Universal Code

by William Songy

  “Neither of the boys that I saw looked like they could hurt a fly.”

  “From the sources that we have, that boy has killed more Tisht than any known living being anywhere in the galaxy,” Art stared into Logan’s eyes when delivering the revelation.

  Logan almost laughed at the absurdity of the comment, “That kid? I fought them. They aren’t easy to kill.”

  “He can control living beings…gets into their mind. The Tisht fear him and realize how powerful he could be if on the wrong side. They tried many times to kill him but never got close. He caused Redum soldiers to slaughter one another on more than one occasion. He can control things just by thinking about them. And, he can move through dimensions…as you saw here. He brought Sonia here from space in a wormhole created by Duncan,” Art replied.

  “I am not sure how I feel about that. The bottom line though is that he is my nephew. I guess we will have to find a way to help him. I don’t want to encourage him to kill anyone and think that there is nothing wrong with it. We don’t want to develop a monster,” Logan said.

  “With the right guidance and with the right role model, perhaps he will make good use of his abilities in the future,” Art said.

  “Okay. Let me guess. You need him to use these abilities for something?”

  “While there are more of these kids that can cross through dimensions, Joseph has more ability than any we have heard of…with the exception of one.” Art gave a command and a holographer came to life and replayed the scene at the Baraza Zima. Hundreds of Redum soldiers simply walked out of thin air and onto the landing platform before storming the building. Art froze the image of the boy’s head looking out of the portal. “With your permission, I wish to ask Joseph about this boy.”

  He paused for a second consumed by his thoughts and amazed by what he saw. Logan looked at Art, “I want to be present. I want to properly meet him first.”

  Art gave a nod to a female officer in a blue uniform and a few minutes later Joseph entered the office. He looked a little better than when he first appeared with Sonia earlier. Logan observed him and noted by the way he walked, his posture and appearance, there was no way to tell that he was anything other than a scrawny ten-year-old boy. His gate seemed awkward as if not having the opportunity to develop the proper bone density and muscle strength for walking correctly.

  Logan wasn’t sure what to do but decided to introduce himself. Before he could utter a single word, “I know who you are. On Earth, I would call you Uncle. I know all about you. I have seen your memories as I have with my mother’s memories. I have seen most of your life. They tried to blame you for what happened to my mother. I saw the Tisht and Kurun attack you. I saw you by the water fighting one of them. You were injured. You almost died saving that woman when the wave hit. You were pushed up onto that log that saved your life. Can I call you Uncle? I have always wanted an Uncle…a family. Can I call you Uncle?”

  He stood for a second unsure of how to respond. Joseph had watched his memories somehow and possibly knew more about him than he knew about himself. For the first time, Logan got a chance to look the boy in the face at a close distance. The green eyes were bold and brilliant like nothing he had ever seen on Earth and the golden flakes, like tiny mirrors, reflected the lights in the room with each head movement.

  “Absolutely, you can call me Uncle. I’ve always wanted a nephew. Yes, I was injured, and truth be told, I am still a bit injured. I’m getting better. It is nice to meet you.”

  Joseph sat down across from him and looked into his eyes and without hesitation said, “You want to kill them. Kill them all…those who took my mother,” he said in a hauntingly calm manor.

  Logan appeared startled by the ability of the boy to know everything he was thinking. He paused for a second and replied, “I want justice for my sister and for all those taken and hurt.”

  “Uncle, Duncan’s mother died. Can Duncan be in our family?” Joseph asked. “He is nice and he helped save mother.”

  Logan blurted out, “Sure, if that is what Duncan wants,” without thinking or having any understanding of the legality of custody and how it would work regarding the law of Viennin. This he would have to ask Art about.

  Joseph looked at Art, then back to Logan, “The Director doesn’t want to ask me about the other boy, he wants me to go and get him.” He turned to Art, “I have seen the boy, but I don’t know if I can find him. He wanders the sitens hiding…always hiding. They want to kill him, and he runs and runs,” Joseph winced as if receiving a jolt of pain and leaned over onto the table for support.

  “You okay? What are sitens?” Logan asked.

  “They are like tunnels that if you can find them or make them. They can lead from one point in time to another or from one place to another.

  “There are more people like me than they thought. They hate me, so they are hunting all of us down and are killing us. I can feel it when one dies…we all can. We are connected,” he reclined back and closed his radiant eyes. “They have sent so many in to kill them, no one returns. So many pulhu now. They go crazy and attack everything, each other. He is hiding. He helped them and regrets it. Now they want to kill him too. He hides…never stops moving. He is tired of running and running.”

  Logan looked at Art, “Pulhu?”

  “Most of the beings that attempt the tamtu etutu get lost, stuck and go mad. They are hopelessly lost. Even if they are found and returned, they never recover. Those who have been there too long start to look different. Bodies change. Never look the same.” Joseph explained. “Want all of us dead, they do. They don’t want enemies to use the shadow world. They think they are strong enough to win without it as long as no one else can use it,” the abdominal pain left Joseph and he was able to sit upright again. He glanced at the doorway, “Mother is awake.”

  Just as Joseph made the statement, the door slid open. The same female agent in the blue uniform walked up to Art and whispered in his ear. Joseph read her mind long before she spoke, “We go to see mother?”

  Art looked at Logan, “Are you ready to see Sonia?”

  He suddenly became nervous; afraid of which of his thoughts would turn out to be true. “I am.”

  They moved out of the office and back down the arched stone corridor and passed through double sliding doors into a section that looked very similar to a hospital on Earth. After one left turn, a second set of doors opened. In the center of a large off-white painted room was a table under a heating lamp. Sonia was alert, sitting up, and looked at them when they entered. For the first time since the night of her abduction, she saw her brother. While he looked much different, she knew immediately that it was him. She jumped off the table and ran to him unwilling to be hindered by the medical devices that were attached to her body. She jerked on wires as they became taught sending several pieces of electronic equipment crashing to the ground to the horror of the medical staff. Logan’s eyes teared up when he realized that she recognized him. Years of pent-up emotion began to surface and he had little control over it. He moved quickly across the room and caught her as she threw her arms around his neck and began to cry uncontrollably. Her knees weakened and buckled, and he supported her.

  Through tears, she said, “I never thought that I would see you again.” The two wept and embraced for several minutes when Sonia pulled back and inquisitively looked around at the doctors and wondered if she was somehow on Earth despite seeing Calder standing by the table. They weren’t in uniforms typical of what she recalled American doctors wearing. The swarming team of Viennin doctors attempted to return her to the table but she resisted. Wiping her eyes, she asked, “This isn’t Earth…right? How? What are you doing here?”

  “The Viennin people, Art brought me here to get you…to take you home. He wanted to show us some things about the Viennin people and Econ. We are going to bring home evidence to make people see the truth…which, until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even believe.”

  “Are we really going home? Mom and Dad—”


  “They are alive and well. They moved to Florida several years ago. They don’t know anything yet. I didn’t even say goodbye before I left. I think they will be in for a wonderful surprise when they see you,” Logan said.

  Sitting in the back of the room watching the interaction between brother and sister, Joseph began to grasp a better understanding of how the people of Earth interacted with each other. Emotion was difficult for him as he had always been disconnected from human interaction. He was bred to be a slave, not a son or husband not to love or hate, but to serve. It was the trips through Sonia’s memories and the dimensional travels to Earth that taught him how to speak the language and some of the history of his home planet, but emotions were awkward and hard to grasp. Understanding and controlling them was difficult. He could sense something while watching the two. Sonia’s reaction to him was nothing like the greeting she had with her brother.

  Joseph knew that her thoughts about him were conflicted. She wanted to see him as her son, but he was something that was forced onto her. He was little more than a lab experiment that actually lived when it should have died. He wondered if she could ever have the same emotion for him as she did for her brother. Would they ever bond and have a relationship like the one between parent and child that he saw in her memories? He didn’t understand his own emotions now and just wanted to disappear. It would make things easier for everyone. He was not normal; he had always known that. She could never see him as a boy…her boy. He could never simply be her son. At the moment that was all he wanted to be, but even his ten-year-old mind realized that could never happen.

  “It must have been hard for them. I am so sorry,” Sonia said with tears streaking down her cheeks.

  “Sorry for what? You were taken against your will. Don’t be sorry. You did nothing wrong,” Logan stressed.

  “It was my idea to sneak out that night. I talked them into doing it. If I would have stayed at the camp none of this would have happened,” Sonia said now sniffing in order to breathe. A SINSTER agent gently handed her a disposable cloth and then backed away.

  “It is because of you that our worlds are now connected,” Logan said looking for a positive angle.

  “It is because of me that our worlds will be at war,” she replied. “I hear the talk, the chatter. I killed Tilhar. While he was cruel and brutal, he was a voice of reason compared to his wife, or life partner or whatever Ningal was. Ningal is leading the…,” She looked over at Art.

  “The Kasadu,” He answered.

  “And she wants me dead and will attack this planet…Earth or wherever I am to get me,” Sonia said.

  “It is far deeper than that. It is about power. The Tisht and Kurun want power. To get what they want, the Alliance must fall. The Universal Code can no longer be the law of the universe,” Art said. “Don’t blame yourself.”

  “Well, I’m glad that I…well Lindsay destroyed the Erim.”

  “Who?” Logan looked inquisitively at her.

  “A young woman we rescued from the ginn,” Sonia replied.

  “She’s been missing for two weeks now. We were unable to find a trace of her. Thank you for getting her out,” Art replied with his brow raised and a hint of a smile.

  Logan noticed her wrist, “They branded you. I have seen that symbol branded on them and on their ships.”

  Sonia rolled her arm over displaying the eye-shaped scar with a V cutting through it. The look on her face suggested that she wanted to rip it off her body. Her wrinkled brow revealed the anger that took hold of her emotions.

  “It is called an Asaziga,” Art said. Most of the Tisht military and citizens have one. “We can remove the scar and graph skin over it. It will be a bit painful, but you won't have to remain branded.”

  Sonia turned to Logan, “As much as I want to go home right now, after what they have done to me and to countless others, I can’t just run away. She will find me. I need to find a way to stop them. I will find a way to kill her.”

  Art took exception to the comments and rebuked her in a mild tone, “No, you can’t go after the leader of the Kasadu. If you want to kill yourself then you will need to find another way. I cannot allow it.”

  Sonia looked up at him, “No? Really? Tell everyone the truth. Well, everyone here but me and Logan probably knows this by now. None of this was about me or rescuing me. It was about getting to Joseph. He is what you wanted. You knew the rumors of his ability and you knew that the Tisht were afraid of him. You wanted to learn from him and find out how to harness his power or use it to help the Alliance. Right now, you want him to go back into that hell hole…the shadow world, tamtu etutu, or whatever you want to call it to find some boy and bring him here so that you can use him too. Why should he do that? What does he owe you?” she said no longer crying. Sonia sounded more like an angry mother protecting her child.

  “He doesn’t owe us anything. We all have a common enemy that needs to be defeated. You want to go back to Earth? It will be destroyed and turned into a breeding ground for slave labor. Is that what you want? You want to see your family again? As it stands right now, Earth could be destroyed before you can even get back. This is no game, this isn’t Earth. We have a purpose here. We saved your life twice, tried to give you your life back. If that isn’t enough for you then you can take one of the transports and head back to the ginn if you felt you had it better there!” Art fired back then turned and walked off before his anger got the better of him.

  Joseph knew why they had risked so much to bring him there and the magnitude of the situation. For the first time in his short life, he felt a true sense of purpose. He wanted the Tisht to fall for what they had done to him, his mother and for what they wanted to do to the place he considered his home. He hoped to live on Earth one day, but that wouldn’t happen if the war was lost. He needed to find the boy. Joseph stood and looked at his mother, gave her a smile as was customary on Earth, then took a step forward and was gone.

  Duncan was standing by the portal when Joseph stepped through. Despite his understanding of his own abilities, it was odd to have someone else read his mind or anticipate his moves before he had even known himself. Regardless, he was glad to see him and for the sake of not being alone. He was tired of being by himself, especially when crossing over into the tamtu etutu. It was impossible for anyone to take joy out of their time there. It was not something he could get used to by building an immunity to the unsettling feeling he would get. He only went there out of necessity.

  Duncan spoke into his mind and Joseph knew that he was showing gratitude for speaking on his behalf. Joseph was still sorting out his own emotions and didn’t feel like talking. He gave a nod and tried to think about the task at hand. In dimensional travel, he found that if he focused hard enough on where he needed to go, he could channel enough energy to either create a new siten that would take him to the one that ultimately led to his desired destination, or on occasion he had managed to alter the siten and relocate it to where he was. Joseph believed many did not have this ability, which was the reason why they often failed to find their way in the shadows. He and Duncan were successful in getting in and out without getting lost because of this. Long distances, such as from one star system to another, had required more of his energy to access, which, at times completely drained him and required a recuperation period before returning. With Duncan, they could combine their energy and get twice as far twice as fast with minimal layover. This time neither of them had any sense of direction, or an inclination of where this unknown boy was.

  “Are you sure you want to go? Whoever he is, he may be way stronger than us. And if he sees us as a threat, he may try to siphon us,” Joseph said.

  He nodded and said, “Reason no go alone. Stop bad ones. No want hurt anyone. I need help,” Duncan replied.

  “You are talking better and learning quick. I have no sense of him. I can focus on his face,” Joseph said while trying to concentrate, “I don’t know where he is.”

  Duncan tried t
o look into Joseph’s mind, but he was blocked. He pointed to his head asking Joseph to share the image of the boy.

  “Okay, but can we stay out of each other’s minds?” he asked looking down at the shorter boy.

  As a slave, living most of his life in a cage with no privacy, always on display, Duncan had never considered the concept of privacy. When he realized that reading Joseph’s mind irritated him, he gave a nod in agreement. Joseph closed his eyes and channeled his energy. In the darkness, a green illuminated dot appeared and grew. It morphed and took on the likeness of the boy they were seeking. Duncan looked on in awe of what Joseph was doing. He locked onto the image and filed it in his memory. He gave an affirming nod. Joseph allowed the image to dissipate and they were in darkness again.

  Despite the lack of light, with their abilities seeing what was in their general area, or where they wanted to go, was not an issue. Growling and snorting echoed in the distance. Joseph looked forward and could see several pulhu wandering in the distance. The negative energy gave the horrid creatures a purple hue that radiated around the outline of the silhouette. He could not comprehend what they looked like before being trapped and lost. The etutu was not kind and the creatures were but a shell of their original form. Their bodies were now as contorted and altered as their minds. Joseph was unable even to tell their original nationalities as they were too far gone. He knew that they were hopelessly lost for eternity and as good as dead. Only, dying in the shadow world didn’t exactly occur. While the flesh eventually died, the torture went on forever as it would entrap the souls of those who perished.

  Joseph and Duncan simultaneously bent over as a burdensome pain pierced their midsections. For a few seconds, the pain seemed to intensify. Neither wanted to make a noise to alert the pulhu of their presence as they were sure to attack them. The boys needed to conserve energy and did not want to deal with the two mutated beings. The pain was nearly paralyzing. Both knew that another one of their kind had been killed. The impacts seemed to intensify in the shadow world.