Glancing toward them, Rebecca locked eyes briefly with Sikaris, its deep orbs reflecting calm resolve. In that instant, she could see that Sikaris knew that time was up. It was now or never. Leaping from their concealment, the two Grinathians made one final desperate sprint for the ship.
Rebecca was resuming her fire when suddenly a loud squealing of metal on metal filled the hangar, and the deep red of the setting sun flooded in through the hangar door that was opening rapidly.
"Yeaaahhh!" Rebecca yelled in triumph. Tarrsk did it!" Rysth-nuul, the door's open! As soon as the others are in, we—"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rysth-nuul's twisted arms lunging for her. "We are leaving now!" it hissed.
Her reflexes taking over, she sidestepped the attack and spun her body around to avoid the alien's grasp. However, in doing so, Rebecca miscalculated her step, and her foot slipped off the platform. Losing her balance, she fell sideways, struck the edge of the ramp, and tumbled to the hangar floor, her pistol flying from her hand as she landed.
For a brief instant, the impact caused her to lose consciousness. She awoke a second later to the thunderous roar of the Vanguards engines. Dazed, she stared around her in bewilderment. Off to her left, both Sikaris and Prin lay unmoving on the floor. With the two of them out of the fight, the Torlig guards were now focused solely on stopping the Vanguard, which was slowly and awkwardly turning toward the open hangar door.
Rising painfully to her feet, she cried out in despair as the vehicle's entrance ramp closed tightly, sealing her fate. "No!" She gasped. "No!"
With her mind consumed with catching the departing ship, she didn't notice the Torlig hunters until they had tackled her to the floor. As she lay on the cold hard surface of the hangar, she watched in shock as her last hope of escape passed through the wide doors and into the open.
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as she watched Tarrsk leap from the wall above the hangar door to land on the ship as it passed beneath. Once clear of the hangar, Rysth-nuul began to accelerate, seemingly unsure of how to lift off from the ground. The snake alien's unfamiliarity with the controls gave the Torlig outer defenses enough time to acquire their target. Just as Rysth-nuul rotated the vertical lift engines into place and had managed to raise the ship twenty feet into the air, several rockets streaked into the sky, exploding into the belly of the Vanguard with fury.
The resulting explosion rocked the base and sent large chunks of flaming debris hurling out in all directions, mirroring the shattering of Rebecca's hopes within her.
21
Sikaris's Promise
AS THE last piece of burning metal settled onto the dry and cracked ground, Rebecca was hauled to her feet by two Torlig guards. Her face was completely devoid of expression or emotion, for the shock of the destruction of the Vanguard had caused her mind to turn inward, replaying the last minutes' events in a neverending loop.
They had tried and failed. Now escape was impossible. She would die on this planet, and probably soon, for any usefulness she had was destroyed along with the ship. The only hope she had now was that her death would be swift and painless.
The Torlig hunters began to half-carry her by her arms across the hangar floor toward the main entrance. Still in a dazed state, she stared down at the bodies of Sikaris and Prin. A hollow sadness filled her at the sight of the scientist's sightless eyes staring at the ceiling, its heart pumping the last of its blood through the numerous wounds in its body.
Next to Prin, Rebecca was surprised to see several Torlig lifting Sikaris to its clawed feet, its right leg covered with blood and its arm hanging uselessly at its side. In addition, she noticed a dozen or so holes in the creature's leathery skinfolds on its right side.
"Barraca will not like this," a harsh voice said in front of her. Slowly turning her attention toward the speaker, she recognized the Torlig commander that had been in charge of the hunting party that had captured them and killed Ch'ran. "No," it continued, staring hard at Rebecca as though it was contemplating various methods of torture it wished to inflict upon her. "He will not be happy at all. Take him to the arena holding cell."
Rebecca offered no resistance and allowed the Torlig guards to lead her away. Taking one last glance toward the open hangar door, she watched as the last vestiges of reddish sunlight slipped beyond the horizon, plunging the world into darkness.
An indeterminable amount of time passed as they led her through the passageways of the Torlig base and into a cell that was nearly identical to the one she had just left, with the exception that instead of eerie silence broken by moaning prisoners, this cell was filled with the far-off sounds of the roaring mob of bloodthirsty Torlig.
The guards shoved her into the cell followed a moment later by Sikaris, who instantly collapsed to the floor without the support of the guards. Slamming the door shut, four of the Torlig hunters took up positions outside their cell, their eyes alert and suspicious, as if daring Rebecca to try something.
In numb despair, she leaned her back against the wall and slowly slid down it until her knees were pulled up against her chest. Hugging her legs tightly, Rebecca wept softly.
After several long seconds, Sikaris's hoarse voice spoke quietly next to her, cutting through her emotion.
"I am ready to fulfill my promise."
"What?" she said, looking up, her red-rimmed eyes wet with tears.
Sikaris was sitting next to her, its violet eyes piercing through the darkness of the cell. Even with one eye almost swollen shut, there could be no mistaking the expression etched into the creature's face: Sikaris's eyes shown brilliantly with a compassion she had never seen from anyone before, a compassion that, despite all odds, filled her with hope and infused her with strength.
Had it not been for the depth of emotion conveyed by Sikaris's eyes, Rebecca would have lashed out at the alien leader for wanting to discuss some silly promise after what had just happened. Instead, she simply said, "What promise?"
Sikaris shifted its position until it was directly in front of her. "I promised that if you helped us escape, then I would tell you who created you."
Rebecca chuckled sarcastically. "In case you hadn't noticed, we didn't escape."
"Nevertheless, you kept to your end of the bargain. It is time for the truth to be revealed to you."
Within her, Rebecca felt that same odd, almost frightening sensation she had felt before when looking at Sikaris. Yet at the same time, she felt an equally strong feeling of excited expectation despite her grief and despair.
Staring deep into her eyes, Sikaris spoke. "You and Prin talked often about many things. What did he say to you about how life began on your planet?"
"He...he said that he believed we were created, and he thought that...that you might know something about it. Do you...did your...people create life on my planet?" she asked, unconsciously holding her breath in anticipation.
"No." Sikaris said. "I was created, like you."
So Prin was right, she thought in wonder. It's too bad he—it—never learned the truth. "So then...who did create my people? And why? Did they create you as well? What planet are they from?"
Sikaris shook its head from side to side, as if Rebecca's questions were sapping its patience. "You have much knowledge, yet you lack wisdom. Do you not yet see? Do you not yet understand?"
See what? Understand what? Rebecca, confused by Sikaris's questions, was simply staring back at the alien when it suddenly dawned on her that Sikaris's voice sounded stronger and that its coughing and rasping were gone.
But before she could verbalize her thoughts, Sikaris continued, "Do you remember how Tarrsk disabled our transport by breaking one piece? All the rest of the vehicle was dependent on the correct operation of that one small piece and thousands of other pieces just like it. Each part is vital and necessary for the vehicle to function. If even one piece is damaged, the entire machine becomes useless. And yet one single cell in your body is far more complex than that transport. It is even more
complex than the ship that brought you to this planet.
"In the caves, you recognized the Modir boundary marker. You knew it was some kind of written message, even though you had never seen those symbols before. How? How did you know? Because you recognized a pattern to the marks. You saw the symmetry in the letters, and you knew that natural causes could not account for such precision. You knew it had to be written by an intelligent being, for information can only be created by intelligence, not by chance.
"Yet when you look at living things, you suddenly change your thinking. You believe that DNA, which is the most efficient information storage system in the universe, could be the result of non-thinking, random processes!
"Even more," Sikaris continued as it stood to its feet, "stored information is useless without some way to read it and translate the coded symbols into meaning. You recognized that the Modir marker contained a message, but you had no way of understanding it. In the same way, life not only contains information, but it has a means to translate that information and microscopic biological machines to carry out the instructions."
As Rebecca sat dumbfounded trying to follow Sikaris's impassioned speech, it suddenly occurred to her that the feline creature was standing on its injured leg and that its right arm no longer hung limply at its side. However, Sikaris continued before she could comment.
"Remember your conversation with Prin in the cave regarding mutations? Don't you realize that mutations are mistakes in DNA? They never add new information in the genes of a being. Therefore, even if you had an eternity of time, mutations will never cause one animal to become another because the possibility of new genetic information to create new structures is simply not there!"
The cell door behind Sikaris opened abruptly, cutting off anything further it might have said. Several guards entered swiftly and grabbed the Grinathian leader from behind. With Sikaris's voice returning to normal and its body miraculously healed, Rebecca expected it to launch into a last-ditch attack and prepared herself for that eventuality. However, the cat alien merely allowed the guards to lead it out of the cell without the slightest bit of resistance.
Resigning herself to her fate, Rebecca followed suit. The Torlig guards led her through the hallway and into the domed arena. The frenzied multitude of spectators broke into howls and screams that brought her back to the reality of this waking nightmare.
Her boots sank into the soft sand beneath her feet, causing her knee to throb once again from the stress of walking on the shifting surface. Sikaris's words a few moments before were instantly forgotten as paralyzing fear crept into her heart and body, heightened by the smell of dried blood and death that permeated the entire area.
As they approached a set of chains anchored in the ground near the center of the circular arena, uncontrollable panic began to invade her mind. Twisting and contorting her body in every conceivable way, she fought against her captors, who easily restrained her and kept her moving inexorably forward.
"Sikaris!" she screamed. "Do something! Oh, God! Oh, God, please help me!"
The guards locked manacles of rusted iron onto her wrists and stepped away. Pulling immediately on the chains connected to them, she quickly discovered the other end to be firmly attached to a metal ring, which was cemented into the ground beneath the sand, like a dog leashed to a stake in the yard. She could run but not far.
Falling to her knees, she buried her face in her hands as the throng cheered around her. Softly, almost imperceptibly, Rebecca did the only thing she had left to do. Like a child curled in her father's lap, she called out softly.
"God, if you are real, please help me. Have mercy on me."
With her shoulders heaving, she began to weep, her tears mingling with the dust and sand beneath her.
The sudden touch of two gentle hands upon her shoulders startled her. Looking up, her eyes met Sikaris's, who was kneeling before her on one knee.
"Rebecca, time is short. You must listen and understand."
The roar of the cheering crowd seemed to fade into the background as Sikaris spoke. "You do not yet comprehend the truth because you have been blinded by what others have told you. You have discarded the truth as an answer before you ever asked the question. You have become willingly ignorant, choosing to believe the lie because you do not like the ramifications of the only other option."
Suddenly, the grating sound of rusted metal being forced into motion reverberated throughout the arena. Taking her eyes off Sikaris, she looked over its shoulder and froze in sheer horror. The Torlig spectators howled in anticipation as a creature out of Rebecca's darkest dreams emerged from a holding cell on the opposite end of the arena.
The spindly-legged monstrosity was nearly eight feet tall walking on all seven of its mangled limbs. As she watched, it reared up on its three hindmost legs, nearly doubling its height. Its bulbous, segmented body looked like a cross between a large multi-armed Torlig and the insect-like V'skir. To Rebecca, however, its resemblance to some freakish spider was what caused her to begin backing away in panic.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, her irrational childhood fear of spiders surged to the forefront, causing her to begin crawling backward on her elbows, her back carving a trench into the sand, and her eyes riveted to the grotesque creature before her. Panting heavily, Rebecca began to gasp and cry, her fortitude spent, her resolve and composure evaporated.
The creature, seeing its prey's feeble attempts to flee, seemed to draw strength from Rebecca's fear. Letting out a shrill, high-pitched shriek, it lumbered forward, the pincers in front of its mouth opening and closing in expectation.
Suddenly, Sikaris was standing over her, blocking her line of sight with its body. "Rebecca, look at me!" it commanded. "Rebecca!"
Half out of her mind with fear, she shifted her gaze to stare at her companion.
"You must listen to me," Sikaris said calmly, its voice gentle yet firm. The longer she looked into the alien being's fathomless eyes, the more the sound of the crowd diminished, along with her fear.
"You now believe that you were created, but do you not see that the same logic that convinced you that you had to be created is the same logic that proves that all life in the universe must have been created? Evolution did not occur on Earth, and neither did it occur here on Ka'esch or anywhere else in the universe, for evolution is not possible. It is a lie formulated by the enemy."
"Who...who are you?" Rebecca muttered.
"I am a messenger. I have been sent by the One who has created all life. The Great Designer of the universe."
Suddenly, Sikaris's features began to alter subtly. The fur-covered scales dissolved to reveal beneath it tanned skin so smooth it almost seemed like glass. Gone were the claw-like hands and feet and replaced instead by human hands and feet that were strong and masculine. Instead of folds of skin stretching between its limbs, a robe of purest white surrounded its body. Its face shone like a hot white star, its light washing away the arena, the spider creature, and even the ground they stood upon.
Rebecca covered her face with her arms like a child attempting to hide in plain sight from an adult, then overwhelmed by awe, she rolled over and lay facedown in the sand before Sikaris as if dead.
Gently cupping her face in its powerful hands, Sikaris slowly lifted Rebecca's head. "Do not be afraid," he said, his voice low and comforting.
Although the being kneeling before her looked nothing like the creature that had been her companion, its depthless violet eyes were unmistakable. She knew that until the day she drew her last breath, the image of those deep orbs would be indelibly burned into her memory.
"The Almighty Lord of the universe has brought you here to show you many things. Never forget what you were shown and all you have learned. You are the chosen vessel. Chosen to deliver the message to those who will listen.
"Return now and remember."
The light surrounding them intensified until all Rebecca could see were Sikaris's eyes fixed upon her. A moment later, even they fade
d away as her entire being succumbed to the shining radiance.
22
Rebecca's Calling
"SHE'S COMING around!"
The voice seemed to be coming from far off in the distance. Rebecca could faintly hear someone or something moving near her, but her mind seemed sluggish, as if her senses and brain were not communicating properly with each other. She opened her eyes, yet all she could see was whiteness, like standing in the center of a blizzard.
Then gradually, the whiteness began to fade away, and images started to coalesce before her.
"Rebecca, can you hear me?"
The words were clearer this time, and the voice sounded vaguely familiar, but her mind just couldn't make the connection. She tried to speak, but like everything else, her vocal chords refused to respond to her mental prodding.
"I'll go inform the others."
She sensed more movement and then heard the sound of a door opening and closing. She continued to struggle to make sense of the swirling images before her eyes until they became clearer and took on a definite form. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pieces of the puzzle clicked together, and she recognized that the shape before her was the smiling face of her friend.
"Welcome back to the land of the living. You gave us quite a scare."
"Lissha?" Rebecca managed to say with much effort. Her entire mouth felt as though it was coated with peanut butter.
"In the flesh," Lisa said jovially.
"But you...you died."
Lisa raised one eyebrow, then smirked. "I feel pretty good for a dead person. Here, drink this."
Rebecca drank mechanically from the offered straw, the cool liquid washing away the stickiness in her mouth and throat. Even the small drink seemed to revive her and bring her strength.
Logic's End Page 27
