Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1)

by Shaun Messick

  “Okay, Colonel. Enter the temple and scan the floor for any activity.”

  “You got it,” Jantear replied.

  Celeste heard Jantear issue the order and then saw him enter the temple from the camera on his uniform. She saw Jantear and his troops scattered about the floor with weapons raised, scanning for any Gnol activity. “It’s clear,” Jantear said.

  “That is strange,” said Celeste.

  “What’s strange? I’d say we’re pretty lucky so far.”

  Celeste wasn’t convinced that luck was on her side. She shook her head in doubt and responded. “That’s strange because the temple floor is usually open to worshipers until midnight. It is only …” Celeste paused as she looked at the watch on her wrist. “… it’s only nine thirty-two.”

  “Well, maybe your father closed the temple because of the attacks on the base and the pending attack on Earth.”

  Celeste thought for a moment. Jantear’s reasoning made sense, but she still wasn’t convinced. “Yes, maybe you are right, but I know my father. He always has a secret.”

  “Well, maybe,” Jantear said. “But don’t you think if he knew about this rescue mission, he would have stopped us by now?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Okay then, Celeste, quit being paranoid and just tell me where to go from here.”

  Celeste looked at her monitor. “All right. You see those two huge statues to your right?” Celeste saw that Jantear’s body had turned, and she could see the statues of the goddess of light and her father. “Behind the statues is where you need to go.”

  Celeste watched as Jantear and his troops walked to the statues. She could see the thirty-foot tall and twenty-foot wide Omutx walls that connected the heavy statues to the temple wall.

  Her earpiece crackled, and Jantear’s voice came through. “There’s nothing here, Celeste. It’s just a wall.”

  “My father’s statue …”

  “What about it?” replied Jantear.

  “Put your hand behind his left foot and feel.”

  Celeste saw Jantear place his left hand on the foot of her father’s statue. He felt around the gold of the statue for a few seconds and responded. “What am I looking for, Celeste?”

  “Keep feeling.”

  Jantear continued to rub the gold on the foot of her father’s statue. Suddenly, Jantear jerked his hand away, and the wall connecting the statues to the temple wall dropped down into the floor. It always amazed Celeste how such a heavy, solid wall could drop down into the floor of the temple without so much as the sound of a pin drop.

  “Impressive,” Jantear said. “Now what?”

  “You and your troops enter the compartment.”

  “Are you sure all of us will fit?”

  “Trust me.”

  Jantear and his troops entered the secluded compartment behind the statues. Once everyone was in, the wall that had dropped to the floor for their entrance sprang back up, and the lights came on. Celeste saw Jantear’s body turn as he looked around the compartment. “Now what, Celeste? There’s nowhere to go.”

  “Look at the wall directly ahead of you.”

  “I’m looking. There’s no door. No keypad. Nothing. It’s just made of stones and cement. I hope you didn’t get us trapped in here.”

  Celeste smiled. She enjoyed keeping Jantear on edge. “Just stand next to the wall and find the center stone.”

  After a few moments of looking the wall over, Jantear said, “Okay, I’ve found the center stone.”

  “All right. Get the hand that you took off the general you killed from your ambush,” Celeste said. She watched as Jantear motioned for one of his troops to give him a black leather bag he was carrying. The soldier tossed Jantear the bag. He caught it, placed it on the floor, and unzipped it. He reached in and pulled out a box. He opened the box and pulled out the hand.

  “I was wondering why you had us cut that hand off,” Jantear said. “Let me guess. I place the palm of it onto the center stone.”

  “Yes,” Celeste said. “Every general or above in my father’s military has access to these secret passageways. The only way to get in and out is from a palm print.”

  “Celeste, if it was as simple as this, why didn’t we just go over what I was supposed to and do it, instead of you guiding me?”

  Celeste ignored Jantear’s question. She knew the answer, but didn’t want to tell him. When Celeste had first planned the rescue attempt, she informed Adrian of the secret passageways of the palace and how to access them. Adrian told her that he didn’t want anyone else to know about what she had told him because he was suspicious that her father had planted a spy amongst his ranks, but he couldn’t figure out who it was. As a result, he didn’t want her to tell Jantear about it, only to guide him. “Just put the hand on the stone,” she insisted.

  She watched as Jantear placed the palm of the severed hand on the stone. She saw the familiar lights scan the palm and the voice of the computer she had heard so many times before. “You may enter, General Otholos.”

  Celeste noticed that Jantear backed up a bit as the stones folded up into the ceiling of the compartment. As soon as the wall disappeared into the ceiling, Celeste saw a bright flash of light and her monitor screen went blank. “Jantear, what happened?”

  Jantear didn’t respond.

  “I repeat. Colonel Jantear, come in …”

  Again, there was no response.

  Frustrated, Celeste grabbed the cloak she had brought with her just in case she had to infiltrate the palace on her own. She put it on and pulled the hood over her head. She then looked into her binoculars to the entrance of the city. Instead of twenty-two guards as she had previously counted, there were now only eight.

  Before she left, she had decided to try Jantear one more time. “Jantear! I repeat, Colonel Jantear, come in!”

  She waited a few moments for Jantear to answer. With no response, she sprinted toward the city gates.

  **********

  Celeste entered the temple entrance and looked around. There was an eerie silence about the entire floor. She was cautious. The only Gnols she encountered were the guards at the city and palace gates. She was able to handle the guards with ease, rendering each one unconscious.

  She continued to look around as she walked in the direction of her father’s statue. She felt the left foot of the statue and pressed the small indentation behind the heel of his gold boot. The wall separating her from the temple and the small compartment that led to the secret passageway silently dropped to the floor. As soon as she was inside, the wall shot upwards, and the lights flashed on.

  Celeste threw off her cloak and examined the compartment. It was empty, and there was no sign of Jantear or his troops anywhere. She then took a deep breath and slowly approached the stone that was her key to the passageway. Her right hand was shaky as she gently placed it onto the cold surface of the stone. Her guard was up. She suspected that a trap lay behind the wall because this was the last place she had any contact with Jantear.

  She kept her eyes glued ahead as the lights scanned her palm and the voice of the computer responded. “You may enter, Your Highness.”

  The wall folded up into the ceiling, and the lights within the passageway turned on. Celeste stepped slowly onto the damp, stone steps that led down to the palace prison. She walked down about thirty feet to where the steps ended and then she would have to take an immediate right down a long, narrow hallway. She slowed her pace as she approached the bottom of the steps.

  At the bottom, she placed her back against the cold stone of the wall and peaked around the corner. Again, no one was in sight. She focused her sight toward the end of the hallway. She could see the door and the control panel that would give her access to the palace prison.

  With no one in sight, she jogged to the door and pressed the only button on the control panel to the left of the door. The control panel ejected from the wall, and two small optical scanners rose from within the panel. She placed her eyes into the sc
anners as the lights scanned her eyes. As soon as the scanners finished their job, the door slid open. With caution, Celeste walked into the darkness of the prison.

  After she entered, the door slid shut behind her. She tried to look around, but the darkness utterly enveloped her. She couldn’t even see her hand inches in front of her face. She now knew that something was wrong because there were always guards on duty.

  She heard someone cough and groan in pain. The voice was familiar. She felt her way in the direction of the coughing and stopped just short as she heard the familiar buzz of the energy field of a prison cell. The prisoner within groaned again, and this time Celeste knew who it was.

  “Kylee?” she whispered

  Kylee coughed again, and Celeste could hear her move. “Cel … Celeste, is that you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ge …” Kylee coughed and groaned in pain again before she could finish her sentence.

  “Kylee, what’s wrong? What did my father do to you?”

  Celeste heard another cough, and could tell that Kylee struggled to speak. “Celeste, you’ve got to … you’ve got to get out of here, now.”

  Celeste knew Kylee was right, but she wasn’t going to leave without whom she came for. “No, Kylee. I am not leaving; not without you, Bantyr, and Sean.”

  “Bantyr and Sean have been taken to a slave camp. I …”

  Kylee began coughing and wheezing again. Celeste knew she was in trouble. She backed up to the back wall and felt her way to her right. She knew that somewhere on the wall were the controls that would open the energy field. She continued to feel and move. As she moved, she lifted her left knee. It collided with the guard’s desk, and she almost fell in pain.

  Ignoring the pain, she felt her way around the guard’s desk and back to the wall. She reached her hands out and felt her way up the wall. Finally, she found what she was looking for – the control panel to the prison cell. She could feel the various buttons that controlled the lights and the cells. She wasn’t sure which one opened Kylee’s cell, so she decided to risk it and pressed all of the buttons.

  She heard the snap and pop of the energy fields disabling among the numerous cells in the prison, and then the lights came on. Celeste turned around, and there stood her father. Startled, she flinched back into the wall and smacked her head. Her father, with a look on his face that terrorized her, reached out and grabbed her throat. He lifted her into the air and backed up.

  As Celeste struggled for air and the strength to escape her father’s death grip, a guard approached Celeste from behind and bound her hands behind her back. Once her hands were bound, Koroan dropped her to the floor.

  Celeste looked around the prison cell. All of the cells were empty except the one that contained Kylee. But Kylee wasn’t alone in the cell. Jantear’s troops were also with her and surrounded by several of her father’s royal guards, with their weapons raised on them.

  She looked around and could not see Jantear anywhere. She looked at her father, who still had the horrifying look on his face as his chest heaved up and down. “Where is Colonel Jantear?” she demanded.

  Koroan looked past Celeste and nodded. Celeste turned around and made eye contact with the guard that had bound her hands. “No … Jantear … why?"

  Jantear, with a smug smile on his face, walked around Celeste and joined Koroan, standing on his right. “Why do you think, Celeste?”

  “I trusted you, and so did Adrian.”

  Jantear laughed. “Adrian Palmer is a fool and so are you.”

  “But … but you are a human. How could you betray your family?”

  Jantear’s eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth. Celeste could feel the anger seething from his presence. “My family … no, my family was killed in the attack on Base 1. My mother, father, and little sister were on that shuttle that was destroyed on its way to Base 2. So when you say family, Adrian Palmer killed my family. He is to blame.”

  Celeste shook her head and stood up. “No, Jantear. Adrian was only trying to protect your family. It was the Gnols that destroyed that ship.”

  With anger in his eyes, Jantear rushed to Celeste, raised his left hand, swung, and landed his fist on her right eye. Celeste fell to the ground and rolled in pain. She looked up at her father and saw a small smile grace his face. He opened his mouth and spoke. “What do you know about family, Celeste? You betrayed your own father and everything you believe in.”

  Celeste struggled to her feet again and looked her father in the eye. “Believe in? I do not believe in terrorizing another person as you do. I do not believe that humans are inferior. I … I do—”

  “Ah yes, Colonel Jantear here has told me everything about you and this human, Jake. From what I have been told, you have truly denied what it is to be a Gnol.”

  Celeste glared at Jantear. “How long?” she asked.

  “Soon after we arrived at the second base. Needless to say, your father is very persuasive,” Jantear said with a smile.

  Celeste lowered her head and shook it.

  Koroan walked to her, raised his hand, and wiped the blood away that trickled from her eye. “Now, my dear, I offer you a choice.”

  Celeste looked at the man she used to admire and love, and held back the tears. “What choice?”

  “You have a choice to stay here with me and become my daughter again, or witness the torture and death of first Kylee and then yourself.”

  Celeste narrowed her eyes. “Not much of a choice, is it?”

  Koroan just smiled at her.

  Celeste looked at Kylee and saw the misery and pain she suffered. She looked back at her father and said, “If I promise to stay and never return to the humans, you have got to promise to stop doing whatever you are doing to Kylee, and let her stay with me.”

  Koroan smiled and nodded his head. “We have a deal.”

  A few minutes later, as Celeste and Kylee were escorted to Celeste’s old room, thoughts ran through her head. Thoughts mostly about Jake, and the terrifying thought that she would never see him again.

  CHAPTER 17: REVELATIONS

  Slave Camp of Zikf on Terrest …

  Skip awakened in a cold sweat, breathing rapidly. He quickly stood up and made his way across his small eight-foot by eight-foot room to the sink. He turned on the water and splashed the coolness of it onto his face. After he finished, he looked up and could barely make out his face in the darkness of the room.

  The last three nights had been sleepless ones. He was no longer having the dream of the young boy and the bright temple. Now, he was having the same nightmare over and over again. The dream always began with Skip enjoying a summer barbecue with his family back in Springfield, Illinois. Just as his father finished saying grace, the blue sky above filled with red and orange, and chaos ensued. All around Skip, thousands upon thousands of Gnol soldiers surrounded his family, killing some and enslaving the rest.

  In each dream, Skip always tried to rescue his mother, but just as he reached her, a Gnol would place his gun to Skip’s head and pull the trigger. At that moment, Skip would wake up in a cold sweat and out of breath.

  He gritted his teeth and slammed his fists onto the sink, causing the mirror to shake. He was frustrated. For the last couple of months, he had the same peaceful dream over and over again. But now, he was having a continuing nightmare. What did it all mean? Was God trying to communicate with him, or were these dreams just a creation of his subconscious mind? Whatever the answers were, Skip couldn’t sit around and wait in this slave camp any more. He had to begin putting his plan into motion and somehow get into contact with Skyler Green.

  Skip took a deep breath, turned around, and began making his way back to his bed. On his second step with his cybernetic leg, he collapsed in pain. He let out a small scream and grabbed the back of his artificial limb behind the knee. The pain was almost unbearable, and he couldn’t understand why.

  Ever since he had arrived at Zikf, he had been having trouble with his new leg, but now the pain wa
s more intense. Skip sat up in his bed and pulled his pants off. He extended his artificial leg across the bed and examined it behind the knee. He looked closer and noticed an unusual dim red light blinking from underneath his artificial skin. With no sharp object in the room to cut away the skin, Skip pinched the area with his thumb and index finger and pulled.

  He ripped the rubber skin away from behind the knee, exposing the metallic skeleton underneath. The red flash was undoubtedly brighter now without the artificial skin as a covering, and he now knew why he couldn’t find anything wrong with his leg when he previously examined it because each time he did, it was in light.

  He grimaced in pain again and touched the light with his finger. Just as soon as he did, the light switched off, and his pain immediately disappeared. Suddenly, three small objects protruded from his knee and emitted light. Skip’s eyes followed the light and his jaw dropped with what he saw. Standing about two feet above him, was a small holographic image of Doc.

  Skip sat up and whispered, “Doc?”

  The hologram didn’t respond, and Skip felt a little foolish for talking to what was obviously a computer program. After a few seconds, the holographic image of Doc spoke. “Skip, if you are viewing this message Sean and I programmed into your cybernetic leg, then you are in trouble.”

  Skip was stunned and wondered why Doc and Sean would pre-program a message into his cybernetic leg and not tell him.

  “Perhaps you are wondering why we would pre-program a message into your cybernetic leg and not let you know?”

  Skip smiled and said, “Yes.”

  “Well, the answer is simple,” said the image. “Remember when you first learned about your new leg? You had the sensation of touch, but we programmed it so that you wouldn’t feel any pain.”

  Skip nodded his head as Doc continued.

  “Sean and I knew that the odds of you being captured by the Gnols were great. As a result, we hardwired your leg to your nervous system. We programmed your leg, however, so that you only feel pain behind the knee when you are in trouble.”