Harbinger

by Ken Lozito

  “There’s a city underneath the city. This is going to take a while to explore,” Samson said.

  Connor studied the holoscreen that was displaying the ever-expanding map of the underground tunnels beneath the city. "A while" was a bit of an understatement. He used his implants to update the data being shown on the holoscreen. Soon, there were paths highlighted in red. “There, that helps a little bit. The highlighted areas are where ryklar tracks were detected.”

  “It’s broken up over here,” Dash said. “Oh, I see it now. Those are probably old sewage ways, so there’s water there.”

  “We don’t know how old those tracks are, but we don’t need to. They’re all going in the same general direction to this area here,” Connor said. He nodded to himself. “That’s our target,” he said and looked at Samson. “Captain, let’s get everyone ready.”

  “Yes, sir,” Samson said and began bellowing orders.

  The Ovarrow had been unable to conceal their presence aboveground, but underground was a different story. The tunnels underneath the city showed signs of being recently used. Even the waterways they’d crossed had reinforced bridges. They were on the right track. Some of the tunnels narrowed to barely three meters across, while others were much wider. Connor didn’t want to have to fight a battle down there because of the risk of bringing the tunnel down on top of them.

  Samson assigned Corporal Alanson to keep track of the recon drones and their updates to the map they were following. Connor, Dash, and the rest of the Ovarrow stayed close to the front. Connor carried an AR-71, which was standard issue for the CDF. The nanorobotic ammunition made it a versatile assault rifle.

  They'd been walking up the main tunnel for the last half hour. There were offshoots, and Corporal Alanson spoke. “General, there's movement detected in some of the adjacent tunnels up ahead, sir.”

  Samson was about to order a scout force ahead, but Connor told him to wait. “Corporal, engage the recall signal for the ryklars,” Connor said.

  The tunnels lit up in a blaze of light flashing across the visual spectrum of colors. Movement in the adjacent tunnels ceased. Connor had the corporal repeat the sequence, and then they waited. The recon drone flew to one of the entrances of the adjacent tunnel and scanned inside. The ryklars had left. They were definitely on the right track.

  With the presence of the ryklars confirmed, Samson had more soldiers brought to the front, armed and ready. His reasoning was that even though they were able to mimic the control signal for the ryklars, they didn’t know if the Ovarrow had some way to order the ryklars to attack regardless of which light they were showing them. Connor had to agree with that. The sonic deterrent signals would work down there, but these ryklars had been mutilated by having their auditory systems removed. His mouth formed a grim line at the thought. It must’ve been extremely painful for those creatures. The ryklars were dangerous, but so was anything else that wanted to live. There were other predators, like berwolves, that were nearly as dangerous as ryklars, but they were nowhere near as smart. Berwolves were the size of Old Earth grizzly bears but with the agility of wolves. The ryklars were something different. They were highly intelligent. Connor had heard the term "sapient intelligence," meaning they had the potential to be almost as intelligent as human beings, but that was a bit of a stretch, even for Connor. He wasn’t an expert in evolutionary science, but he'd spoken with experts in that field enough to at least appreciate that yes, there was a strong possibility that if ryklars were allowed to evolve over millions of years, they had the greatest potential of becoming an intelligent species. Right now, their intelligence was considered to equal that of an Old Earth bottlenose dolphin. They had highly complex brains and lived in a small society. It was these traits that had probably drawn the Ovarrow to utilize them the way they had. But at some point, the way the Ovarrow had used the ryklars was just cruel. Connor had never broached the subject with the Ovarrow—at least not yet.

  Connor had killed hundreds of ryklars, but there had been no other choice. He’d seen potential in the ryklars when Siloc had taken him prisoner. Left to their own devices, they weren’t entirely wild. That didn’t mean he'd voluntarily go unarmed into a pack of them and expect not to be killed, but there was potential there. He remembered ryklars leaving him alive while killing Siloc at the Mekaal secret base. There was nothing that would convince Connor that this was because the ryklars were preoccupied with their desire to kill Siloc. They'd made a decision not to kill Connor. It was what had led him to learn as much as he could about them.

  Connor heard Dash speaking in urgent tones with Cerot and the others and made his way over to them. “What’s the matter?”

  “They're worried about the ryklars.”

  “Did you explain to them how these ryklars are different?”

  “Yes, but I don’t know if they completely understand,” Dash replied.

  The ryklar tracks led to a major adjacent tunnel, and they followed them. The CDF soldiers held their weapons with practiced efficiency. These were all seasoned combat veterans.

  By now, they could hear the ryklars, and it seemed that they'd gathered in a vast chamber the tunnel connected to. The entrance to the chamber was a natural cave opening. Connor heard sounds of an underground river echoing off the sides of the cave. There was moisture in the air, but there was a generally cool temperature beneath the ground. They sent the recon drones out of the tunnel and up to take a survey of the area. There were large cisterns across the chamber, and hundreds of the mutilated ryklars were gathered. Walking among them were Ovarrow soldiers, some of whom wore ryklar skins.

  Two bridges crossed the wide river. The bridges were easily defendable, but it was nothing the CDF couldn’t handle. However, he didn’t believe it was a coincidence that the Ovarrow had taken their stand there. He wondered what was beyond this chamber that was worth defending. It could be their homes, or it could be something else.

  Cerot and the other Ovarrow erupted into a quick debate. Connor glanced at Dash, who gave a slight shake of his head.

  “What are your orders, General?” Samson asked.

  “I’m going to try to talk to them. Let’s move up to the bridge. Have the men spread out so they can cover us if we need it,” Connor said.

  “Understood, sir. What about our guests?” Samson said and nodded toward Cerot and the others.

  Cerot gestured toward the bridge and then to the other Ovarrow.

  “Let them come with us,” Connor said.

  They walked toward the bridge, and Connor peered at the ryklars gathered on the other side. Their bearded tentacles were gray or almost black, indicating that they were not in a highly agitated state. When ryklars were highly agitated, which occurred through the use of the control signals, their bearded tentacles became bright red. But the fact that the ryklars weren't highly agitated didn’t make them any less dangerous. They drew in deep breaths and seemed to be a moment away from charging across that bridge to attack them.

  Ryklars had two sets of arms. One set was directly in front of them and was a bit shorter than the heavily muscled ones on the sides. They had thick claws that could rend even the battle steel of their armored vehicles. Leopard-like spots spilled across their gray coats.

  It was strange for Connor to see them waiting, and even stranger was the fact that there were definitely Ovarrow soldiers walking among them. They were easy to pick out. Standing at full height, they were head and shoulders taller than the ryklars' stooped forms. They wore dark armor, similar to what Cerot and the others wore. The reconnaissance drone detected power sources from the weapons they carried. The Ovarrow rifle could shoot a particle beam. They required recharging, but they were powerful enough to get the job done. The CDF had superior weaponry, but Connor wanted to communicate with them, not start a fight.

  One of the recon drones flew up, taking a position several feet above Connor’s head, and a large holoscreen appeared above them.

  “Ovarrow, my name is Connor Gates, and I’d lik
e to communicate with your leader.”

  The Ovarrow translator put up a series of symbols. Connor waited, but there was almost no reaction from the small army across the bridge—not exactly the warmest greeting.

  “Is there a warlord among you?” Connor asked.

  He noticed several Ovarrow soldiers shifting their feet. Cerot let out a harsh grunt, and Connor gestured for him to come stand next to him. Cerot came over and then spoke in rapid succession, raising his voice so the Ovarrow across the bridge could hear him. The Ovarrow had multiple vocal cords as part of their physiology and could generate sounds beyond anything the colonists could duplicate.

  A loud blast of acknowledgment came from an Ovarrow across the bridge. Cerot went quiet and waited. One of the Ovarrow soldiers across the bridge strode purposefully to the entrance. He was tall, like most Ovarrow. He sported lean muscles that could be seen where the armor didn’t cover, and many age lines crisscrossed his face. He uttered a short staccato series of sounds.

  “What is that?” Connor asked.

  “I think that’s his name,” Dash replied.

  Cerot used the translator and a single word appeared. The name was Brashirker. Then came the title "Warlord of the Ovarrow."

  Brashirker spoke again and then slammed the butt of his weapon to the ground.

  “The abandoners are not welcome here,” Brashirker said.

  Connor frowned for a moment and then glanced at Cerot. He saw that Dash had made the connection as well. He’d brought Cerot and the others, hoping they'd be able to open the lines of communication; however, Brashirker was sending a clear message that this wasn't the case.

  “How accurate is the translation?” Connor asked.

  “This is accurate, Connor. It stems from the logic used in their subroutines for their programming. Some tasks are just abandoned. This isn’t a mistake. He doesn’t want them here,” Dash said.

  Connor looked across the bridge and tried to think of a way he could salvage the situation before it became untenable. Why didn't anyone want to talk to anyone else?

  12

  Connor heard Samson provide a status to the other soldiers. Cerot and the other Ovarrow were still staring across the bridge at another member of their own species.

  Brashirker made a sharp sound, and two ryklars scrambled to his side and waited.

  “What’s he doing?” Dash asked.

  “Either he’s showing off, trying to intimidate us, or he wants protection,” Connor said. He took a few steps forward, leaving the others behind, and spoke to Brashirker. “I doubt anyone is welcome here, yet here we are. Your people attacked mine not that long ago. Now you’ve destroyed the arch. We have a common enemy, and I want to talk to you about that.”

  Connor sent the recon drone across the bridge and the holoscreen above it expanded to include his entire message. He wanted to be sure Brashirker could read it. He took a few more steps forward and Samson joined him, along with Lieutenant Mason. Both held their weapons loosely, but only a fool would believe they weren't moments from being at full readiness. If Brashirker or anyone else across the bridge attacked, Connor would shoot them.

  Brashirker moved forward with the ryklars at his heels. Several other Ovarrow soldiers followed him, but it was only a small group. Connor did the same, and Samson called other soldiers to follow them. He heard Dash asking Cerot to wait behind.

  Connor caught his first real look at Brashirker and the other Ovarrow. They looked more like aged veterans than the Ovarrow they’d rescued from stasis pods.

  Brashirker began to speak, but the translator couldn’t decipher the Ovarrow's spoken language. When it became apparent to him that he was to use the holographic interface and select the symbols to convey his message, he scowled and gestured for one of his soldiers to use it. The Ovarrow soldier gingerly touched a symbol and it appeared on the screen. They weren’t strangers to an interface like this. It had been designed to mimic what they’d found on the Ovarrow consoles, so it seemed that the Ovarrow hadn’t abandoned their technology.

  “You were attacked because you were in forbidden territory. Access to the arch is prohibited,” Brashirker said.

  “We needed components from the arch to make ours work.”

  “It is forbidden.”

  “We’ve faced the Krake. It’s one of the reasons we came back here,” Connor said.

  He’d expected more of a reaction from the Ovarrow at the mention of the Krake, but that wasn’t the case. They were quiet, just waiting and listening. They acted very unlike the Ovarrow who'd come out of stasis.

  “You’ve faced the Krake and you come here? They will follow you. They always follow you, eventually,” Brashirker replied.

  “Have you ever fought the Krake?”

  “Our ancestors fought and died. You’ve seen what’s left of their war.”

  “Did you know that we were here on this planet?” Connor asked.

  “We were aware of your presence, but you kept your activities far away.”

  “Did your people go into stasis?” Connor asked.

  His question brought an instant reaction from not only Brashirker but the Ovarrow soldiers with him—a murmuring growl that sounded like the Ovarrow were clearing their throats but with more intensity. The ryklars sat back on their haunches and merely waited.

  “I meant no offense,” Connor said. “I want to know more about you.”

  “Why?” Brashirker asked.

  Connor waited a few moments before answering. “As you said, we have observed the aftermath of your wars. We know that your ancestors fought each other, as well as the Krake. But we don’t know about you. We know that some of you—the Ovarrow—went into stasis pods. We found many of them, but some of the pods were in a state of disrepair. The Ovarrow who survived suffered from health issues that we’ve been able to help them with.”

  “That is a mistake. My ancestors never went into stasis. They didn’t have the resources. They were pushed out of the strongholds that had stasis pods. We refused to sacrifice our young to live in a world without the Krake.”

  Samson leaned closer to Connor. “What does he mean by 'sacrifice their young'? Is the translator broken again?”

  Connor shook his head. “No, the stasis tech that the Ovarrow used could only support juveniles and near adults, as well as older Ovarrow. The younger ones wouldn’t survive.”

  “They abandoned their young so they could live?” Samson asked quietly.

  “Some of them, maybe. Not all of them,” Connor said. His chest tightened, and a sneer lifted his lips. It was hard for him not to judge, but he needed to keep Brashirker talking. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he knew this was a delicate situation. The slightest misstep would end the conversation prematurely. “How did you survive?”

  “Our ancestors created strongholds of their own upon the bones of the old world. We lived underground. Some moved to the southern reaches, but none of them survived,” Brashirker said.

  “What happened to them?” Connor asked.

  “The Krake found them. We severed all ties,” Brashirker said.

  Dash had come forward and was standing next to Connor. “He has to be talking about the beginning of the ice age. I wonder how long the Krake were active here.”

  Connor looked back at Brashirker. “How did you stop the Krake from coming here?”

  Brashirker seemed to consider this for a few moments. “Many years had passed and the Krake kept coming here despite the long winter. We disabled the arch here, but there were more across the continent. We sent groups to destroy them. We knew they had succeeded when the Krake stopped coming.”

  Whoever had gone in search of the arches had sacrificed themselves. They must’ve known it would be a one-way trip. It was hard for Connor to put together a timeline without making a lot of assumptions, but at least he had a high-level overview of what had happened.

  “We thought the Krake had returned when systems from the old world began to come online. If it
wasn’t the Krake, then it was the abandoners who were finally waking up,” Brashirker said.

  “It wasn’t the Krake; it was us exploring your world. I can understand why your ancestors held resentment of the Ovarrow who went into stasis, but what are your reasons? This happened hundreds of years ago.”

  “We remember.”

  Connor’s eyebrows knitted together in a frown. “I don’t understand.”

  Brashirker took a step forward. His muscles rippled as he clenched his weapon. “Your lack of understanding is what will bring the Krake to this planet. Some of the Ovarrow who went into stasis worshipped the Krake. The Krake are their masters, and they will seek to reestablish contact with the Krake now that they’ve been brought out of stasis.”

  “How? We found one arch that was at the bottom of the lake. We’ve built a prototype. Are there more?”

  Brashirker leaned back. “Possibly.”

  “Then you should work with us so we can prevent anyone else from contacting the Krake.”

  “It is too late for that. You’ve crossed paths with the Krake, and they will come back to this world.”

  “All the more reason to help us. Tell us what you know about the Krake. I need to find their home universe to stop them from coming here,” Connor said.

  He expected a similar response to the one he’d received from other Ovarrow—something along the lines of "the Krake can't be stopped," but instead he was answered with silence.

  “You will wait. Your machines will not follow us,” Brashirker finally answered.

  The Ovarrow warlord turned and crossed back to his side of the bridge. The others followed him. Connor recalled the recon drone and withdrew to the other side of the bridge. The Ovarrow soldiers and the ryklars withdrew into several different tunnels, leaving a small token force to stand guard at the tunnel entrances.