“Cheryn says that there are eight Priestesses, also perhaps known as the iéreies, according to Achi,” Zaleria says. “If we presume we encountered one in LA and three in Saudi Arabia, we have destroyed half. Can they regenerate?”
“I think we have to assume they can,” Cloufen speculates. “I have no idea how long that would take. Probably at least a couple years, assuming they aren't vastly better at it than we are. They certainly haven't demonstrated significant capabilities beyond what galanen are capable of so far.”
“So that suggests we should figure out where their headquarters is within the next year, doesn't it?” Rialle shares, silver eyes gleaming. “I don't want to have to keep destroying them over and over again.”
“What are our best leads? We need to find them,” Jevelle shares, growing a bit exasperated at their inability to discover the place their enemies hide.
Zaleria sits there, thinking carefully about an idea. Sharing it nearly instantly with Achi, who warms to it. It isn't logical, but could it be…? Perhaps, if they can find no other way. The group discusses things a bit more, but they have reached the end of what they currently know. There is some more work that can be done, but the general mood is not hopeful. They soon end the discussions and go their separate ways. Zaleria seeks out Achi.
They share thoughts, more quickly than words now. Time to return to the outback,
“Cheryn, do you wish to stay here or come with us to Australia?” Achi asks.
“I would like to stay here, at least a little longer. I find it…peaceful. I would like to chat with a few more of the galanen before I make any final plans. I feel safe here. I'm not sure I'd feel that way on Earth, ever.” She sighs.
“Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her,” Traemuña offers.
They each walk over and embrace her before taking their leave. Clive lingers with her a bit longer, to make sure she is really doing okay.
∞∞∞
The morning dawns hot and dry. February in this part of the outback is brutal, but Vance is starting to adjust to it. Rosa takes it stoically but doesn't really find a reason to go outside much, certainly not during the day. Keyon doesn't know if he'll ever get used to it but refuses to let it get the better of him. He completes his patrols and security checks, stubbornly refusing to yield to the oppressive heat.
It's been a week since they returned, and things are getting back to normal. Well, almost.
“Are you eventually going to share what you two have been keeping to yourselves?” Keyon finally asks, as he is eating his breakfast while angrily wiping the sweat that keeps forming on his brow. He came back from his morning perimeter check 20 minutes ago, and he is still sweating.
Rosa looks at him, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
Keyon looks at her, and judges she is honestly confused and not trying to be coy. “Look, it is obvious to me that you two know something about where Gravis or Ashtoreth or both of them might be hanging out, but you've not shared it with any of the others. I've been patient up until now, but I think you should share what you know. Perhaps I can help you figure it out or think it through.”
Vance laughs a bit. “Can't keep anything from you, especially when we're not really trying. To be honest, we're not sure what to make of it. Even to us, it seems, well, weird.”
“Yeah, and what exactly is that?” Keyon asks, clearly tired of being left out, again.
Rosa shares a quick glance at Vance before picking up the thread. They've been doing that more and more. It's eerie the way they have grown so close, so fast. They really are like two sides of the same coin. “While Achi and I were separated after I was destroyed, we each, separately, had a series of dreams, or perhaps more accurately visions. These were of things familiar to us both, but more than that. One of them is what allowed me to remember Achi and deduce what must have occurred between us.” She smiles at the memory. “But others were…different. They appear to have shown us things about the adversary we face, before we learned of its nature. Achi, in particular, remembers what may have been a brief encounter with Ashtoreth thousands of years ago in what is today Turkey—if his dreams are to be believed. If they are somehow true, we may know where its home is. But how do we act on this information; it makes no logical sense at all.”
“Simple, we just go and check it out. I've always wanted to see that part of the world. Worst case scenario is we get to take a vacation if it doesn't pan out. A lot of my research into Sklávoi Ashtoreth certainly traced back to that general region of the world. We do a quick reconnoiter, and if there is anything worth following up on, we call in backup. Take our time and play it smart.”
Achi looks as his son, his friend. “It's more complicated than that. Zaleria and I, we can't get too close to this place. We'll be detected. Just like Juruele and Perxephsis, this place will be crawling with alien symbiots and nanomachines; it'll easily suss out our 'unique' abilities and probably stimulate a very violent response. We may need someone a bit less exotic to get in close and verify what's really there.”
“Really? All this time you've just been trying to figure out how to ask me to go check this place out? For the love of…” Clive shakes his head. “I'm officially insulted. You didn't used to be afraid to let me risk my neck. What the hell has happened to you?! The most dangerous thing I do every day is wander around this landscape where everything that crawls or slithers is armed with a potent neurotoxin and could easily kill me.” He glares at them, until they each avert their eyes, knowing they've been treating him like a child—when in reality he is a human man. “So when do we leave?”
“As soon as we can make the arrangements,” Zaleria says, subdued.
“Sis, you can't alter me to become like you. I'm just a man. Whether I go on this mission or stay someplace safe like Luna, my days are finite and short. You will have to carry my memories forward no matter what happens. So stop worrying and let me live! You too, Achi! When I have to stand before this 'Being of Light' you talk about, I don't want to hear a litany of all the things I should have done.”
Zaleria walks over and gives him a powerful hug. “You've become a part of me, and I will never stop worrying. And no matter what happens, you will never be forgotten while the galanen exist in this universe.” She looks back at Achi momentarily, sharing more than words can convey. “And you are right. I'm sorry we've been selfish.”
∞∞∞
Two weeks later, they are in Kayseri, in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey. Achi stares out the hotel window at Mount Erciyes, the most dominant geological feature in the region, trying to get his bearings. It has been such a long time since he was last here, and even longer since he encountered that strange procession. It was sparsely populated then, but Kayseri is now a major city. He closes his eyes, trying to remember the exact details of where the mountain was in relationship to the trail he followed then, as well as the longer version from his dreams. His symbiots can help him with the first task, but not the second. He sighs as he relaxes to let his natural memories flow. “We need to seek more to the east, and maybe a bit further south. Probably about 50 kilometers out.”
Achi negotiates a rental car in nearly flawless Turkish, having first learned the Oghuz root of the Turkic language group while wandering in central Asia 1,300 years ago, as well as having full access to the collective's human language archives via his new comms implant—a resource he only draws upon carefully. They travel along the D300 highway east and then southeast until veering off on side roads to head south towards the city of Tomarza, where they decide to spend the night.
At dawn, Achi gets his bearings and decides they are still too close to the mountain, so they head back to the D300 and go further east, until they pick up the D815 and head south toward the city of Sariz. Here they eat dinner and decide to find a place to stay the night, again aided by Achi's mastery of the local language and bartering skills. They're close now; he can fe
el it. They need to head into the hills a little to the west, which look almost like a washboard upon the Earth—a hard ripple of stone upon which the winds of time ceaselessly scrub the air of every last drop of moisture before moving across the arid land. They are close. Achi wonders how much further can he and Zaleria go before they endanger the entire operation.
“Clive, check your phone. You have a message.”
Clive looks at it and opens the video file attached. It is the best memory replay Achi can provide, a walk-through of the route to Ashtoreth's home.
“Do you see that prominent peak, there?” Achi gestures. “It's the highest peak around. I remember that. It's changed little through the years. I was over there, just beyond that ridge line.” Clive nods his head. “If you start there, you should be able to pick up the trail. We can't risk getting closer, and I don't want you to get too close to the entrance. Just…just see if it matches my vision and get the heck out of there. Don't be a hero.”
“Hey, it's just a recon mission. Get in, have a look, don't attract attention, and get out. I got this.”
“As you get close, you're going to want to swing to the west along this ridge, opposite the crease that leads to their home. If you get a good photo from there, it should tell me what I want to know. Whether the vision is accurate. It should keep you well away from them. I assume the locals wander all over these hills with little interference, so you should be no different. Just, don't stand out. Keep moving with purpose, like you know where you're going, and are just out to enjoy the scenery.”
“I got it. Stop worrying. I'll keep my features masked, wear the local garb you've provided. Yada yada…“ He smiles, actually a bit more nervous than he is letting on.
Achi sighs. “Yeah I know exactly what I sound like. Contact us before you head back, and we'll pick you up here. If I don't hear from you by 1700, I'll come looking, and I'll not be discrete.”
“Well if that comes to pass, bring plenty of friends,” Clive grumbles, before leaving the small roadside hotel and heading off towards the hills.
He certainly grows on you/love him.
As long as it takes to get through the singularity,
I know/feel it too.
“What do we tell Beltare if we have to go in? I'm sure she thinks we're up to something. We don't have much of a backup plan arranged, do we?”
She smiles at him. “I bet you dinner if we ask her, she'll already have a couple waveriders standing supplied and ready to go, with a team on alert.”
“Hmm, bothers me that you always think of food as a reward, but I suspect you are right. Still, should probably be sure.” He clears his mind and reaches out for her. “Beltare, this is Achi.”
She responds almost immediately. “It still bothers me that you can do that. I don't feel safe anywhere anymore. Is everything okay?” Achi smiles a bit as she gets right to the point, with what for her is minimal teasing.
“If, purely for the sake of argument, I were to say things weren't all right, how quickly could you respond?”
“I could have a squad there in about three minutes. Do you need it?”
“No, but you just earned Zaleria a fancy dinner. And thanks, for being cautious.”
He can almost feel her sigh. “It's clear you three are up to something. I'll expect a full report later, when you're done exploring your hunch, or whatever it is.”
They had no need to worry. It is almost exactly 1500 when Clive contacts them, heading back. He figures it'll take three-hours to get back to the hotel. After a couple hours, they see his silhouette round the hill, and leisurely retrace his steps. He joins them nearly 45 minutes later, dusty, sweaty, and very thirsty. Achi hands him an ice-cold beer and saves his questions until Clive has a chance to sit down, drink it, and cool down a bit.
“Well, that wasn't particularly exciting, not that I'm complaining any. I think I got what you're looking for. Here, look at these pictures.” Clive hands over his phone.
Achi flips through the photos and goes back and stares at a couple of them, his mind racing back in time, replaying his dream, comparing it to what he is looking at. It is the same place. He expands the photo that best shows what his dream suggested was the entrance. It takes him a while, but he eventually notices it—a shallow depression winding through the terrain. Ever so slightly worn down by eons of passing feet. The larger rocks moved away, the smaller ones worn into sand. Once you know what to look for, it's obvious. “I assume you noticed this, right, this faint trail?” Achi asks him, just to verify.
Clive nods. “Yep, I figured you'd spot it fairly quickly. I think your dream, for whatever reason, was spot on. There is something there. So now what do we do?”
“Try and convince our allies they need to study the hell out of it.”
∞∞∞
Achi replays his dream in his mind, being as faithful as he can be, sharing it with their small group—Traemuña, Toshi, Jevelle, Fandtha, Beltare, Zargus, Zaleria, Rialle, and Cloufen—from the eldest to the most junior. He keeps a running narrative for Clive. And then he overlays the photos taken by Clive, showing nearly exact matches to terrain features, despite the passage of time. “In the dream, this is her home. I never met this person in life, nor did I ever visit this spot. She looks just like those we destroyed. I do not pretend to understand this, but you now know what we were up to in Turkey. I think it is worth further study.”
“There is no logical explanation to this,” Cloufen says, shaking her head a little, trying to understand how he could possibly know what he has shared. “You must have visited this site before, perhaps those memories were blocked.”
“Could such memories also be taken from my symbiots? I'm willing to admit the frailty of my human mind, but could both symbiotic and human mind be affected? And could I then recover it while in a dream state?” Cloufen frowns, pulling from the collective. It is not an area they have really studied. Eliminating memories from a human is easy. But they've never had reason to do so for a galan. “I do not know. Apparently, we've not tried to alter memories held by our symbiots. I'm not sure our adversaries would have such scruples, if your encounter with them were different than you recall. Or perhaps they injected these thoughts later…”
“Just because logic fails us, it does not mean there isn't a logical explanation. We just haven't found it yet,” Toshi offers.
Fandtha grunts, “If you know something Elder, feel free to speak plainly.”
Traemuña laughs. “The youth today show so very little respect, don't they Toshi?”
“Hmm, are they really any different than we were?” He says while raising an eyebrow. “But to be plain, there are many beings who are not constrained by time and space the way we are, who may simply be ensuring you find what you need to find. Such “help” is more frequently given than is often recognized.”
“What are you referring
to?” Beltare asks, furrowing her brows.
“What have you done to help humanity while tending this garden world?” Toshi asks her.
“We protect them from potential extinction hazards and quietly give guidance through interactions with governments, businesses, and influential people and organizations. We help reinforce those traits that will help humanity grow and mature.”
“Have you ever promulgated divine revelation?”
“You mean 'play god?' No! That is strictly forbidden,” she says, somewhat incredulous that he'd ask such a thing.
“Yet how many global religious movements have you seen generated? How many provide useful guidance on how humanity should grow and mature?”
She thinks on this a while. “Several. Many with slightly different, but otherwise consistent messages, messages that we helped emphasize and spread.”
“It is always so, when we tend garden worlds, is it not? Sentient life, no matter its form, can discern right from wrong and is always provided guidance on moral development. But not by the gardeners. Those who spread such insight live outside our realm.”
“You mean the gatekeepers?” Achi asks.
“Perhaps, or beings very similar to them. I'm not sure if gatekeepers are a race, a title, or the same few beings just doing their job,” Toshi says. “Frankly, I sometimes wonder if they are even beings, or a simple manifestation of some creature far more complex.”
Cloufen squirms a bit in her seat as she takes in this new information, visibly pulling reams of data from the collective looking for patterns she never thought to look for before. She seems unsettled to find that things are perhaps less deterministic than she thought. Toshi seems to notice. “Cloufen, do not be so distressed to find that the universe is biased towards life and development. If it were not so, sentient life would probably only rarely, if ever, overcome selfish material desires to evolve. The mystery is why despite this, and the help of races such as our own, so many still fail.”
Through the Singularity Page 51
