! How did he die?"
The messenger's bearded face grew solemn, and he began shaking.
"How?"
"A rebel somehow ... made it to the palace roof. He found the
governor there, and stabbed him to death. In the fight,
Taythlin mortally wounded the rebel. They are both gone."
"How did you find out all this?" another man asked.
"Large patrols of soldiers are moving through the streets,
telling of the assassination. They have also announced that all
perpetrators of this violence had best step forward, before the
new troops arrive."
Just as quickly as elation had filled his heart, the
interrogator felt a huge pit form in his stomach.
"New troops?"
"Each troop patrol had a spokesman, who read from a large
scroll. The only other thing said was that terrible punishments
would be waged on all Mishria unless the cohorts of the assassin
would step forward, as well as the rest of the rebel leadership
for which they still search."
"When are the troops to arrive?"
"He did not say."
Loud murmuring now filled the room, and Etar and Lira looked
around nervously, wondering what this renewed violence would
mean for the people of Mishria.
"Dispatch more watchmen to the northern highway" the
interrogator ordered. "Have messengers proceed with them, to
relay as quickly as possible any news of further troop
reinforcements."
"Yes sir" one of his men said, who quickly exited the room.
"Let us gather the rest of our forces together" the
interrogator said. "Call them to the north, where the troops
are sure to pass. Our last chance has arrived. Their
unfamiliarity with our land will make them easier prey. With
our entire force, we could defeat their army."
"How many troops will arrive?" one of the rebel officers asked.
"On such short notice, they'll probably bring soldiers from
Eridia, which is under Cinrekkian control. By what we know of
their forces there, maybe two or three thousand troops. That's
my best estimate. If we can take this army, then I say we
attack the northern troop emplacement. If the governor himself
can be killed by a single assassin, then what can we all do,
armed with the might of Lamper?"
The room erupted in cheers, and many men and women exposed
their forearms, opening thin cuts with their daggers. As
droplets of blood trickled slowly down their arms, they shook
them in the air, shouting "Death to Cinrekkia!" over and over.
"Place these two in the same cell. Have someone continue the
questioning. I don't have time to finish with them."
The interrogator left the room, and several officers followed
him.
123.
Mark got very little rest that night. Just as he was falling
asleep for the fourth time, the scanner warning lamp began
blinking again. They lay in hiding, beneath the rock ledge,
praying that the latest probe sweep would not find them.
The probes had been searching the terrain in a grid pattern for
hours. Their speeds and altitudes were very consistent, and,
thankfully, none of the craft had dropped to the forest floor to
perform a ground level search.
As the sky brightened for the approaching sunrise, Mark
suddenly realized that daylight would not bring an end to the
search. They would have to stay within a thirty second run of
the ledge, abandoning it only for bathroom stops in the forest.
The sky was clear this morning, and the air cool after the
previous evening's rainstorm. Mushlik climbed to the mouth of
their hideaway when they heard a bird twittering excitedly.
More birds joined in, and soon the forest was alive with birds.
"What's that all about?" Mark asked.
"Could there be a Bellikan patrol, moving through the forest?"
Tanaria asked.
Mark's finger found the trigger of his pistol. The scanner
alerted them, and Mushlik examined the screen.
"There is a low-level signal, probably from an extremely small
object. It is near the forest floor, and moving in a curved
path towards our position. Maybe one meter per second."
They sat back against the wall of dirt and rock, each of them
holding a pistol. Mark had turned the power setting on his
pistol to maximum, and he checked the position of the switch
again with his thumb, just to make sure.
The signal was growing steadily stronger, and the scanner
indicated that the approaching object was less than a hundred
meters away, roughly to their left, and north. As Mushlik
suddenly sat up higher, Mark saw that another signal had
appeared on the screen, the same as the other. It was moving
about two hundred meters further north than the first object.
As the first object drew closer, they noticed that the birds
had fled, taking to the air and abandoning the treetops.
When a third signal appeared on the scanner display, Mushlik
placed his trembling hand on his forehead. This signal
indicated a similar object, moving slowly northeastward, about
400 meters south of their position.
Mark could hear his own heartbeat, thumping in his ears, as the
air beyond them grew quiet. There was very little breeze, as
the sun climbed above the horizon and warmed the forest.
A sudden rustling noise alarmed them, and a dark shape flew by
the ledge. Mark heard a rapid breathing sound as it moved by,
and it took him a few seconds to realize that he had not seen a
Bellikan soldier but some kind of furry creature, evidently
scurrying for cover. Just as it disappeared from view, Mark
heard a high pitched whistle, and the creature began wailing in
pain, sounding somewhat like a yelping dog, before another
whistling sound occurred.
The forest was silent once again. Mushlik tapped his finger
lightly on the scanner display, whispering that the animal must
have attracted the attention of the approaching objects, which
had converged rapidly on its position. Two of the three objects
now hovered less than twenty meters from them, and Mark could
hear a faint hum. By the look on Tanaria's face, he knew that
she had heard it before him. The humming grew louder, and the
screen showed that the objects were tracing a path almost
parallel to the rocky ledge, skimming over the ground in their
direction.
Mark aimed his pistol towards the left side of their crawl
space, waiting for the objects to become visible as they
approached. They held their breath as two gray spheres, about a
foot in a diameter, moved into view, less than ten feet beyond
the rock overhang.
Mark aimed at the nearest of the two through the pistol sight,
his hand trembling with fear. And then, both spheres suddenly
spun on their vertical axes. Sensor arrays pointed at them, and
small tubes, attached to miniature turrets, swung up towards
them.
They heard a loud whistling sound, and Mark pulled the trigger.
The pulse of energy leaped forward, crashing into the sphere
and causing it to explode. The sound was deafening, and bits of
hot metal rammed into the soil behind their heads. Mark felt
the sting of small flecks embedding themselves into his face.
As the smoke cleared, they slowly opened their eyes, gasping in
the hot fumes created from the explosions. Tanaria had fired on
the furthest of the two spheres, at exactly the same time as
Mark had destroyed the closer one.
They heard another whistling noise, and Mushlik watched the
object from the south accelerating towards their position.
"Here it comes, from the right!" Mushlik shouted, not caring
whether the probe heard him or not.
It appeared instantly after his words, and both Mark and
Tanaria fired upon it. It exploded like the other two, but not
before its small guns fired into their hiding place.
They felt something fly between them, and a loud thud spit dirt
and rock into the side of Mark's head. He turned and saw that a
metal projectile had buried itself into the wall, only inches
from both him and Tanaria.
