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Dark Metamorphosis

Page 20

by John Coon


  “I always assumed it served as an allegory for Ahm’s dwelling in the eternal worlds,” Calandra said. “Are you saying such a place actually exists?”

  Kevin raised his chin and nodded.

  “It does. And I can show you exactly where this so-called ancient refuge is located.”

  “Show me.”

  Kevin motioned for her to follow him and passed through the closed balcony doors. She cringed. Calandra understood he came to her apartment as a virtual image, but it still seemed uncomfortably strange to see him passing through solid objects. Calandra set down the Book of Ahm in its former spot on the table and joined him out on the balcony a few seconds later.

  “You know where to find the Sun—my home sun—in your telescope over there, right?”

  Calandra cracked a wry smile.

  “You know you’re talking to an astronomer, right?”

  “How could I forget?”

  She sauntered over to the telescope and removed the cap covering the lens. Calandra pressed a button on the side to activate an adjacent holocaster. It rested on a platform fused to a metal band circling the bottom of the telescope. A holoscreen popped up over the holocaster, displaying a three-dimensional image of distant stars barely larger than dots of light. Her telescope pointed to a section of sky directly above the Aurora Mountains.

  Calandra adjusted the settings on the telescope and rotated the lens toward the southern sky as she peered through it. Soon, a faint speck of yellow light appeared on the holoscreen. Aramus formed the end point on a zigzag constellation incorporating several other stars.

  “There you go. Aramus.” Calandra leaned back from the telescope and glanced over at Kevin. “Now what?”

  “Back on Earth, we had a constellation called the Southern Cross,” he said. “It was visible in the southern hemisphere of my planet. A pair of pointer stars directed where to find the constellation in the night sky. I know the layout of the stars is different here on Lathos, but it shouldn’t be radically different from Earth.”

  “What am I looking for?”

  “A bright star pointing to the Southern Cross. The stars form a pattern matching this symbol.”

  Kevin pressed one index finger against the other. He held one finger vertical and laid the other horizontal across the vertical finger’s knuckle. Calandra studied the symbol Kevin formed with his fingers for a moment and turned back to her telescope.

  Aramus vanished off the holoscreen as she moved the telescope lens and zeroed in on the new coordinates. When Calandra pinpointed the approximate spot Kevin described, images from multiple faint stars hovered above the holocaster.

  Three faint stars.

  Calandra pulled away from the telescope and leaned back in her chair. She rested her chin in her hand as she stared at the three faint balls of light on the holoscreen. The triangular shape they formed resembled the image inscribed in the book’s pages. This seemed too surreal. That ancient refuge detailed within the Book of Ahm was no mere legend.

  “I can’t believe it,” she said, glancing up at Kevin again. “I’m actually seeing the Land of the Three Suns with my own eyes.”

  “On Earth, we called the brightest star Alpha Centauri,” he said. “This is the closest star system to my home solar system. There’s no doubt in my mind you’ll find Valadius living on a habitable planet orbiting one of those three stars.”

  Calandra turned and gazed at the three distant stars again. She crossed her arms as she studied the holoscreen image. Her brows knitted together. A disconcerted scowl formed on her lips.

  “Why did he flee? He should have stood tall and shined a light on our chief sovereign’s crimes. The prime oracle had the power to expose him. And he had the responsibility to take that action.”

  “Do you really think he could have stood against Delcor and succeeded?”

  “He is—or was—the spiritual leader of Ra’ahm. Who else would the people believe?”

  Kevin shrugged.

  “I can’t answer that question for you. Overthrowing a dictator never comes easy. Back on Earth, it usually took a war to do the deed.”

  “What do I do now? If I’m truly in danger—”

  “I can connect you with an underground refugee network. They helped me escape from Ra’ahm. They’ll do the same for you.”

  Calandra rose from her chair and walked over to the balcony railing. She leaned against the railing. Kevin joined her at the railing as she gazed at the Aurora Mountains on the horizon.

  Worry splashed over her face like a billowing ocean wave. Luma was home. Ra’ahm was home. Could she leave the only home she ever knew, her family and friends, and never return? It amounted to another sacrifice Calandra felt unprepared to make.

  Still, if their chief sovereign truly counted her as a threat, who knew what measures he would take against her? Calandra’s time on Earth taught her in a painful fashion to never assume things could not take a quick turn in a bad direction.

  “Once we get you safely out of Luma, I’ll help you find Xttra again,” Kevin said. “We’ll track him down together.”

  Calandra turned and faced him. Tears rolled down both cheeks.

  “Thank you.”

  Kevin smiled and saluted her. His image vanished a second later. Calandra cast her eyes at the balcony doors. The contact block inside her apartment ceased glowing and resumed its normal appearance.

  24

  Xttra stared at the images playing on his holocaster. Despair squeezed his heart with sharp talons and became etched on his face. He longed to be with Calandra again. See her bright smile. Feel her warm embrace. Her absence cast a never-ending cloud on his life. It haunted him when he closed his eyes or even if he kept them open.

  He gazed upon the visual record of their marriage rite. These images occupied the most treasured position among the records detailing their adventures together stored on his holocaster.

  Calandra’s natural radiant beauty shone even brighter on that day. She dressed in a traditional clan dress for the rite. Her violet dress wrapped around her body and fell to her ankles. A lace sash bound the dress together at the waist. Matching gloves extended to the elbow on both arms. A thin circlet woven from fresh flowers adorned her head, nestled amid Calandra’s auburn locks.

  Xttra tried to match her with his high-collared forest green tunic—his clan’s traditional wedding attire. Both her dress and her beauty overshadowed what he wore. Not that he minded.

  Xttra could not take his eyes off his beautiful bride as she approached the smooth stone altar. Her green eyes sparkled, and her smile was breathtaking. It lit up the room more than sunlight shining through long vertical windows adorning the temple walls. They knelt on opposite sides of the stone altar and faced each other. Both stretched their arms across the altar. Xttra grasped her hands and matched Calandra’s joyful smile.

  A high cleric stepped on a square platform adjoining the altar. He adjusted the top of his robe around his neck and smiled indulgently at the young couple.

  “Ahm, our divine creator, smiles upon you this day,” he said. “Two souls intertwined in love. Companions becoming one in his eyes.”

  The high cleric recited the words of the marriage covenant. He admonished Xttra and Calandra to pledge love and devotion to each other above all others. Then, he promised their union would ignite a candle flame that never dims, become calm waters that guided their vessel to safe harbors, and grow into a sturdy tree sheltering them through all seasons.

  “Do you bind yourself to accept this covenant with Ahm and each other this day?” the high cleric asked after finishing his recitation.

  Xttra glanced up at him and nodded. He fixed his gaze upon Calandra again.

  “This day and forever, I pledge to be one with Calandra as her husband.”

  Calandra mirrored his actions.

  “This day and forever,
I pledge to be one with Xttra as his wife.”

  The high cleric gave an approving nod. He laid his palm upon the crown of Xttra’s head, and he bowed before Calandra. Then, the cleric did the same with her. She also bowed her head before Xttra.

  “In the eyes of Ahm, you are joined as companions in this life and in the eternal worlds.”

  Calandra and Xttra both lifted their heads again. They simultaneously leaned over the altar and shared a tender kiss to seal the marriage rite.

  Tears swam in Xttra’s eyes while he relived these memories. Being apart from her tormented him more than anything else he experienced during his current ordeal. These many months apart had to be equally excruciating for her, not knowing what became of him.

  “How long have you been apart from her? This must be really tough on both of you.”

  Xttra sighed when Sam’s intruding voice greeted his ears. He brushed away the tears and pressed a button on his holocaster. The holoscreen vanished. These memories were meant for his and Calandra’s eyes alone, not some unwelcome Earthian who had tried to kill them and did not value privacy.

  “What do you want?”

  Xttra did not bother to look at Sam when he posed his question. He abruptly rose from his chair inside the crew sleep quarters and shoved the holocaster back inside his chest pouch.

  “Kyra thinks we’ve got a lock on the other hybrid. We’re gearing up to go back inside the habitat unit.”

  Xttra wheeled around and faced Sam.

  “Is that it?”

  Sam cast his eyes at the floor and licked his lips. An uncomfortable silence formed between them. Xttra folded his arms and his eyes hardened into an unbroken stare.

  “A penny for your thoughts?” Sam finally said. He lifted his head and locked eyes with Xttra. “Sometimes it helps to share what’s on your mind.”

  “Why would I want some worthless Earthian coin? I don’t want to talk to you.”

  “Why?”

  Xttra answered him with a dismissive scoff. His annoyed scowl returned a second later.

  “I don’t trust you.”

  Sam’s eyes trailed down to the pouch where the holocaster rested and back up to him again.

  “I’m trying to do better this time. Please give me a chance to make things right between us.”

  “How can you ever make things right?” Xttra’s voice climbed a few decibels as anger wrapped around him. “Calandra will never be the same. I’ll never be the same. We came to your wretched planet as peaceful explorers and were lucky to escape with our lives.”

  “I’m sorry. What we did to you has haunted me nonstop since you left Earth.”

  Xttra tossed up his hands and flashed a sardonic grin.

  “All better. Say it one more time. Maybe your next apology will bring back my crew members your people slaughtered or restore Calandra’s arm to her.”

  Sam turned away as a frown deepened on his lips and headed for the exit.

  “Hopefully, I can convince you to forgive me at some point. I don’t want bad blood to exist between us Xttra. Or between your planet and Earth.”

  Xttra clenched his fist and pressed it into his other open palm. He bit down on his lower lip. An urge to hurl a large object at the Earthian bubbled up inside him.

  He released a deep sigh, tightened the straps on his armored sleeves, and headed back to the bridge. Kyra struck him as an impatient and cunning woman. Xttra decided to head off a potential confrontation before one had a chance to materialize and take part in hunting the hybrid without argument. He did not trust Sam’s ability to enforce the truce and release he brokered earlier.

  Kyra gave Xttra a cursory glance when he rejoined the others on the bridge.

  “How long before our primary power systems are up and running again?” She asked, looking back at Cavac.

  The melder studied a power control terminal on the back end of the bridge. Cavac had laid out an assortment of tools before him to fix or replace components fried from the electromagnetic blast.

  “No more than two hours. Hopefully, I can get us fully online again within an hour.”

  “Excellent. The rest of us will dispose of that hybrid still lurking around this colony.”

  She turned and faced the others.

  “Let’s make this quick before the hybrid can do any further damage.”

  Kyra whipped out her thermal tracker and entered the cargo bay. Xttra, Xander, and Sam filed in after her. Xttra snapped his helmet in place as the door leading to the bridge sealed behind him. He cinched his armored sleeves tight over his arms a second time. Xttra normally did not wear these weapons with a spacesuit and worried about their fit around the bulky protective material. Still, it gave him quick access to both his razor discs and arm saber if the hybrid somehow ambushed him.

  Xander opened the rear hatch and lowered the ramp. Pale yellow-white rays from the distant rising sun flooded the red rock plain before the ship. Xttra’s environmental readings on his visor displayed correctly. He drew in a deep breath and followed a step behind Kyra and Xander as they approached the habitat units.

  “I’m detecting a definite heat pattern,” she said. “Our hybrid is inside the same building where the infected Earthian made her escape.”

  “I was afraid of that,” Sam shook his head as he opened the airlock’s outer door. “I didn’t think we could keep it trapped inside the other unit for much longer.”

  She turned and glanced at him.

  “It isn’t getting out of this one as long as everyone here follows my lead.”

  Xttra rolled his eyes. He silently vowed to take charge once they finally cornered the hybrid. His odds of survival were better that way.

  Sam sealed the outer door behind them and opened the inner door. The shell bore deep blast marks and crinkled metal in spots Kyra’s speargun struck earlier. An eerie quiet permeated the ground level of the structure.

  “Where is it?” Sam’s voice barely climbed above a whisper. “There’s limited space in this place where the creature can hide.”

  Kyra pointed to the ceiling.

  “One level directly above us. Keep your eyes and ears open. These hybrids are all genetically designed to be killers.”

  Xttra’s eyes darted from wall to wall. Even with thermal trackers at their disposal, an apprehension enclosed him and squeezed his nerves like an unseen hand. Blind corners peppered the inside of this building. What if he ended up on the wrong end of a surprise attack from one of these hidden spots?

  The foursome rounded the first blind spot in the corridor leading from the ground level to the next level. Pale sunlight hit green leaves on plants from a vertical garden climbing up a central interior wall. The wall formed a half-circle around a small room serving as living quarters for a single colonist.

  “My tracker shows the hybrid is on the other side of this wall,” Kyra said. “Circle around and approach the room from opposite directions.”

  She motioned Sam and Xander to go left. Xttra stayed with Kyra on the right. They circled around the wall and stopped in front of an alcove. It held a padded bench set against a thin wall. A glass block window flanked one side of the wall and a sealed door flanked the other side. The door employed a recessed handle for opening and closing but had no visible lock or keyhole.

  “Is this door locked?”

  Kyra whispered her question to Sam, trying not to tip off the hybrid inside the room to their presence. He shrugged. She sighed and motioned to Xttra and Xander as she unlatched her holster. All three drew their sidearms. Xander and Kyra brandished spearguns. Xttra brought out his eliminator.

  “Obliterate that thing,” Kyra said.

  All three opened fire at the same time. Spear heads ripped holes through the glass block window. Shards of glass popped out and blanketed the floor. Laser bolts punched other holes through the alcove wall and door.
Fresh scorch marks and tiny plumes of smoke peppered both objects once they finally stopped firing.

  “Let’s crack that door open now,” she said.

  Xander unlatched the Aracian cutter from his belt. He jammed the laser-reinforced blade between the door and the jamb and sliced through the locks. Xttra reached down and pulled a stun pebble from a pouch on his belt.

  “Better safe than sorry,” he said.

  Xander and Kyra cast their eyes at the stun pebble and stepped back. Xttra approached the door, now riddled with holes, and tossed the stun pebble toward a bed inside the room. He turned and pinched his eyelids shut. A blinding flash emanated from the open doorway. No panicked screams nor growls followed the bright blue-white light discharging from the micro ports.

  “Is the alien creature dead?” Sam whispered.

  “If it’s still alive, that hybrid is one tough –”

  Xttra paused after he stepped through the door. An overturned bed and chair greeted his eyes. Both obscured sight lines inside the room. Holes from laser bolts and spent spear heads pockmarked each one.

  “Where is it?” Xttra snapped his head back at Kyra. Fear crawled into his eyes. “Where is it hiding?”

  Kyra whipped out her tracker. Xttra turned and studied the displaced furniture again. His eyes trailed over both bed and chair, and across the floor, while he searched for a blood trail or other signs of the hybrid’s location inside the room.

  “I’m picking up a heat pattern behind—”

  A low growl cut Kyra off. Xttra lifted his head. The chair flew straight at him. He threw up his forearm and it struck his elbow, knocking him to the floor.

  Xttra landed on his side. He scrambled to his knees just as the hybrid wrenched off a helmet. The creature bared fangs and snarled as it charged at him.

  “For the glory and liberty of Ra’ahm!”

  Those words slithered out of the hybrid’s mouth at the same moment a stinger made from bone popped out from its forearm. Xttra pressed a button on his armored sleeve, unleashing his arm saber. He ducked his head to avoid the stinger and punched the saber upward.

 

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