by Trevor Gregg
“Locating Duniya in astromech database… Located. Would you prefer gate travel or warp jump only?” questioned Isa.
“Let’s avoid the gates for now, Isa. Please calculate a jump-only path,” Tharox decided.
“Affirmative,” Isa confirmed.
Several seconds went by as Isa’s organic nano-computer components processed through millions of stars and other bodies, such as black holes and neutron stars, locating the optimal path.
“Route calculated. Time to destination, eleven hours. Fuel estimate, twenty-five nanocrons.”
“Thank you Isa, run the warm up routines on the warp generator please,” Tharox ordered.
“You all have names, I assume,” Tharox questioned, the lenses of his cyber-eyes clicking and glinting as he studied them.
“I’m Elarra,” she responded promptly.
“Yeah, I’m Kyren,” he began. When Alis and Benjam failed to speak, he added, “And Benjam and Alis, here too. Really, thank you for saving us.”
“I’ve got to go prime the engine, I’ll be back shortly,” Tharox said.
As soon as he had departed Alis said, “What in the hell?! Benjam, what is going on?”
“Well, it would seem that in our altered timeline, he hasn’t found the Epsilon Computer.”
“Yeah, but he obviously still harbors animosity for the Consortium,” Kyren said.
“Perhaps it is more than mere coincidence, our meeting,” Elarra interjected.
“Alis, do you want to tell me what you’re talking about?” Geri asked, looking confused.
“I’ll explain later, mom,” Alis deflected.
Geri’s ears twitched in annoyance as a slight frown creased her brow.
“So what do we do now? And what is on Duniya anyway, Elarra?” Kyren asked her.
“Duniya is the liadi home world. I may find guidance there to understand my recent visions,” Elarra began.
“Yeah, your recent visions… what’s been going on, Elarra?” Kyren questioned further.
“I will explain when we reach Duniya, I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Kyren promised in return.
The BII spoke, interrupting them, “While we wait, would you like a tour of the Radiant Star?”
“Yes, Isa, I’d like to see more of the ship,” Alis said enthusiastically.
“You would, my daughter,” Geri said affectionately.
Alis’ ears fell flat as she gave her mother a disgruntled look.
“What would you like to see, Miss Alis?” Isa asked pleasantly.
“Ooh, the engines. Wait, the power core, no let me look at schematics…” she trailed off, making her way to the console that was now displaying engineering schematics of the ship.
“Well, she’ll be awhile. But I’m sure you knew that,” Geri chuckled and winked at Kyren.
10
Welcome Home Elarra
Tharox returned to the bridge and began working at his control panel. He wondered what the hell he was doing. He’d never had anyone else aboard his ship before. Much less the Consortium, even if they had gone rogue and were outlaws.
“So this ship is controlled by your BII, eh? No piloting needed?” Alis asked him inquisitively.
“Correct, Isa handles most of the crew functions” Tharox said, turning to face her.
She flinched under his cold cybernetic gaze, ears twitching back reflexively. He felt a measure of satisfaction at having that effect, then felt an equal measure of guilt. It was strange how complicated things became with other people around. He noticed her gaze drift to the holopanel above one of the control stations.
“Go ahead, take a look if you’re interested,” Tharox said, waving his hand toward the console.
She sat down quickly and began to pan through the ship’s capabilities.
Isa began, “the Radiant Star has no weapons or shields and is lightly armored, but hosts a wide array of sensors and communications capabilities. Also, my engine is a baryonic condenser, very fast. And I have a warp drive with a two-hundred-fifty light year range, so I can jump damn near anywhere. Oh, sorry, was I bragging?”
Alis chuckled at Isa. Thankfully Isa must have sensed his discomfort and was trying to intervene. This brought a moment of sadness as he remembered how intuitive his wife had also been.
Alis brought herself to look at Tharox again, her ears still quivering, “Um, thanks for saving us, we’d have been goners if you hadn’t been there.”
“I’m glad I could help a fellow victim of the Consortium. So anyway, what’re you folks accused of? Why’re they after you?”
He realized he was intimidating, but they seemed even more jumpy than they should be.
“Stand by for jump sequence… five…” Isa began, as he was wondering what these people had been up to.
“Never mind, we’ll talk after jump,” he cut in.
“Four, three, two, one…” Isa continued and the ship began the first of many jumps that would occur over the next eleven hours.
They spent the time in relative silence, most of them seemingly unwilling or unable to engage Tharox in meaningful conversation. Geri started to warm up to him as they spoke, but the others remained skittish.
“The Consortium is hunting me as well, so know you are safe here,” he said, attempting to reassure them.
“So what’re they after you for?” Geri asked.
He could tell she was attempting to deflect his earlier question. He didn’t want to reveal his story until he had heard theirs. If they became a threat he could always put them out the airlock, right? Something in the back of his mind said no, he couldn’t do that. He realized he was stuck with them, so he decided to tell his tale.
“I’ve been on the run for a number of years. I’ve not had any visitors, not since…” he trailed off, aware of the pained look he must be wearing. “The short version is, I stole this ship.”
“So this is a Beryllius-class scout cruiser?” Alis asked eagerly.
“You are correct.”
“How did you manage to steal a scout cruiser, complete with BII, from the Consortium?” Elarra wondered aloud, as if to no one.
Tharox remained silent, and Isa offered no more. They arrived at the Duniya system after another series of short warps, entering into a distant planetary orbit. The ship was immediately hailed.
“Unidentified vessel please transmit ID codes immediately or be considered hostile,” the harsh guttural voice came over the comm.
“Isa, please upload identification package delta,” Tharox instructed his BII.
“Identity confirmed. Please state the purpose of your visit to Duniya.”
Tharox turned around and looked at them, settling on Elarra. “What do I say?”
“Let them know Elarra has returned to meet with the High Council,” Elarra instructed.
Tharox directed Isa to request approach vectors and an orbital path, while Alis played with the ship’s sensors. Isa navigated them into their dictated orbital path, establishing a stable orbit around the planet.
“Isa, please contact the liadi council on comm one-seven-one-seven,” Elarra instructed after Isa confirmed their orbit.
The comm crackled. Elarra stepped close and responded, “this is Elarra, I request an audience with the council.”
“Identity confirmed, welcome home Elarra,” the small voice on the other end said.
“I’ll take you to the surface in my shuttle,” Tharox offered. “I could use some fresh air.”
“Have your shuttle follow the predetermined landing course we are uploading now,” the voice recommended.
They followed him through the Radiant Star to the back of the ship, where a circular portal in the floor revealed a ladder leading down into his small shuttlecraft, tucked within the ship’s underbelly.
This had been a strange ride, but Tharox was glad that it was over. He would do some trading, buy supplies, maybe even have a drink. Then he would move on again, back to the stars and his lonely wandering. It wa
s what he knew. He had lost too much, been changed too deeply, to be anything other than a loner.
He sat down in the piloting console and the eager young rillian sat directly behind him. Despite her obvious aversion to him, she was deeply interested in his ship, and seemed to be hitting it off with Isa.
Isa. He hadn’t thought about her feelings. Maybe she was enjoying some company other than his? Maybe she needed something more. She had been somber and morose as of late. Come to think of it, he had been particularly dour lately as well. Maybe this encounter was a good thing after all. Maybe it was a dose of what they both needed.
He shrugged mentally and powered the shuttle on, running his pre-flight checks and preparing the shuttle’s navigation system. There was a clunk as he tapped the disengage button and the shuttle drifted free of the Radiant Star.
“So who is this Council, Elarra?” Tharox heard Kyren ask from the rear seats.
“The Council of Elders, they are the wisest amongst us. They guide our people. They will understand what has happened better than I,” Elarra replied softly.
Tharox forced himself to remember that these people, while they seemed to be nice enough, were definitely hiding something. Best to let them be on their way, he supposed.
“So do you know this Council? Have you met them before?” Alis asked Elarra.
“Yes, I have met them on several occasions. We discussed my visions and my role in the future. They provided me with the resources I’ve needed to pursue my visions. They will help again,” Elarra explained confidently.
Tharox lined the shuttle up on the predetermined reentry vector and powered the thrusters up. The shuttle began to plow into the planet’s atmosphere.
“Hold on folks, we’re in for some chops,” Tharox warned them, as the exterior of the craft began to glow orange-red and the ship started to shudder and shake.
Many minutes later the fire receded, the shaking subsided, and the windshield framed an expanse of green and blue before them. The shuttle flew toward a great city upon the horizon, towering skyscrapers sprawling out before them. He heard Elarra gasp from the back seat.
“Elarra, what is it?” Kyren asked, worry coloring his voice.
“It’s just… so different than when I was here last.”
“What do you mean?” Benjam squeaked, concern evident in his voice too.
“No, it’s… nothing wrong… just, the skyscrapers, there weren’t any last time I was here. They’ve been industrious, it seems, since I’ve been away,” Elarra explained.
Tharox could hear the uncertainty in her voice, though. He wondered what they were possibly flying into, as he lined the shuttle up to approach the landing pad at the outskirts of the city. Minutes later, he deftly touched the shuttle down and powered off the engines.
11
The Council
Elarra didn’t know what to expect. Since Benjam’s time bomb seemed to have reset Tharox’s existence, that meant there never was a threat to the Consortium, at least from him. She had no idea what the council would know, and how they would receive her. She was the first liadi to ever survive past their visikaji, as far as she knew. What would the council think?
Tharox’s shuttle door opened with a whoosh, the fresh air cascading over her, the scents of grass and trees rolling in. She hopped down, landing lightly on the landing pad the shuttle had parked on. Across the platform stood three figures, their shadows long before them in the late afternoon sun.
Two full-grown humanoid raxi framed a smaller figure between them. The guards were slender, sinuous beings, with large leathery flaps hanging down their cheeks, emphasizing their protruding chins. Bald heads shown in the red sunlight as yellow eyes stared alertly. They bore pistols at their side. The two were identical, being genetic clones, like all of the liadi’s forces. The liadi in the middle, she recognized immediately.
“Welcome Elarra. I have foreseen your arrival. I am Saeli, of the liadi council,” the boy bowed low, sweeping his arm to the side. “I will escort you to your quarters. The council will meet with you in the morning.”
He had foreseen her? Now she was the object of her people’s vision? She wanted to question him, find out what he knew. But she didn’t know where to begin.
Saeli stepped past Elarra and spoke to her companions. “Welcome to Duniya, honored guests.”
Elarra turned to Tharox. “I don’t know your plans, sir. But I would like to offer you the hospitality of my home world.”
“I could afford to do some trading,” he responded, looking to Saeli. “You have a marketplace here in the city, yes?”
“Indeed, Tharox, we do.”
Tharox visibly flinched in surprise.
“I have known of your arrival for some time now, please do not be alarmed,” the liadi held his arms out in an open gesture. “Welcome Kyren, Alis, Benjam, and Geri. Now why don’t we return to the city and retire somewhere more comfortable?”
They climbed into the back of a large tracked transport of some sort, which sped them away from the landing pad toward the city looming in the distance, across the valley floor.
Trees lined the track they drove along, and the hillsides were covered in green grass. It was springtime on Duniya, and she had forgotten how much she enjoyed it. Things were just so much more beautiful when they were lush and in bloom.
They reached the city and drove through the relatively empty streets, arriving at a large skyscraper. Elarra craned her neck but couldn’t get a good estimate on size. The building had been constructed recently, sometime in the last fifty or sixty years, since that was the last time she had been here.
As Saeli led them inside, he paused. “Elarra, I will take you to your quarters, while my raxi will escort your companions to theirs.”
Elarra touched Kyren’s arm, stopping him from protesting. He just looked at her concernedly. The guards peeled off and headed for a bank of elevators. Kyren looked to Elarra, and she nodded yes, so he followed.
Saeli escorted her to a separate elevator and they rode it to the twenty-seventh floor. Twenty-seven out of fifty-five, this building was huge in relation to the surrounding city. As the elevator rose, she pondered the situation. Saeli had admittedly had a vision about her and her companions. What else had he seen? No, this had to be nothing more than a harmless coincidence.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened. A hallway led away from the elevator, doors lining either side. Saeli walked to the first door and swung it open, motioning Elarra inside. She tentatively crossed the threshold, peering into the dim room.
A light shone in the center of the room, illuminating a strange chair topped by a basket of mesh, hundreds of tiny wires attached.
“The rho’kar?” Elarra said skeptically.
“Yes, we must have a full accounting of your experiences.”
“Very well, if the council orders me, so I shall.” It would make it easier to relay her experiences if they could see it for themselves.
Elarra sat down in the chair as Saeli adjusted the headgear to fit over her head. He walked over to a control panel on a pedestal and began to work the ancient analog controls. She braced herself for the rush of memory and emotion that would overwhelm her. She had been subjected before to the machine known amongst her people as the rho’kar.
“This machine will render your memories into full scene imagery, which we will then access. We will assess you,” Saeli said ominously.
Stunned for a moment, Elarra began to ask, “what does…” And then the rho’kar was activated and a wall of emotion hit her. She lost herself in the memories.
When she finally returned to her senses, she was slumped in the chair, the helmet loosely hanging on her head. The room was dimly lit, a single solitary light in the center of the room above the chair created a pool of light around her. She slowly sat up and the helmet fell off, clattering to the floor. Her heart thundered in her ears as she looked around. No one lurked in the darkness, Saeli was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello?�
�� she said hoarsely, her throat raw. Maybe from screaming? she thought.
There was no answer, she appeared to be alone. She began to stand up when the vision hit her.
She was standing in front of the council, the seven leaders of all of liadi society glaring down at her. She knew them all by reputation, and had stood before them on several occasions, but had never met them face to face. There was Saeli, on the left. He wouldn’t meet her gaze. She panned over the remaining counselors; Dynor, Samiratha, Persephone, Vero, Gabai, and finally Darius on the far right.
“We have examined your experiences…” Dynor began, his red hair shorn close to his scalp.
“It is most troubling, what we have seen,” Persephone cut in, her dark eyes growing darker.
Dynor continued “We have seen what you have seen, we have lived as you have lived.”
“Abomination, that is what you are,” Persephone interrupted venomously.
“You survived your visikaji. No liadi has ever lived through their death-vision. It is anathema,” Dynor finished.
“The council will now render final judgment. Elarra, you are to be terminated at dawn,” Darius said.
She saw the smoldering hatred in his eyes as he motioned for the guards to take her away. She kicked and screamed but the guards were too strong. She was deposited in a small cell, the barred door sliding shut with a clank.
Hours later, she heard footsteps outside the cell. She faced the bars apprehensively. Had they come for her? Was it dawn already? There was no way of knowing. The footsteps slowed and Darius came into view, dressed in his gilded councilor’s robes. He approached the bars and smirked.
“Ah, the mighty Elarra, abomination and thorn in my side. At least you would be, if you were going to live.”
Elarra felt betrayed, and that made her angry. She stepped up to the bars and snarled, “how dare you judge me. I saved our people from destruction, the galaxy from destruction. How can you treat me this way?”
