Universal Code

by William Songy

  “When I was diving yesterday. Just before that other strange creature…Kurun showed up and attacked us, I found this in a wooden box on the ocean floor. It burned the heck out of me when I first touched it—”

  “You are lucky it didn’t kill you. If it would have been programmed, it would have.”

  “Well, it almost killed one of those Tavoy on the beach and two or three Kurun. Those things…aliens, creatures, whatever, were so hard to see. They matched the water’s color to the point of being nearly invisible. The yellow eyes and the iridescent sheen kind of reminded me of electricity and were the only way we could see them at first.”

  Honoré simply said aloud, “Kurun.” Above the small object he placed on the dresser, a holographic image of the creature appeared. “That’s what you saw?”

  It was humanoid in appearance. At first glance, the image seemed like a merman as Maria noted earlier. The skin was less scaly like a fish and more of a sandpaper texture like a shark. It was turquoise in color. The hands and feet were webbed and it wore no clothing. The mouth wasn’t filled with serrated, shark-like teeth, but looked the same as a humans.

  “That is incredible. Yes, that is what attacked us,” Logan gave a nod.

  Ayla looked on in awe, “How are you doing that?”

  “Interesting that it came after you. Nothing special. Just a little bit of advanced technology. The reason why they are not clothed is because their entire body needs to be in contact with the water when they are in it. When in the water they breathe through their skin. They breathe like you and me when above the water’s surface. But they can stay underwater for a long period of time.”

  Logan reached over to the dive bag and retrieved the camera that he was wearing on his chest during the dive. He put the micro SD card into the adapter and inserted it into the USB port on his computer. The video of the dive began to play, and he advanced it to the location where the invisible object slid across the ocean floor after he touched it with the metal.

  “What?” was all that Ayla could say as she watched the video.

  “That must have been one of the Kurunian ships.” He pointed at the metal on Logan’s arm. “They are known for having some of the purest telenium anywhere…not usually for trafficking. This is very interesting. You saw their ship, so they needed to cover up their tracks, which means getting the telenium back and killing you. That’s why they were taking you in the water earlier.”

  Logan looked at the metal, “Telenium…okay. What is telenium?”

  “It is a programmable metal that is vital in a number of ways to most planets. Depending on the quality and purity of the telenium it can be programmed and used as a fuel, used as an explosive, a superconductor of electricity, any number of other things. The piece in your hand can fuel this ship from here to Econ, to Kurun, to Isfahan and back to Earth. A piece that size would have made you a very wealthy man.”

  “Where are those cities located? I’ve never heard of them. What is it worth now?” Logan asked.

  “Those aren’t cities. They are planets. That piece of telenium is valuable to no one but you, now. When you touched it, it was programmed. That is another strange quality of this metal. Extremely pure and rare pieces will pick up your body’s frequency, which it reads like an electronic fingerprint. Your frequency becomes embedded in the metal. When your body’s frequency is coursing through it, it stabilizes and is harmless. When it picks up a foreign frequency, it loses its stability as it wants to destroy it. So, it pulls electricity from every available source and tries to destroy the unknown frequency. Telenium is referred to as…what would translate in English to, ‘the living metal.’ The only purpose that it can serve now is shocking whatever foreign frequency gets too close to it. Since being programmed, it can draw electricity from the air, water and even uses the electricity in the body of a living being against it.”

  “Why does it change shape?” Logan asked while looking down at the metal.

  Honoré looked at him as if trying to figure out a riddle, “What are you talking about? You mean it changes shape by itself?”

  “Well, the piece in my hand wasn’t like this earlier. It coiled around my forearm, and three times has turned into a dagger-like weapon. When I nearly drowned, it turned into a hook and helped me lock on to a piece of driftwood.”

  “Interesting,” now he looked at Logan as he was crazy.

  Ayla thought of the hieroglyphs and wall paintings. She pondered the similarities of Honoré, who just happened to have white hair and possibly a spaceship, with the images from Tulum. His knowledge of kidnapping people from Earth conjured a thought. He seemed to have a lot in common with the images. Only, he appeared to be in his early twenties. Certainly, the man wasn’t hundreds of years old. But there was too much in common to be a coincidence. What did he or his descendants have to do with taking people from earth? Was it his people that had killed the Mayan leaders and taken them, prisoners, as told by the hieroglyphs and drawings? “So, are you a trafficker? Why are you here? Are you collecting people to sell at market on these…planets?”

  He looked over at Ayla, “At one time…yes, my people did. But today, the Kurun and Tisht…and thousands of other nations, need slaves. So, they planted telenium, like the kind he has, in the fault line offshore and detonated it. This wave is the result of the detonation or an earthquake caused by it. They create what seems like natural disasters and use it as a cover to steal or take humans from earth or other beings from other planets. This wave that hit this island was not an accident or a natural phenomenon. I’m not sure why the piece you have was so close to shore. But, once the pieces were in place and people flooded the beach, it was the most opportune time. They set it off. That is what caused the wave and the reason he was floating in the water.

  “I’m here for two reasons. I was trying to collect the telenium before it was detonated. I knew what they were planning, and I need the telenium so that I can sell it. I tried to stop this from happening, or at least minimize it. That telenium was far more valuable to me than wasting it to create a fake natural disaster that would wash hundreds of your people into the waters to be collected. I had nothing to do with that,” he replied defiantly.

  “So, it was your people that were in the drawing in the caves. Your people took the Mayans,” Ayla said, “why should we trust your people now?”

  “Seti-Kiliema…I guess is the one you speak of. He is known in our history for visiting Earth and taking its people. That was a long time ago. That is not what the people of Econ support.”

  “You don’t support anymore? Why didn’t you warn us if you knew?” Logan asked studying the man.

  “I’m just going to fly over and land on the beach then tell everyone to go home? Tell them that some aliens from a planet, light-years away from here, have planted telenium, or as you would call them, bombs under the sea to create a tsunami for the sake of providing a cover so that they can take them all prisoners? Then I could add, for good measure, how they will alter their minds so that they will be good little slaves and they will happily serve their new masters and live out the rest of their days on a planet they don’t even know exists. I don’t think that would have gone over so well.”

  “Okay, what is the second reason?” Logan asked.

  Honoré looked him in the eye and said, “Sonia, your sister.”

  Sonia cried at the realization of what had just taken place. Her brother, who had no idea where she was or even if she was still alive, was being victimized by the same monsters that had taken her twenty years earlier. She saw his face and heard his voice all the way from this planet. Sonia wasn’t even sure how far away Earth was, but she knew that she was seeing him. Somehow, she was there with him for a few minutes as he struggled to breathe and fight off drowning. She managed to guide the log to shore but wasn’t really sure how she had done so.

  Overwhelmed by the urge to cry, Sonia realized just how much she missed him and longed to return to Earth. She wanted to leave the instant he
was safe on the shore. It was the unappeasable anger for those who tried to hurt him that brought her thoughts full circle. The tears dried up and a scowl formed over her bloodshot eyes. The Kurun, the Tisht, and all the others needed to be destroyed. She wanted to kill them all and leave none left to carry on their evil ways. They would die at her hand one way or another. Killing Tilhar was mostly luck, but the thought of it gave her confidence, fueling the flame of her desire to kill them. Considering their numbers, there were too many to kill one at a time. She would need to find a weapon capable of doing so in large numbers. Was the war everyone seemed so concerned about ever really going to take place, she wondered. If so, that would result in the deaths of millions of her enemies.

  “You just saved your brother’s life,” Calder said pulling Sonia out of her thoughts of revenge.

  “All I did was talk into both of their minds and visualize the log going to shore. You put him on the log. How did you do that?” Sonia asked.

  “The same way you pushed it all the way to the beach. The mind is a powerful thing. Once we advanced to the point of utilizing greater percentages of our mind, we realized that we could do anything we can imagine. There are no limitations. On Earth, you call it telekinesis or psychokinesis and very few of your people have enough control of the mind to utilize it in any small degree. We mastered this long ago. Do you recall that day when you were on the table? The tray and surgical implements shook violently and fell to the ground. With some work, you too have enough capacity of your mind to do such things. Picture in your mind what you want to happen. If you can see it, you can do it.” Without warning, he tossed a round object he was hiding behind his back toward her. She looked up too late and the ball struck her on the leg.

  “Ouch! What was that for?” she demanded while examining her leg.

  “A test…that you obviously failed.” Without hesitation, he grabbed the first thing his hand touched on the counter and tossed it at her. The glass container was flying a little higher than he intended and would possibly strike her in the face, but he did not interfere. By the time the glass container reached the midpoint of the distance separating them, it shattered, and debris fell straight to the ground as if hitting an invisible wall.

  “I just imagined that it was broken and that happened. How is that possible?” Sonia’s face exuded excitement.

  “As I said, your mind is powerful. Walk over here. I have another test. On the counter I have spread out, using your native terminology, a thousand pieces of a dimensional puzzle.” He snapped his fingers and a hologram of a spaceship floated in front of Sonia. The image rotated to show her every side including the top and bottom then disappeared. Calder snapped his fingers again and the image changed to a diagram of the puzzle. After five seconds it disappeared.

  “Put it together,” Calder instructed waving to the pieces on the table.

  Sonia looked at him like he was crazy. Nothing like this had ever been asked of her before and she had no idea how to make the pieces fit. Looking down at the numerous puzzle pieces, Sonia briefly scanned them. One in the center stood out and she retrieved it. One by one the Earth woman began to push them together.

  “Not with your hands, use your mind,” he instructed.

  Sonia looked at him as if he were crazy a second time. Turning back, she looked at the part of the puzzle that was completed and imagined it several inches off the counter. It levitated to the exact height she imagined. Looking down, she scanned the pieces again and visualized the one in the puzzle and it moved and slid into place. Sonia looked up from the pieces, closed her eyes and focused on the image of the ship and instructions. Over nine-hundred pieces remained on the table. They began to levitate and were stationary. In sequence as if knowing when it was their turn, the pieces flew into their proper locations and snapped together. Within seconds the ship was complete. Sonia opened her eyes and was astonished at what had been done.

  “I can’t believe that I just did that. How can I do these things? At one point I wasn’t even sure about my name. Now, I am doing…this,” Sonia said shaking her head back and forth in disbelief. The conversation took a change in direction when she considered her past. “What is to happen to me? Am I to remain here? I want to go home and see my family.”

  “Yes, I want that for you. If you wish, we will have a transport take you back. But there is something you need to know. Since the death of Tilhar, Ningal has placed a bounty on your head. She knows you are on this planet, but I don’t think she knows where exactly. We are trying to figure out a way to not only transport you to Earth but how to keep her from killing you once you leave,” Calder said.

  “So, I will always be their prisoner. One way or another?” Sonia said angrily.

  “Your muscles are weak, but your mind is strong,” Calder noted.

  “What?” Sonia asked.

  “I’ve been given permission, once you had passed certain tests, to give you some training,” Calder motioned to the floating spaceship puzzle, “you can let it down now.”

  “I didn’t realize I was still holding it up,” the puzzle fell to the countertop and was once again a pile of pieces. “Did I do it right? It fell apart.”

  “That is actually the more impressive aspect of what you have just done. Finding the pieces and sliding them together is just part of the test. The more pieces you add, the more it is designed to want to fall apart. Only with the perfect amount of continuous pressure on all sides equally, will it stay together. Holding it in your hand would have been impossible. You didn’t even realize what you were doing. That is extraordinary.

  “I know there is a lot going on in your mind, but I don’t want to muddy it by giving you too much. On Earth, they would say that this is like drinking from a firehose. A mind in complete control is essential. Fear can lead to suppression. An excited mind can lead to suppression. We are going to try something, but if you get overwhelmed at any time, just pull away and we can take it up another day when you feel you are ready?” he looked at her waiting for a reply.

  “I’m a bit concerned now. What are you planning on doing with me?” Sonia asked with a bit of caution.

  “Before you is a hologram of many different survival techniques. You will watch an enhanced instruction on scenarios and basic ways you can fend for yourself if you are attacked. We will do a series of four of these…one a day. With the power of your mind, you will learn what it would have taken a decade for a normal Earth person to learn. Obviously, your body wouldn’t be ready to use most of the techniques in your mind, but we will work on that,” Calder noted.

  She pressed her face against the viewer and the holographic images quickly progressed. For a normal mind, it would have been nothing more than a meaningless blur, but Sonia was able to slow it down in her mind and absorb the lesson. She had no problem discerning the techniques. The first several minutes were about conditioning her body. Five minutes was dedicated to fending off basic attacks from different types of beings with different abilities and vulnerabilities. The final seven minutes was about disabling the attacker.

  After pulling away from the viewer, it was as if her conscious mind and her body separated. Sonia lost her balance and ceded to gravity as it pulled her to the floor. The room was spinning. The ginn came into view. It was the place where she and the other earth women were tortured, where the experiments were done on them. It was the place of unimaginable horrors that she wanted to erase from her mind. It was dark and cold. The haunting screams were very subtle and did not echo through the chambers as loudly as she once remembered.

  “Hello,” a voice of what sounded like a child called out from a dark cell.

  “Who is there? Where are you? What do you want for me?” Sonia asked.

  “I am here waiting for you.”

  Chapter 11

  “Are you sure it was him that you saw?” Eerika asked holding on to any glimmer of hope that Einar misspoke or had possibly mistaken the Senator for someone else. Since her days as an intern, he was a father-
figure. It was Senator Krico who realized her potential and sought to nurture it. Every day with him was a lesson in how to navigate the cesspool of politics without violating her core beliefs and maintaining her integrity. Every session seemed to get worse as even their own countrymen were growing increasingly weary of the Code. The chore of supporting it came with too great a monetary and physical cost to the citizens of Viennin and the other nations of Econ.

  Across the universe, the need for energy grew and planets began finding their resources drying up. As technology failed to provide alternatives, the nations were forced to seek new sources of raw telenium from providers who could supply their needs. This came at a great cost, which usually included political loyalty along with a heavy fiscal burden. This led to an explosion in exploration by the nation’s seeking to find the next large deposits of resources that could turn the tide in their favor as long as they had a military capable of defending it. Along with the discoveries came the need for cheap and expendable labor to harvest the resources, which came from the lesser planets.

  From a political perspective, Senator Krico had been key in keeping the minority from taking power and severing Viennin’s support for the Universal Code. He was certain if that were to happen and Viennin walked away, the Baraza Zima would dissolve or evolve into something unequivocally sinister if the nations were to unite under a new majority. The primary concern by those who supported the Senator was the inequity of fiscal and military support by Viennin compared to the other member nations.

  He had always taught her that politics was a nasty business and it seemed that everyone was looking for a reason to feed them to the Nekark. Now, he was dead, and his haunting words rang true. Even the Senator had no idea of the enemies he had made by simply doing what he knew was right. It was certain that in time the Code would die and fade off into history. Billions if not trillions of innocent beings were oblivious to the horrors that would soon envelop their planets. Death was certainly coming. Senator Krico had given her a glimmer of hope that the fight was worth the struggle and that good still existed in the Universe. She respected him greatly because he lived as an example of what he believed. Who was of equal quality to take up that mantle? If only she had more time with him.