On the right arm, she could feel a restriction and flashed back to a memory of being in that room. She and hundreds of females of her kind were tied down and stuck by needles with the tubes on them, then tossed into barred cells. The screams, the agony of all the women horrified her more than death and haunted her more than any nightmare. The screaming, cries for help, the bleeding, the death, the torture. The horrific creatures that were pulled from most of the females of her kind were grotesquely deformed and only slightly resembled her kind. Most were killed straight out of the female’s body and discarded into metal containers. The thought of the experience made her panic. She wondered if she was back in one of those places again. The horrific memory leaped to the forefront of her mind yet once again. The Tisht had pulled one from her. Only, it looked like her kind and was crying. She recalled the images as if seeing him for the first time. She birthed one and they took it from her. A little male of her kind.
The metal tray shook violently, and a scalpel fell to the floor followed by a pair of tweezers. The tray itself popped straight up into the air as if being kicked and crashed into a wall scattering the remaining surgical implements. Calder turned and looked to the monitor desperate for an answer. The image of the brain showed all the lobes uniquely lit in a way Calder had never seen before, “She has almost full brain capacity!” he said.
The woman was breathing erratically. At the sound of the man’s voice, Sonia no longer was able to stave off the need to move. Life or death, she couldn’t lie down any longer. The Earth woman shot up into a sitting position and sprang from the table. An IV was in her right arm, but there were no restraints. Two very large beings that looked like her kind stood in the corner away from the direction of her left side. She reached over to jerk the clear tube out of her arm as she searched for a weapon. From across the room, a foreign object supernaturally flew from a container and landed in her right hand. Sonia looked and noticed that it was the strange metal that had killed Tilhar. The metal reshaped into the form of a dagger and she looked up at the two men.
“Sonia Sykes! We are here to help you,” Art said in a bold tone.
Her head whipped around and she stared at him, “What did you call me?”
“Your name is Sonia Sykes. Do you remember?”
She paused for a moment and replied, “Yes.” Sonia’s mind flooded with memories of who she was and of the places from her dreams. They were vivid and real. She sat back down on the table as visions of people and places and even emotion inundated her mind and was nearly overwhelming.
“You were taken from your home when you were ten years old. You are thirty years old now. You’ve been away from your home for some twenty years,” Art explained apprehensively not wanting to cause too much emotional stress.
She looked up at the two men, “What do you want with me? Where am I? Are you going to hurt me? Are you going to kill me for killing Tilhar?” her hands were shaking now.
The two looked at each other, “No, no, no! We are here to help you. You are not a slave anymore. You are free again to do what you wish. There are no demands of you here. All we need is information from you…about how you were taken and as much as you can remember since. When you are fully recovered and if you desire, we will return you to your family on Earth…if you wish to return. I’m not really sure how much of it you remember. I must warn you; you may notice an increase in your ability to recall things and process information, the doctor here reversed all…or as much of the damage you sustained in captivity as he possibly could. You are the first survivor he has ever tried to help. Most die in captivity. You are very fortunate,” Art noted sincerely.
Calder stepped forward, “I’m sorry, but did you say that you killed Tilhar? You were on the planet of Isfahan in the city of Onsan where Tilhar resides. We have heard rumors of his death, but how in the world did you do it? Believe me, you did the universe and billions of innocent beings a favor by killing him, he was a brutal murderer, smuggler, and slave trafficker. He was the one who took you from your home. He was huge, ruthless and strong. How did you kill him?” Calder stared blankly at her.
Sonia looked back at Calder. She knew better than anyone how brutal and ruthless Tilhar was. She was glad he was dead. She looked down to her hand at the metal, “I stabbed him in the foot with this as he was beating me. The point broke off and seemed to burn the inside of his body.”
“Telenium. It shocked me when I accidentally touched it. It is interesting that it programmed with a human…we did not know that this was possible. That is interesting. You may be the only human in all the universe to have a programmed piece. Well, it’s yours now and no one can change that,” Calder said deciding to remain out of reach of the metal.
Sonia looked down at the dagger. The dagger morphed into its original form. “What is this? Many times I have been hurt…nearly to death by this metal.”
“Telenium. Nothing more valuable in all the universe. It is the most unusual metal. It has a number of uses. The purer the piece, the better the results. The most common use right now is for fuel, energy and an explosive for weapons. Most are too afraid to take a chance and make direct contact with it, but you did. A piece, in Earth terms, let’s say is about two pounds, will power a ten to fifteen-ton vessel two AU which is about one-hundred and eighty-six million miles. Earth and Econ both are in the same orbital pattern but on opposite sides. You could fly straight to Earth from Econ, through the sun in one direction.”
Calder’s comments made Sonia more confused. She looked at him oddly as she considered what was just noted. “Same orbital pattern? I don’t recall any planet named Econ from when I was in school. There are no other planets that can sustain life. That’s what we were told.”
“Okay, too much information at one time. First, the telenium is used as a power source in vessels and inhabited places. That same two-pound piece can power an entire neighborhood of homes for several years with no impacts on the environment.
“Now, the most interesting and difficult to understand is how it can program itself to a human being. When you first touched it, what happened?” Calder asked.
“Other pieces nearly killed me. But this one was very warm. Almost to the point of burning me.”
“Then it went cold?”
“Yes.”
“Now, just as you see here, it feeds off your frequency. Your mental frequencies, your thoughts send frequencies, your voice is waves and frequencies…are picked up by the telenium. Notice how it sensed your fear and anxiety. It defied gravity, then flew to your hand. Then it became almost like a liquid and morphed into a pointed dagger and hardened again. It is hard to understand how this is possible, but if anyone comes into contact with it, it will pull static electricity out of the air, electricity out of their body and convert it into a powerful electric current that will shock them. In the case of Tilhar, the telenium supercharged the natural currents of electricity in his body and used it to basically cook him internally. I’m sure it was a painful death,” Calder said almost joyfully.
Sonia nodded her head and acknowledged his explanation, “What do I do with it now?”
“It’s yours. I would keep it close if I were you. It will come in handy,” Calder noted.
“Where am I? Is this really a planet called Econ? Are we really that close to Earth? Why do you look the same as me?”
Chapter 6
The small fleet entered the atmosphere just off the coast of the nation of Viennin and flew to the north over the Sea of Alum. Honoré looked down upon the deep waters and despite the altitude, he noticed that the dark waves were abnormally wide, deep, and crowned with white caps. The North Sea was famous for its inclement and unpredictable weather but even this seemed like an unusual occurrence. It was almost as if even the sea was daring him to cross its waters and enter his homeland where something even more foreboding awaited him.
The reality of the coming conflict was on his mind since receiving the order to return. It was apparent that it was a conversatio
n that his adopted father, Dag Borghild, had well intended to have in person as ‘face to face’ was an effective way to unequivocally solidify one’s viewpoints. The weeks of radio silence since receiving the signal to return spoke volumes about what Dag knew about his actions over the course of the last year and his opinion of them.
The winds were stronger than usual and he wondered if something more tropical was brewing. From the reports he received while away, the summer had been long and hot leaving the waters with more than enough energy and heat to support the development of tropical systems that were capable of winds over two hundred miles an hour.
“Dang, these winds are serious out here!” Santini, a loyal friend and captain of one of the Stur Crafts said.
The transmission startled Honoré a bit as it came in three times as loud as his music causing an instinctive reaction to turn it down, “I’ll bet even the Nekarks are down deep in that mess,” Honoré said referring to the giant sea creatures that ruled the waters and were notorious for being extremely aggressive to anything that existed including each other.
“Look, man. You want me to go with you to talk to him?” Santini asked deciding it was better to get directly to the most substantive reason for the contact.
“Why?” Honoré asked somewhat pretending to be perplexed by the question.
“Really? Why? Are we really going there? Okay. Why…because I know how Dag can be. He wanted to kill me when he found out that I liked your sister. I hadn’t even told her yet and your faoer found out somehow and wanted a piece of me just for liking her. I know he is your faoer, but he can be kind of off sometimes. Well, far off actually. I still think you told him, but whatever at this point.”
“We’ve been through this. I didn’t say anything. But yeah, his temper can be out of control,” Honoré admitted with a slight nod of the head.
“At least I can be there to try and pull him off of you,” Santini said with a slight chuckle.
“This isn’t my first-time butting heads with him. I can handle myself. I’m not looking forward to it. But I appreciate your concern,” he said attempting to sound more confident than he actually was.
“Well, it’s your pretty face at risk. Hey, level with me,” Santini said.
“Yeah.”
“This is it…right? We’re done? Dag is going to shut everything down?” he asked while turning a dial adjusting the stabilizers to control the yaw caused by the high winds.
“I don’t think he likes my version of free enterprise,” Honoré noted honestly.
“The version where you make honest money?” Santini asked.
“Yes. I just can’t follow his model anymore,” Honoré said staring off toward his starboard looking for the landmass.
“It’s a lot less lucrative than just taking stuff as you want. Being completely legitimate means, we greatly reduce our chances to end up in one of those dang prisons on Sveka for the rest of our natural lives,” Santini said satisfied with the adjustment made to the spacecraft and looking up to pan the area.
“You can always get a job as a guard there if you can get your record completely clean,” Honoré said attempting to be funny in a hope it would brighten his mood.
To his starboard, barely in view on the hazy horizon, appeared the nation of Viennin. No matter how many times he had made the trek, he always looked over at the shoreline. Perhaps it was boredom or just a habit. He couldn't recall a particular reason.
“You think we will be a war with Viennin soon?” Santini asked looking over to see Honoré looking in that direction as they coasted side by side.
“Well, if the political tensions between the two nations are as fragile as I have been told…it is a good possibility. For decades Capetes has threatened to support efforts to dissolve the Code and there is no nation more zealous to preserve it than our friends to the west. From the perspective of the growing majority of citizens of Capetes, the code has served its purpose and is now little more than a quagmire of corrupt policies abused by beings that are prostituting the system for personal gain. They are sucking the nations dry that are paying for everything and apparently, we are tired of being one of those funding it. There is a tremendous inequity when it comes to financial support. We can certainly attest to those that have gained plenty—”
“We relieved some of them of the burden of their excess over the years,” Santini added.
“True. But we didn’t go after the weak. We went after the strong that took advantage of the weak. No one is crying if a trafficker is out of business. I can see the perspective of the majority of people in Capetes. But I agree with the Viennians on this issue. Most of the people who are the most vocal and zealous against the Code have no idea what they are talking about. They don’t understand the long-term ramifications of what it is they are screaming and protesting for. They are morons! If the tables were turned and the Tish were coming after us, our people and resources, they would love the Code. The Tisht are the greatest threat to us and everyone. We can’t just let them have free reign. Eventually, they will conquer us all,” Honoré stressed his angst about the impending end of the Code.
“After that shootout over on Isfahan in Onsan…where you saved the slave girl. The Tilhar slayer,” Santini asked.
“The Earth woman?” Honoré asked seeking clarity.
“Everyone noticed that you brought her to Viennin instead of Capetes. Seems you are getting friendly with a potential enemy of your country. You never even told any of us why you were in Onsan in the first place.”
Honoré expended a great deal of time thinking, as there wasn’t much to do or look at during long voyages across open space. But most of it was directed at the female from Earth. He considered turning around and making a stop at the SINSTER headquarters and checking up on the Earth woman. Perhaps, he admitted to himself, it was more to satisfy the need to know if the rumors were true and if so, how she had managed to kill one of the biggest and baddest creatures in the Universe. Turning at this point may be seen as a means of avoiding Dag. He couldn’t appear weak because he wasn’t. He was no more afraid of Dag than Santini.
“I really don’t have to tell anyone anything. But, if you need to know, it seemed like the best place for her. I think she got the best care available there. I also have a friend that is a SINSTER agent—”
Santini sounded like he was choking at the revelation of this new information, “Wait a minute, you’re a pirate and you are friends with a member of SINSTER?”
“I know you’re in love with the whole ‘pirate’ thing. But that is not what we are. We haven’t done anything like that in a long time. We move various products legally now. If we decide to take something, it would be from someone who had taken it by force first. They didn’t earn it,” Honoré said in defense.
“So, in your mind, we are thieves of thieves,” Santini asked spinning Honoré’s comment.
“I don’t look at it as stealing when it comes to pirates,” Honoré noted.
“No one is tougher on a thief than another thief…I guess.” Santini said agreeing to disagree.
“Anyway, I was asked to get some intel on the Tisht,” he blurted out.
“Why would you risk your life in that Hell hole to get intel for them? You left us on Pamir, a beautiful place with beautiful people I might note, to run off to Onsan?” Santini asked a bit perplexed.
“Well, let’s just say that venture may have paid off for all of us.”
“What did you steal?” Santini asked.
“Nothing more than extremely valuable information,” he replied. The reasons for being there were not associated with in any way to the female he rescued. The only reason he had gone to the hanger at that time was based on his gut instincts that there was something of importance. He had already broken into Tilhar’s office and stolen the logbooks. There was little of value outside of that, but yet he went anyway for reasons he didn’t understand. And there, to his surprise, was a scared and desperate Earth woman. She seemed lost and when the g
uards began to advance towards her, he responded.
Santini’s gut instincts kicked in, “You made a deal to get our records expunged by the Federation…didn’t you?”
“Maybe,” Honoré replied not truly feeling the need to reveal anything else.
Santini was quiet for a moment and wasn’t sure what to say. He was grateful and angry at the same time. The coastline became visible, which meant that they were less than twenty minutes from their home city of Dabon. “On one hand I want to thank you. On the other, I want to punch you. You didn’t need to take that kind of risk for any of us. The Tisht would have flayed you if you were caught.”
“They will do worse than that now. I helped the Earth woman escape, destroyed the entire hanger and everything in it, and provided some compelling intel to the Baraza Zima,” he said almost with a hint of pride. “Anyway, it’s done. You guys have been with me for a long time. It was the least I could do. Soon you should be able to go anywhere and do whatever it is that you want.”
“So, it is over?” Santini confirmed.
“You’ve all made your families rich. Now, go and do your best to enjoy it. Spend time with them. Hopefully, tensions will subside and there won’t be any war.” Honoré turned to his left flank to give Santini a wave and sendoff as it was time for them to head off into different directions. Just as he raised his hand, the Stur Craft and Santini instantaneously became a big red-orange ball of fire. The percussion from the explosion made the tail end of the Stur Craft Honoré was piloting swing hard to the starboard. The craft was out of control and the autopilot fought to stabilize it. With the background of the sky being similar in color, the blue plasma rounds that were being fired upon them from above were difficult to see. The surface was racing toward him as he grabbed the yoke and directed the craft upward. The ship lunged and the G-forces pinned him back into the captain’s seat.
Universal Code Page 10
