“But, who?”
“It could be the Cerds, the Previns, or even the Anzous.”
“They are all possible. Our enemies are many, and they do not forget. What about the Singalites?”
“No, I do not suspect the Singalites. They are not yet ready to wage war.”
“Did you find any clues at the scene of the crime?”
“Not much that will help us. The killer was very careful to leave no clues, and he must have taken the murder weapon with him. There were no footprints, and no hair samples.”
“Karavec do not have much hair.”
“ However, I did find this.”
Forster snatched a sample bag from his pocket. It contained a curved finger.
“One of the nurses must have fought back, and managed to use the perpetrator’s weapon against him. This finger does not belong to any of the dead nurses. I have already done some tests. It must, therefore, belong to the murderer. We may be able to match the fingerprint.”
The great savant frowned. “This is no use.”
“Why?”
“The Karavec live for many centuries, outliving the other races in the Milky Way. This is mainly due to our ability to replace damaged limbs or body organs. If this sample is from the killer, then the finger would have been replaced already, and the new finger will have a different print from this one. This will not help us identify him.”
Forster smiled. “However, we could match this sample to the DNA of a suspect.”
“But first you must find a suspect. So what will be your next move?”
“First we must find the Karavec who has committed this crime, and match his DNA to this sample. Then we will use some . . . er . . . methods of persuasion to discover who he is in league with.”
“You have my permission to use whatever means you have at your disposal. We must find this traitor and prevent this from happening again.”
Just at that moment the Great Savant’s communication device came to life with a jingle of music, and an image appeared on the screen.
“Excuse me,” he said to Forster. “This message has come through on my most urgent channel. It is my deputy on Hikon.”
Forster nodded in acquiescence while the Great Savant turned his attention to the screen.
“Yes, Mallow, what is it? You have interrupted a very important meeting.”
“Forgive me, my Lord Barrow, but this cannot wait,” he said breathlessly. “The Embrycultural Centre on Hikon has been violated. All the embryos are dead!”
Chapter 2 – The Speed in Darkness
“Where light abounds, we are limited; but in the absence of light . . . ah . . . we are limitless.”
The Book of Karavec (36, 51)
“We must leave at once for Hikon,” said Forster.
“Not so hasty,” said the Great Savant. “My first consideration is the other Karavec colonies. If this murderer has struck twice, once here on Arion, and now on Hikon, he will surely try to strike again. We must warn the other colonies, step up the guard at all the Embrycultural Centres and change the security codes. So, if you will please forgive me, I must attend to this as a matter of great urgency.”
“Of course,” Forster replied, bowing his head slightly, and turning towards the door.
“Your accommodation is ready,’ the Great Savant added. “Our transport to Hikon will arrive in two days.”
“In two days, but . . .”
“I regret that my personal ship is under repair. We must wait for the ferry ship to return from Hikon.”
“My ship is available.”
“Out of the question. I have already conceded that you may accompany me to Hikon, but I cannot allow your ship, which is not Karavec, to enter Hikon orbit. It would displease the gods.”
“I understand, but every day’s delay could make the task of finding the killer more difficult.”
After Forster had left the room, Barrow instructed his communications officer to send urgent messages to his deputies in all the Karavec colonies. He could not allow even one more Karavec embryo to die. The future of the race depended on it.
Barrow then passed through another door into an adjacent room which was in darkness. This was his private chapel, where he prayed every day to the gods.
He collapsed onto one knee and began his intonation, the first part well practised after many centuries.
“Oh, mighty gods of the Karavec,” he began, “hear me from across the great darkness. You dwell far away in another galaxy, which is our home. We are waiting for the day you come to claim the Milky Way. Our main purpose, our only purpose is to establish an empire in the Milky Way ready for your arrival. Our loyal warriors and servants, each one of us, is working towards a better future, for a place where the Karavec gods will rule.”
Barrow stood and raised his head in anticipation. Almost at once a hologram appeared on the dais. The creature in the hologram had the appearance of a very old wizened member of the Karavec race.
“What news do you bring me, Barrow?”
“Oh, great and mighty Kingirow, leader of the gods, creator of the Karavec and of the Council, I have very sad news.”
“Are you sick, Barrow, or is there sickness among the Karavec? Has there been some kind of accident?”
“No, oh Great One, it is more terrible than that. All our embryos are dead; dead at the hands of one of our own. Please forgive me and my people, Lord Kingirow, if we have displeased you. We are as always loyal to you and to your will, and that of the other gods. Tell me how I might appease you and all the gods.”
“This is grave news indeed. You have failed us, Barrow.”
“It was not . . .”
“Barrow, you are the leader of the Karavec. The responsibility is yours. If others have failed you, then they are answerable to you. But you are answerable to us, and you have failed us.”
“We will find the perpetrator of this crime. I have hired the best detective in the galaxy.”
“Oh, who?”
“It is Captain Jim Forster.”
“This is a strange name, and unfamiliar to me.”
“Captain Forster is a human from the planet Earth.”
Kingirow, who had remained calm until now, raised his voice. “An outsider is investigating this crime? An ally, yet still one from an alien race.” The hologram flashed on and off several times before flickering to life once more. “Why?”
“Did you not hear me, oh Great One, the murderer is one of our own. I deemed it necessary for an outsider to investigate this crime. Forster is renowned as a detective, and was in the area. Did you and the other gods summon him?”
“Perhaps we summoned him; perhaps we did not. What the gods do or do not do is none of your concern. Do you think we foresaw this abomination?”
Barrow waited in silence for several seconds before Kingirow spoke again. “How many embryos are dead?”
“Sixty, and four nurses.”
“This will require sacrifice, Barrow. To show your unfaltering loyalty to the gods, we require the sacrifice of sixty-four of your servants.”
“Do we add to the numbers that are slaughtered?”
“Do not question my authority, Barrow, or my decision. This sacrifice will put fear into the minds of the Karavec warriors and servants; but above all it will put fear into the mind of the murderer. He must be caught.”
“These things will be done, oh Great One.”
* * * * *
Forster sifted through his notes, trying to piece together all the facts he had been able to establish from evidence of the day of the Arion murders. He had seen this scenario many times before in the human worlds that he had visited and worked in over the past three hundred years, but this was the first time he had worked with the Karavec. The scene of the crime and its enactment were familiar, but the players in the crime, both perpetrator and victims, were not.
Several thoughts passed through his mind. Why would a Karavec betray his own people? Why did he use such a crude weapon?
How did he gain access to the Embrycultural Centre? How did he exit again, leaving just one clue and leaving the centre locked to appear from the outside as if nothing had happened? Most significantly, how had he travelled to Hikon? Could there be another murderer on the main planet? Unlikely. The killer must have found transport to Hikon . . .
. . . The ferry ship. He must have travelled on the ferry ship. I must warn Barrow. The ferry ship must not be allowed to carry passengers when it leaves Hikon. No one should be allowed to leave the planet except the crew.
He moved towards the door, intending to summon a servant to take a message to the Great Savant, but took a pace back when there was an unexpected knock on the door. He leaned forward and peered through the peephole. He recognised the female Karavec, Elena, who had been assigned as his assistant. He opened the door.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
“I just wanted to find out whether you have got any ideas about the murders yet.”
“Not yet, but please come in. I could do with some company.”
Forster reached for the light dimmer to reduce the light in the room.
“That’s enough,” Elena said when he had partially dimmed the lights. “My eyes became accustomed to the light when I lived on Earth. My retinas are less sensitive to bright light than the average Karavec.”
“Can I take your coat?”
Elena removed her coat to reveal a slim curvaceous figure, exacerbated by a tight-fitting jumpsuit. She handed the coat to Forster.
“Would you care for some refreshment?”
“No, thank you. The Karavec only eat when food is genuinely required, and that’s not often.”
“Sit down, please.” Forster motioned for his guest to be seated in an armchair next to his own.
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Please, call me Jim.”
Elena flushed, and her face turned a deeper shade of green.”
“We are working together, so perhaps we should be more formal.” she said.
Forster bowed his head. “As you wish. There are lots of questions I would like to ask you, many things I need to know that might help me to better understand what’s going on here. First of all, can you tell me why, when I first set foot on this planet, I was not immediately frozen to death? We are on a sunless world at the extreme of the Ogien solar system. Your sun is barely visible, let alone a source of light and heat needed to sustain life. When I stepped down from my ship, I was cold, but not as cold as I had expected. This planet is very different from any other I have ever encountered.”
“The answer is simple. We do not need light, but heat is necessary for our survival. We have learned to enhance the heat stored at the core of the planet.”
“But how do you grow food without light?”
“All our plants and animals are cultivated in cradles, similar to the embryo cradles you saw in the Embrycultural Centre. These need heat, but very little light. As for ourselves, we only use light when our other senses elude us, and that is not often.”
“Tell me more about yourself, and your people.”
Elena hesitated before answering. “Karavec do not live in families. We do not even know who our parents are. But the man who raised me when I left the Embryological Centre on board the Endeavour was one of its captains. He is not my biological father, but I call him father. He now lives in exile on Earth.”
“The Endeavour?”
“The first Karavec spacecraft to arrive in the Milky Way.”
“The ship that broke up?”
“Yes. Do you know why it broke up?”
“No, tell me. Tell me the whole story.”
“Our original home is in another distant galaxy where the Karavec gods created our people. We have travelled from our homeland and spread out across many galaxies, spreading the word of our gods, and warning other races that the gods are coming. Barrow, the mighty Great Savant, was also our leader on the voyage to the Milky Way.”
“Yes, I know. How long ago was that?”
“Many hundreds of years.”
“How is that possible?”
“Karavec live long. We have the ability to replace damaged limbs and organs.”
Yes, Barrow told me.”
“ Barrow himself has been alive for more than three thousand years.”
“Is he the real leader of the Karavec? I mean, was he the leader before you left your original home?”
“He has been the leader for as long as I can remember. He conducts all religious happenings, like ceremonies, gatherings and sacrifices. He is also the supreme commander of the Karavec armies. However, there are rumours that the Karavec are ruled by a secret group of individuals, a group of mysterious lords called the Council which works alongside the Great Savant. We do not know if the Great Savant controls this Council, or if they control him.”
“I’m told that your original home is three million light years away. How did your people travel such a vast distance? Even if our spacecraft travelled at their maximum capacity, which is eighty percent of the speed of light, they would take nearly four million years to make such a journey!”
“The technology of which you speak is limited by the speed of light.”
“But nothing travels faster than light in a vacuum. This was proven many centuries ago by a famous physicist from Earth named Einstein.”
“The General Theory of Relativity?”
“You know about that?”
“Of course. I have lived on Earth, remember?”
“Yes, but I didn’t realise that you studied Ancient Physics.”
“Ancient human Physics,” she corrected.
“So, enlighten me. How can one travel faster than the speed of light?”
Elena thought for a moment. “Did you ever skate on the ice on Earth?”
“Yes.”
“Well imagine the ice on a pond freezing with many stones frozen into its top surface. Then try skating on it. What would happen?”
“The stones would slow me down. It’s friction. That’s simple Ancient Physics, known even before Einstein’s time.”
“And, if the stones could somehow be removed, then most of the friction would also disappear, and you could skate freely again.”
“Yes. What has this got to do with the speed of light?”
“Not the speed of light, the speed in darkness.”
Forster looked puzzled. “How can darkness move?”
“I didn’t say the speed of darkness; I said the speed in darkness.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Space, the vast empty regions between the planets and stars, and even galaxies, is not really empty. There is electromagnetic radiation everywhere in the form of light, ultra violet, x-rays and gamma rays at one end of the spectrum, to infra red and radio waves at the other end. It is these rays that slow us down, just as the stones in the frozen pond would slow down the skater. These rays travel at the speed of light; hence they determine the maximum speed, just as Einstein predicted.”
“But if we could remove the electromagnetic rays, just like we remove the stones, then . . .”
“Exactly. We built a ship that could plough through space, pushing the electromagnet rays to one side. The rays no longer slowed the craft down. It could travel at any speed. There were no limits.”
“The speed in darkness has no limits?”
“Right.”
“But I still don’t understand. If I want to skate freely, I have to remove the stones. In doing so, I use energy and slow down anyway.”
“You are right, Captain, but when I said we push the rays to one side, I was simplifying things. We do not push them physically; we use gnaris.”
“Gnaris, what is gnaris?”
“It is sense, possessed only by Karavec. The Karavec have little use for eyes and find continuous exposure to light to be painful. Instead we made use of a different sense; not sight, hearing, taste, smell or touch we possess all of these, though sight is the least important t
o us but an additional sense that allows us to feel the things and people that surround us without using our eyes or any of the other senses possessed by other races. This sense, we call gnaris. For any being that does not possess the sense of gnaris, it is difficult to describe.”
“You use this gnaris to remove the rays?”
“To put it simply in language you can understand, we use our gnaris to wish the rays to move aside.”
“What happened to the spacecraft? Can I experience this ‘travelling in darkness’?”
“Unfortunately the spacecraft was destroyed. After we arrived in the Milky Way, the braking system failed and we were unsuccessful in our efforts to slow down the craft quickly enough. It began to shake violently and started to break up. We had to abandon ship and took to the life rafts, smaller craft that took us to the surface of Hikon. We have the technology to build a new ship, but it will take us many thousands of years to do so. I understand one is already under construction on Hikon.”
“So what happened to your people?”
“The Karavec gods were angry that the ship had been destroyed. They instructed Barrow to sacrifice all the captains to make amends for their mistake.”
“All the captains, including your father? What happens during such a sacrifice?”
“Only Barrow knows these things; and maybe the members of the Council. But there are rumours. Before the victims of the sacrifice die, the gods give them the gift of sight; and, in return, the victims yield to the gods their gnaris.”
“So the Karavec gods gave your father the gift of sight, and took away his gnaris. But why did he not die?”
“He did not accept his fate. One of the most important things about a Karavec sacrifice is that the victims are willing, and that they accept their fate. At the beginning of the proceedings they recite together a prayer saying that they are honoured to have been chosen by the gods for this sacrifice. He did not recite that prayer; so he did not die.”
“Isn’t that shameful? Doesn’t that mean that he has disobeyed the will of the gods?”
The Power of Gnaris Page 2
