“It’s about to hit us,” Sachi gasped.
At the first opportunity, Honoré jerked the craft hard to the right and into another alleyway. A huge splash came in their wake as the building fell into the ocean while inflicting catastrophic damage to at least four other structures that were near it.
They followed the alley to the edge of the city and made another attempt to exit the atmosphere and head for Keun. A red laser seemed to come from nowhere and flew past the Nommo. “That wasn’t from the city. That was in front of us. I don’t see anything. I have no visual. A second and third laser raced past them.
“What were you saying about naming something ‘Space Ghost?’”
While maneuvering the craft, making it a difficult target to hit, Honoré fired into the direction of the incoming lasers. He was surprised when he saw an explosion and a ball of fire fall from the sky. “They are invisible. We just took one of them out. Must have been a lucky shot.” He nosed the craft once again for the ocean and dove down just below the surface. A second later he saw three distinctive disturbances in the water from the entry of the opposing craft. “There’s three of them,” he said while firing sending the last of the torpedoes after them. The three began to fire back and by the disturbance in the water, turn the other way to outrun the incoming missiles.
Honoré nosed the Nommo up, broke the surface, and accelerated upward as they darted in the direction of the atmosphere. On the scanner, he could see an explosion in the water. The Nommo exited the atmosphere and in minutes was following the guidance system to the canyon where the transport was waiting.
Honoré thought about the mine. If it had been evacuated, then it was a great service to the war effort to take down a huge supply of telenium that the Kasadu would need. It would be the unknown cost of innocent lives that would knot his stomach and haunt him.
Chapter 25
After several minutes of pure darkness, the invisible wall that had filtered out every vestige of illumination opened as if sliced from left to right by some supernatural cutlery. Sunlight engulfed the former sagnitah as he spilled out and landed with a hard thump driving his right shoulder in what, oddly enough, seemed to be solid ground. Grass and dirt? Was this the normal way to enter eternity, he wondered. The pain of the impact surprised him as that was also unexpected while being on the other side of eternity. From all he was told or taught, there was no more pain when one left the world of the living. How anyone could be so certain about that, he did not know, but he could not deny the pain of the impact on his shoulder.
Despite, for the most part, being in a lethargic state, he imagined it was like being birthed for a second time…despite not remembering it the first time. The world was spinning, nausea and exhaustion were consuming him, and he fought for breath. It was a struggle to roll from the side and onto his back in order to relieve the pressure on the shoulder and to breathe better. It was then Sana remembered that he was not alone in the vast black vacuum. He recalled seeing a face when the dark window opened up and received him just as the Alani exploded. Sana wanted to look back and see if the stranger had followed him out of the darkness, but the struggle to breathe took precedence. A hand touched his arm and waist seeming to try and help. Sana attempted to speak but was too weak and disoriented to utter even a single word and was too afraid of saying the wrong thing in the company of the unknown. What just happened? Where was he? Who had him? Was he dead? Was his spirit pulled from his body just before the Alani exploded and somehow fell into the gravitational pull of Reiahn? As he rolled over, the brilliance of the clear blue sky caused him to blink uncontrollably as he adjusted to the light.
“Is it him?” Sana heard a voice say in his native tongue.
“I don’t know. We can’t leave him in the open…it’s too risky. We can’t let anyone see him until we know. The word will spread like wildfire. Let’s get him in the tent and find out,” a second voice said.
Sana knew what that meant…torture. They wanted to know who he was. That didn’t compute. He thought on the other side they would know who he was. Wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of judgment, a recalling of all he had done in his life? Whoever this was didn’t seem to know much about him. It was a bit odd and confusing. He just jumped off the wall and dropped telenium into the reactor…the Alani did explode. He was certainly dead but seemed to be very much alive. Sana felt his body being lifted. Do spirits have to be carried? He was too weak and disoriented to fight back. After a few minutes, the bright light dissipated as a soft cushioned surface conformed to his back while being placed down gently.
“We need to scan his head and see what they have done to him and find out if we can fix it,” a man with a raspy voice said.
Sana blinked and was able to see better now that he was out of the direct sunlight. Years had passed since natural light from a star touched his skin or pierced his eyes. He could recall the hours he spent wondering if he would ever be able to stand on natural ground embraced by the unfiltered light of a star again if that was indeed what this was.
His left hand was rolled over, exposing the wrist. An enraged voice said, “They burned that cursed Asaziga on him! He has the freaking symbol of the Tisht on him!”
“Are you who we think you are?” a voice asked.
He was surprised when he heard words coming out of his mouth, “Who wants to know? Why don’t you tell me who you are looking for? I should be dead?” Sana asked unable to remain silent.
“Someone who has waited a long time to see the face of the rightful heir…the true leader of Tozan,” the raspy voice replied. “Damn fool thing to do, committing suicide like that. But just the thing I would expect out of the person we are looking for.”
“Zan Kane was killed by his brother. I guess that would be Sieti Kane,” he replied cautiously.
“I was thinking more like…his son?” the raspy voice said.
His blood went cold. The men spoke his native tongue in the exact vernacular he was accustomed to but wondered if it was men loyal to Sieti. Sana was afraid to answer the question while unable to protect himself or even understand who it was that was asking the questions. Where did this man’s loyalty lie?
“Is he the true ruler? Are you Sana Kane?” the man demanded.
He felt a needle stick him in the arm. Almost immediately the nausea and disorientation subsided. The room stopped spinning and after a few seconds, he was able to focus on the face of his captors. They looked familiar.
“Be still, I am scanning your head,” a large bearded man with fingers that seemed the size of a normal man’s forearms was pointing at a monitor.
“How did that happen? They really botched him,” a shorter dark-haired man said as he stared at the illuminated screen.
“What do you mean, ‘botched him?’” Sana asked.
Both men looked at him and said simultaneously, “Exactly.”
The big man looked to be in his fifties with a big bushy white beard and radiant bronze eyes. “That is exactly what we are talking about. You completely understood that we were talking about you. Your brain function is almost normal. The Tisht, a long while back, came up with the technique of manipulating the chemicals and pulses in the brain to alter the ability of their slaves to do anything other than the task assigned to them. Greatly reduced intelligence. Nevertheless, you seem quite able to think rationally. Normally, memories are out of reach and they cannot access it. Something went wrong with you. You have an almost completely normal brain scan. How is that? You were right next to Ningal, in the same room as her. What if you wanted to kill her?”
“I did want to. But never had the right opportunity,” Sana admitted.
“Look, I know your face. I know who you are. If you don’t recognize me, I may need to reevaluate that scan. I grew up with your father. I was there when you were born.”
Sana looked for a minute and it came to him, “You didn’t have a beard at one time?”
“I haven’t shaved since your father died and you were
taken,” the big man displayed a remorseful countenance as he recalled the past events.
“Vetal. You were Zan’s advisor and doctor,” Sana said. “Nefal…you were Zan’s general.”
A third being, who was clearly not from Tozan, entered the makeshift hospital. Sana recognized the face from the black hole in the Alani. “This is Montas. He does some weird stuff where he disappears for a while then comes back. Freaking weird stuff. I don’t really understand it. Somehow, he pulled you from that ship. He saved you from your attempted suicide. Craziest thing I have ever seen. You just shot out of thin air like mother Reiahn gave birth to you.”
“Apologies, but I didn’t have a choice. I have been patiently waiting for the right time, but when you jumped over the rail and into the reactor, I had no choice. It was kind of now or never at that point. Sometimes, the first time traveling through the other dimensions can make you sick and dizzy…well, really sick and dizzy. It was a kind of now or never for me to take you at that time. Got you just as the reactor blew.”
“What about Boar?”
“Not sure that they can save him. He was pulled out just before you were.”
“Other dimensions? Thought that was just a good story for the little ones? Didn’t think that was real.”
“What do you remember?” Montas asked.
“A black hole and your face,” he sat up. “I don’t remember the explosion or if it even occurred. It was dark…weird noises like crying and moaning. There was very thin air, but that really didn’t seem to matter. Tremendous pressure in my ears, everything started spinning,” Sana replied with a blank expression.
“That’s a good description of the dimension you traveled to get here. No, not kid stories.”
“Did it work? Any reports that Ningal is dead?” Sana asked popping out his descriptive thoughts about dimensions.
The three men looked at each other, “No, it is believed that she escaped. We detected a pod launch just before the detonation. We have to believe that she was on it.”
“So, she is still out there,” Sana said.
Vetal completed the analysis of Sana’s brain function and said, “I will have to put you in a relaxed state. This should be routine. You will have normal brain function in about one-forty-eighth of a cycle.”
“Wait. What about Tozan and its leader?” Sana asked.
“What leader? Your Uncle Sieti. He made a deal with the devil and it has cost this nation dearly. Tozan’s forces attacked Nampo at the ‘request’ of the Kasadu.”
“Next to Viennin, they were our closest ally. We attacked them?” Sana asked.
“No declaration of war, no warning. Our military attacked them in the dead of night and crippled their infrastructure. Millions of innocent people were slaughtered without prejudice or even any kind of warning.”
“Why?”
“Because they did not support the Kasadu,” Nefal said.
“In return, all of our allies have turned against Tozan. There is no trade with any other nation. Poverty and crime are at an all-time high. The Kasadu has not helped as they promised. They offered your Uncle the moon and stars if he helped and death if he didn’t. In the end, Tozan is a shell of what it used to be.” He opened the curtains that covered up the doorway and pointed. Under a canopy of tall trees, he saw the encampment of temporary housing constructed of any available materials that could be scrounged up. Fires with small game and fish were cooking in a few locations. Clothes were hanging on lines after being cleaned. This continued as far as he could see. “We are all rebels now. We have gone against the crown. Sieti will have us executed if he finds us.”
For days after leaving RA, Asger fought with his conscience about leaving the two Viennians to die at the hands of the crazed leader of the Earth tribe. They called him Pharaoh, but in his mind, he was always the ‘Mad Stone King’…living in buildings of stone, baked bricks, and mortar. He assumed the little native was mad at birth which seemed to be exacerbated due to overexposure to sun and sand. He began to refer to him as such after stumbling on a service where he and his people were praying to the horned Babi thing for protection. It was good that Einar and the pretty woman had killed most of them…or however it went down. They were dead and he hated them. What he wasn’t happy about was his handling of the two Viennin prisoners. They were his fellow countrymen. He was not in any position at that time to help. Too much was at risk as the ruling nations of the universe were posturing for war. RA was a place he and his men could hide on occasion. This could not be jeopardized as few knew the planet existed.
Asger often wondered how a man no more intelligent than one of the mindless, lifeless stones supporting the great hall, was able to retain his power. He was a great example of why inbreeding was a problem. Too many generations of beings too closely related when mating produced people just like the Mad Stone King. For Asger, dethroning him would be no more difficult than snapping his fingers but served no practical purpose at the time.
Get your mind off it. They knew the risk. Move on! Asger thought. The conflict within reemerged. He often wondered if he had gotten in too deep. What kind of man would let two innocent people die in order to protect himself? That seemed cowardly, but quite literally billions of lives were at stake. He needed to stay the course despite the betrayal of his thoughts from time to time as slivers of temptation grew to consume every vestige of his conscience.
Just before going under, something, Asger wasn’t even sure himself anymore where it came from, would push back and he would remember his cause. At times he found himself liking the role he was playing but often wondered if he was being consumed by the cover that had let him infiltrate the black markets and underworld. Asger was a player now with wealth and popularity and the like of it could not simply be dismissed. Would he even know the difference anymore? Sometimes he just wanted to be done with it and return to living a normal life if that were possible. The thought of it was inconceivable and he knew that could not happen…ever.
It had only taken a year for the polluted thoughts to begin scoring victories that led to the slippery slope that would darken his character. It had even convinced him to take ownership of the transport he commanded, which seemed like a betrayal of the nation he used to love and swore an oath to protect until death. But in truth, it was part of the setup…his cover. The original name was Kunung, which meant kingpin. After a year out in space, while orbiting the planet of Coopio, Asger changed the name to the Nekark and the logo to an outline of the aquatic creature in an aggressive posture.
As a young fighter pilot for the Viennin Space Force, Asger and the other pilots, after reentry, would fly less than a hundred feet over the ocean’s surface on their way back to base. This irritated the echolocation capabilities of the large, powerful, and intelligent sea creatures known as the Nekark. In retaliation, the creatures would surface, sometimes by the hundreds, and spit thick powerful plumes of water into the air in an attempt to destroy the source of the disturbance. One day Asger had flown too low and the spray rendered his primary thruster useless, forcing the old beat-up Stie fighter from the sky and into the Sea of Alum. With seconds before impact, Asger ejected and was able to glide with his flight suit to the remnant of a barrier island just off the coast. From the shore, he watched as the Nekark swam by and ripped the Stie to pieces the second it hit the water. Had he not ejected; death would have been certain.
As he stared out of the window, entrenched deeper into his thoughts than the far reaches of space, a brilliant flash of light drew his attention. His eyes snapped at the anomaly. It was certainly unusual to see such a thing unless it was associated with something catastrophic. Asger looked down at the monitor attempting to trace the source. After tapping on an illuminated screen, he asked, “Isn’t that Reiahn ahead?”
“Affirmative.”
“What was that? It looked like an explosion,” he asked leaning forward looking into the distance.
“We just received a distressed me
ssage that the Alani was fatally damaged and was falling into Reiahn’s gravitational pull. It’s going down.”
“Isn’t that a Kasadu transport?” Asger asked.
“Affirmative. The Nam-nim’s transport.”
“Ningal is the new Nam-nim. I wonder if she was on it?” he looked back up and noticed something flying toward them, “Is that an escape pod coming in our direction?”
“Affirmative. It seems to be alone. Do you wish to engage?”
“Signs of life aboard?” Asger asked.
“Affirmative. Should we intercept?”
“Absolutely. It is our ‘code’ to help those in need,” he said sarcastically. In the world of piracy and smuggling, it was often said before an attack that it was their duty to the ethical code that demanded they engage a vessel in need, when quite often the vessels were never in need of the kind of ‘assistance’ offered by pirates and smugglers. The vessels were in need once they were pillaged and disabled.
“The pod is using its thrusters to turn away from us. We can’t quite lock on it from this distance.”
“Well then, adjust our course. Get that pod!” he demanded. The Nekark turned to its port and accelerated into a position that would allow it to intercept the pod. He permitted himself a rare smile at the prospect. Usually, it was the highest-ranking personnel that were allowed in the escape pods. He wondered who they might find.
The one thing in their favor was that pods were not very fast or agile and could not reverse course. Once they moved into its projected path locking on to it was of little effort. As they began to pull the pod in, Asger couldn’t help but to go down to the hanger to learn the identity of his new guest.
The pod was touching down just as he stormed through the open door of the hanger. His men were already at attention with their weapons raised at the pod’s hatch. After a second of inactivity, he wondered if they were going to have to force entry. Just before giving the command, the seal on the hatch broke and a hiss filled the air. The lock released, the hatch slowly swung open, and gently tapped on the metal floor. He could see her. It was more than he could have ever asked for. She was in the pod sitting as if on a throne up against the rear wall. She didn’t rise and probably was waiting for him to approach and kiss her ring. It was her, the Nam-nim and his opportunity for redemption. This was the bargaining chip.
Universal Code Page 49
