“How can this help us understand the numbers?”
“The book is written in the ancient script, and the chapters and verses of the book are referenced by pairs of numbers.”
“I see. So you think the numbers on the piece of paper might refer to sections of the book?”
“Exactly.”
Elena couldn’t contain her excitement. “So look them up,” she said. Then she remembered to whom she spoke. “Please forgive me, Great Savant. Can I help you look them up?”
“I will do it,” said Barrow.
He turned the pages until he had located the chapter and verse indicated by the first pair of numbers. This is Chapter 16, verse 41,” he said. “It says, ‘After the Karavec had been created and had been living on their home planet for more than two hundred millennia, there was a great famine in the land. Many Karavec died, and others were only sustained by drinking the blood of Karavec embryos’.”
Forster whistled. “That might explain why the blood from the Hikon centre was collected and removed.”
Barrow didn’t say a word, but frantically turned the pages of the book to find the second reference. Elena thought that she had never before seen the Great Savant so flustered.
“Chapter 27, verse 77 says: ‘There are those who aspire to joining the ranks of the gods. Such Karavec believe that by drinking the blood of other Karavec, they will assimilate their gnaris. Thus their own gnaris is enhanced, and their power increased’.”
Barrow could not contain his rage. “This is an act of blasphemy,” he said. “Any Karavec who does this evil act will be condemned not only to die, but to spend all eternity in the light.”
Elena contemplated the consequences of the action, and sobbed. “It is obscene,” she said. “Do you really believe that one of our own race could contemplate such an evil act in the present day?”
Forster, on the other hand, remained silent while pondering the implications of the words from the book.
After a pause, he asked, “What is the third reference?”
“That is easy,” replied Barrow. “I know this reference well because it is I who recorded it. It was given to me as a prophecy by the gods. Chapter 89, verse 18 says: ‘In the latter days, there will rise up on the planet Ziemia a great threat to the Karavec people. Do not be complacent; the threat is real’.”
“Is that all?” Forster asked.
“That is the end of verse 18. But the perpetrator has either ignored or failed to read verse 19.”
“What is the message of verse 19?”
“It says, ‘However, be encouraged; the gods will prevail and the threat will be overcome’.”
“What can it mean?” asked Elena. “Ziemia is populated by humanoids that are still living in the Stone Age. They have little knowledge, and possess no weapon that could be a threat to the Karavec.”
“What you say is true,” said Barrow. “But the prophecy cannot be wrong. The creatures that inhabit Ziemia will be a threat; and the murder of the embryos and stealing of the blood has something to do with this.”
“We must depart at once for Ziemia,” said Forster.
“First, I must consult with the Council,” said Barrow.
Chapter 7 – The Council
“The Council are my servants, and I am their servant; indeed I am one of them. Together, we serve all the Karavec people.”
The Book of Karavec (36, 21)
Lolena hadn’t been summoned to a meeting of the Council for over three hundred years. During that time, she continued working as a lawyer in the Hikon High Court, and no one knew her true identity. She had even produced two genetic seeds that had been nurtured at the Regional Embrycultural Centre on Hikon and grown into Karavec of high standing in the community; but these offspring did not know their origins, and they were like strangers to Lolena.
So that morning, when she felt the call from Barrow requesting a meeting of the secret group, she was taken by surprise. Barrow did not make the call using a conventional means of communication, but he conveyed the news to her through the channel of his gnaris to hers.
Lolena immediately cancelled all her appointments for the next week, telling her assistant that she had urgent business to attend to in another part of Hikon. Her assistant’s protests that she had a case at the High Court that could not wait were met with a severe reprimand. Such was the importance and urgency of her attendance at the meeting of the Council.
From other parts of Hikon, the three other members of the Council had also received their calls.
The members of the Council always left the day-to-day running of the Karavec Empire to Barrow, and knew that he was more than capable of making the right decisions and communicating with and serving the gods. So, when he called a meeting, they knew that there must be important matters to deal with, and decisions to be made. At the behest of the gods, the Council members possessed the ultimate power over the entire Karavec Empire. Barrow was one of them.
Barrow prepared to set off for the meeting, but knew that he must depart from the palace under the strictest secrecy. His guards, who remained constantly at his side, or kept watch outside his room whenever he slept or knelt alone in his chapel communicating with the gods, would be difficult to deceive; so evading them would be a difficult task for him to achieve. To give the guards the slip required some genius on the part of the Great Savant. He dressed as a slave, and carried with him a note signed by the Great Savant himself giving the slave permission to leave the palace to visit the rich master who had grown him in his own cradle, and who was now sick and ready to die.
Barrow may have deceived his guards, but he had not deceived Forster. Forster was not only a detective, but also an expert in reading body language. Over the few days since he had met the Great Savant, he had studied his every body movement and every nuance of facial expression. He had deduced that Barrow would need to discuss a matter of such grave importance as the murders of the Karavec embryos with the clandestine group, and also had the inkling that Barrow would make his way to the meeting in disguise.
Forster and Elena waited in the shadows outside the servants entrance to the palace for Barrow to appear, knowing that he would be disguised and on his way to the important meeting.
“There he is,” said Forster, “masquerading as a slave. He’s carrying a bag. I wonder what’s inside. Now, you must follow him, Elena.”
“Me? Why should I be the one to follow him?”
“There are two reasons. The first is that if I followed him, then I would be conspicuous. I am an alien, and, remember that I have already had one attempt on my life. On the other hand, no one will take heed of a Karavec woman in the crowd. The second reason is that I have no knowledge of your language, whereas you will better understand what is said at the meeting.”
“I can’t do that. The Council is a secret group. No Karavec outside the group knows their identity, and no one has ever witnessed one of their meetings. What if I am caught? I will be sacrificed.”
“You will not be caught if you are careful. They will not be expecting anyone to spy on their meeting, and Barrow doesn’t suspect that he is being followed. You must trail him at a distance, never letting him out of your sight; if he should stop and turn in your direction, then you must quickly stop also and divert your attention to something anything that catches your eye. He will not notice you in the crowd unless you draw attention to yourself.”
“Very well, I will do it. But what is to be gained from spying on the Council?”
“One of the Karavec has committed the abominable crime of killing the embryos and stealing the blood. That person is also in league with the beings on Ziemia. He or she must wield some power, and may be one of those chosen by the Council to go to Ziemia, or even one of the Council itself. We do not know who we can trust, and we will gain an advantage if we know exactly what’s going on.”
“But . . .”
“Go now, Elena. Look, the guard at the gate has already read the note Barrow carries,
and has let him through. Go quickly, before he is out of sight.”
Elena followed the Great Savant through the streets of the capital. She kept a respectable distance behind him, and mingled with the crowd. There was little chance of anyone recognising her, or her intentions. On one occasion Barrow slowed his pace and looked back over his shoulder as if he suspected that someone might be following him. Elena ducked behind a portly Karavec, then stopped and started browsing through some clothes being sold by a street vendor, while keeping one eye on Barrow. When the Great Savant continued on his journey, Elena followed.
Barrow arrived before the others at the venue. Over the centuries, the Council had met before on a few occasions, and every member knew the meeting place. They did not meet in the palace of the Great Savant, which obviously posed a threat to their security and the secrecy of their identities. Instead they met in an obscure building on the outskirts of the Hikon capital, a disused building that had once been a factory producing parts for the Karavec fleet of ferry ships. Now derelict and overgrown with vegetation, the former factory provided the perfect place for the clandestine meeting.
Lolena arrived next, followed by Saivrow, Chief Statistician in the Statistics Department of the Great Savant’s government, then Velena, an author of many Karavec books, and finally Henrow, a university professor of anatomy.
Together Henrow, Saivrow, Barrow, Lolena and Velena made up the Council.
The group had not met for three centuries, and in the intervening years they had seldom interacted with each other as individuals either. They all knew the unwritten rule of strictest confidentiality and anonymity. If their paths crossed in carrying out the business of their everyday lives, then they had trained themselves not to betray any signs of recognition of each other.
Yet, despite their efforts to maintain secrecy, it had been Barrow himself who had compromised the anonymity of the group by allowing himself to be followed. When the meeting was about to begin, Elena positioned herself outside, and peered through a shattered window.
The room in which the Council met was cold and bare, its walls unadorned with any decoration, and it was furnished with just five chairs that Barrow had managed to find by searching throughout the disused factory. There were no communication devices that would normally be part of a crucial meeting involving such significant dignitaries; hardly the venue for a meeting of the most important leaders of the Karavec Empire. But the need for secrecy was paramount, and they dismissed all thoughts of discomfort from their minds.
Before they began their discussion, the five leaders moved their chairs close together to sit in a circle facing inwards. They joined hands and began chanting, using an ancient language only known to a few of those Karavec who had travelled together from the distant galaxy that was their original home. Elena, who had some knowledge of the ancient language from her studies, listened and managed to pick up the thread of a familiar prayer.
“Oh, mighty gods,” they chanted, “hear us 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 gods will rule.”
“Guide us, oh mighty gods,” said Barrow, “as we meet together for the first time in many years; guide us while we discuss a crisis that threatens our people and their very existence. Let us be unanimous in making the right decision for the future of the race that you have created.”
“Guide us mighty gods,” they all intoned.
Then they released their hands and relaxed, still sitting in a circle. The others waited for Barrow to speak.
“Lords of the Council,” he said using the common tongue of the Karavec, “you have been summoned here to discuss matters of crucial importance for the future of the Karavec race.”
“Lord Barrow,” said Lolena, “we can dismiss the preliminaries. We know that this must be important. Can you get to the point?”
Barrow shrugged off the rebuke. “Very well,” he said. “The first matter you are probably already aware of, since it is common knowledge. Karavec embryos have been murdered both here and at the Regional Embrycultural Centre on Arion.”
“Yes, we know,” said Lolena. “That is a matter for the police and the alien Forster who you have invited into our midst. He can handle it.”
“What you say is true . . . to a point. If it was simply a case of murder, then Forster, one of the most prominent detectives in the Milky Way, could solve this case. But there have been further developments.”
“Please cut to the chase, Lord Barrow,” said Saivrow. “We are all busy people.”
“The beings that inhabit Ziemia have entered the technological age.”
Henrow gasped, and Saivrow exclaimed, “What!”
“You must be mistaken, Lord Barrow,” said Lolena. “The beings on Ziemia are barely out of the Stone Age.”
“It’s true.”
Velena spoke for the first time. “Lord Barrow, how did this happen?”
“I don’t know exactly, but it has some connection with the reason why Captain Forster wishes to visit the planet. This is why I permitted him to come to Hikon.”
“That explains a lot,” said Velena. “And what has this to do with the murders?”
“I believe the murderer, who is a Karavec, is in league with the Ziemians. Along with the knowledge they have gained to bring them into the technological age, they have also acquired a taste for Karavec blood. The reason for this, and how the two incidents are connected, has yet to be determined.”
“Are the Ziemians a threat to us?” asked Henrow. “Have they developed weapons that they might use against us?”
“Again I am not sure, but it seems very likely; and the fact that they have a taste for our blood is an indication that their intentions are hostile.”
Lolena, tall and imperious, stood and appeared to look in the direction of Elena, who ducked down to evade the lord’s gaze.
Lolena spoke for everyone when she said, “A delegation must be sent to Ziemia immediately to talk with these people and, if necessary . . . deal with them. You, Lord Barrow, must be one member of the delegation, and I assume that you will be taking Captain Forster with you. Unless anyone else objects, I will also go with you. You will need the shared gnaris of at least one other member of the Council, and my knowledge of interplanetary law could be invaluable in bringing the murderer and his Ziemian associates to justice. However, I will go as a lawyer, not as a member of the Council. No one else in the party must know my true identity.”
“Naturally,” said the Great Savant.
“Who else will travel with us?”
“There is the issue of language. For whatever reason, these aliens on Ziemia are using the language from Earth known as English. Those with some knowledge of English should be chosen.”
“So, who?”
“Elena should be one.”
“Elena?”
“She has been acting as Forster’s assistant. She has been to Earth, and is also an expert linguist. She has a degree in philology, and has studied many alien languages including English, as well as possessing a deep understanding of ancient physics. If the creatures have indeed attained some technology, then they will have developed at least some rudimentary knowledge of physics. She will be most useful.”
“Very well. Who else?”
“I would like Doctor Leila to come with us. We will probably need a doctor, and she may prove invaluable in the investigation of the use of Karavec blood. She also has some knowledge of English from her studies.”
“Go on.”
“Sirrow of the ferry ship Gnaris Voyager will be our pilot. And most of his crew, naturally.”
“Why do you not use your own ship?”
“It’s under repair.”
“So that’s settled,” said Lolena. “The
delegation will consist of you and me, Forster, Elena, Captain Sirrow and his crew, and Doctor Leila; and a platoon of soldiers will also be necessary.”
“There is only room on the ship for thirty-five,” said Barrow.
“Thirty-five will be ample, unless these creatures have developed technologically even further than we are led to believe.”
“Have you spoken of this to the gods?” asked Saivrow.
“Not yet,” replied Barrow. “I wanted to get the support of the Council first. I will speak with the gods this evening.”
“Then let us meld,” said Lolena.
The five lords moved their chairs once again to sit in a circle facing inwards. Then Barrow removed five pairs of dark glasses from his bag, and handed one pair to each of them. These glasses more closely resembled goggles, for they adhered to the skin of the Karavec, leaving no place for any ray of light to enter, and the lenses of the glasses were completely opaque to light. The five members of the Council placed the glasses to cover their eyes.
Then they joined hands once again and began chanting an ancient ritual called ‘The Melding of Gnaris’. No one outside of the Council had ever witnessed this ritual, so a description cannot be found in any book, not even the Book of Karavec; but Elena realised that the blending of the gnaris of the five ancient and authoritative members of the Council into a single gnaris would result in a power so potent that its consequences or its implications could not be imagined. Elena did not see any flashes of light, or hear any explosion, or the clanging of cymbals. She just felt herself enveloped in a manifestation of sheer power. Later, when Forster asked her to describe the ritual, she asserted that the experience could not be portrayed in words.
At the conclusion of the ritual, the five lords removed their glasses and handed them back to Barrow. Then, without exchanging words, they parted, and each went their own way.
Barrow returned to his palace by way of the servants’ entrance, removed his disguise and retired to his quarters. He took care to place the bag containing the special glasses in his wall safe where it would remain until it was time for the delegation to depart for Ziemia.
The Power of Gnaris Page 6
