TWENTY-EIGHT
THE SCOUT SHIP STREAKED over the Great Salt Sea as a stiff wind created white caps that polluted the otherwise smooth surface. Flying low to elude detection let the passengers look out the window and marvel at the sheer size of it.
Breeze was hypnotized by the water and his eyes fluttered the second he leaned his head against the window. Within seconds he was fast asleep and dreaming.
His dream was filled with jumbled images that made no sense to him. Mixed into it were incoherent conversations with Oslo about training at Perihelion and leaving his home. It came to an end with Sally shouting his name from a distance.
He awoke abruptly to Sally shaking him. The ship was pitching and tossing violently. The engines were screeching and alarms flooded the ship.
“Something hit us hard!” she said.
He looked out the window where dark and ominous clouds swirled around the ship in a maelstrom. He then turned to her and pointed to the bow of the ship. “Let’s get to the pilot house.”
He began unbuckling from his seat when he caught a movement from the corner of his eye. He looked out the window again and was confronted by a pair of giant wings flapping close to the ship. Each beat of the wings made the ship shudder violently.
“Go! Now!” he shouted at her as they struggled to get to the pilot house, stopping to brace themselves against the seats in the aisle whenever the ship rolled violently.
When they finally stumbled into the pilot house, they found Ray in the cockpit struggling to maintain altitude.
Achilles, in the co-pilot’s seat, turned to them. “Master, mistress, I would advise you to return to your seats and remain buckled in.”
Breeze ignored Achilles’ request as he gripped the back of its seat and looked up through the canopy, which was filled with the view of gigantic winged birds. Electricity crackled around them with each beat of their wings.
One of the birds dove into their path and flapped its wings with one mighty stroke. Lightning erupted from it, followed by a deep rolling thunder that rattled the ship.
“Guys, we need to do something!” Ray shouted as he fought the helm to keep the ship level.
“There, up ahead, bring us down to the base of that mountain.” Breeze pointed forward.
In the distance, a lone mountain on the desert plain emerged, and soon its looming presence filled the windscreen.
With great relief, Ray pushed down on the helm and began their descent.
Immediately, the lead bird rolled onto its back and flapped its wings with a violent thrust. The pressure wave it created blasted the ship and rocked the bow up to an extreme angle, causing Breeze to lose his grip on Achilles’ seat and tumble to the back of the cockpit.
Sally had followed Achilles’ advice and strapped herself into the jump seat. She screamed as Breeze flew past her and slammed into the back of the cockpit. His shield protected him, but made a dent in the metal.
“Are you okay?” Sally cried out.
“I’m fine, don’t get out of your seat!” he shouted as she started to unbuckle.
Outside, the gigantic birds revolved around the ship at a high rate of speed, creating a vortex that spun it and pinned the passengers in place as nausea began to overwhelm them.
The birds were synchronized as they maintained a tight formation. Electricity arced between them, followed by peals of powerful, booming thunder.
Inside, Breeze was pinned against a bulkhead. The ship wailed with warning alarms as smoke filled the cockpit. He could barely see Sally, whose eyes were fluttering as the spinning was taking its toll on her. Ray and Achilles were silhouettes occasionally illuminated by the ship’s failing electrical systems.
The last thing Breeze saw was Sally passing out when the ship eventually lost power and fell out of sky.
Breeze woke up with the side of his face pressed against the cold metal floor. His head and body ached while nausea roiled his stomach.
He wanted to swallow, but it felt like his mouth was full of dirt. He gagged and retched as he struggled to get up when he saw Sally still strapped in her jump seat. In the faint light, he could barely make out Ray and Achilles slumped over in their seats.
He slowly stood up and steadied himself against the bulkhead. “Is everyone okay?” he called out. No response.
He stumbled over to Sally and shook her. She didn’t respond. He leaned closer and was relieved to hear her still breathing. He then limped to the front of the cockpit where Ray was beginning to stir, but Achilles was still incapacitated and slumped over its console. He grunted as he pulled the robot into an upright position and it fell back into its seat with a thump. Breeze weakly knocked on its head hoping to get a response, but the robot was lifeless.
He let out a sigh of exasperation when a bright flash filled the cockpit followed by a powerful hum that vibrated the ship.
“Remove them,” a voice said.
Breeze immediately crumpled to the floor and passed out.
When he awoke again, he found himself alone and surrounded by pure white light. He could feel the floor under him but could not discern its surface even when he touched it.
He stood up and reached out with both hands when he immediately felt a hard surface. When he pressed his hand against it he felt electricity crackle through his skin.
He took a step back only to wobble and topple over. He groaned as he got back to his feet and held his arms out to maintain balance. The pure white light was disorienting, and made it difficult to fathom depth and distance. He put his hands out again to touch the surface, sidestepping along as he tried to figure out the dimensions of what he was beginning to suspect was a detention cell. After several minutes of touching like a blind man, he came to the conclusion that he was in a room shaped like a cube roughly eight feet by eight feet. If there was an exit, he never found it.
He sat on the floor to ponder his situation when a section of the cube slid away. A man wearing a white uniform leaned in and looked inside.
“Yes, he is awake now,” he said to no one in particular and walked away.
The section stayed open, but no one else came inside
Breeze didn’t take his eyes off the entrance, as he anticipated it would close if he moved too fast. He gingerly made his way to the opening, then leaned out to look and saw his jailer walk down a hallway of pure light before turning to the right and disappearing. Breeze figured that the hallway was similar to his cell in that there was no way to gauge its dimensions without physically touching the walls.
He stepped out with outstretched hands and immediately ran into a hard surface. He took a few steps back and abruptly turned to go in another direction, only to run into a hard surface yet again.
With mounting frustration, he pushed hard against it and it flexed and shimmered, then snapped back into place. He pushed again, but harder and the surface of light flexed. When it settled, it seemed to be further away and he felt he was moving forward. He did this several more times, creating the sensation he was moving further away from his cell.
He suddenly turned to head in a different direction. With his arms thrust out like a battering ram, he pushed against any surface he encountered as he tried to gauge the dimensions of the hallway like he did with his cell. Some surfaces gave way while others pushed back. After several minutes of twist and turns, it dawned upon him he was being guided by someone or something that was manipulating the surfaces so that some gave way while others were rigid. He stopped to pull back his sleeve and look at his nav-compass. The needle was spinning wildly and was completely useless. Anger began to build. He didn’t like the fact he was being toyed with.
He continued down the fathomless corridor, and holding his hands out like a blind man when he stopped and shouted.
“Where do you want me to go? What do you want from me?” He received no r
esponse.
He continued on as his anger was building to a crescendo. He just wanted to fly away and get out.
He took a running leap and began gliding, then raised his shield and shaped it like a battering ram as he accelerated and ran into a surface.
The surface flexed and stretched, but it wouldn’t break. He grimaced as he poured on the power, but it snapped and flung him back. He bounced around like a pinball against multiple surfaces before flopping onto the floor.
He scrambled to his feet and shouted. “We didn’t come here to do harm, we came here for help.”
Silence was the only answer he received.
He pleaded his case further. “I used to live not far from here in a town named Conception. I remember when I was a child my mother would bring me here. I would talk to tall men in white coats and they would tell me fantastic things about my gifts. It always seemed like a dream, but I know now you are real. When I figured out how to fly on my own, I would come and watch the lights that came out of this mountain from the ridgeline over there.” He pointed in what he thought was the direction of the ridgeline, and then dropped his hand when he realized how foolish he appeared.
“Please, could you just help us? A friend has been captured by the Elephim, and I don’t have anyone else to turn to.”
He received more silence. Then the light faded away and he found himself in a huge chamber whose smooth stone walls ran up to a rocky ceiling, when several figures materialized before him. They remained motionless at staggered distances from each other as they each pulsated with white light. All of them wore similar uniforms with masks covering their faces.
The light surrounding them ebbed as the masks faded away to reveal beings with sharp, angular faces.
“Welcome Paul Corinth, we are the Phaerion,” one of them said. “We’ve been expecting you.”
TWENTY-NINE
BREEZE LOOKED AT THEM, noting that each of the Phaerion had unique facial features. The most striking were the eyes.
All of them had eyes that glowed. The ones with the brightest eyes hovered in front pulsating with intense energy whereas those who were dull stayed behind.
He watched as two of the Phaerion before him nodded vigorously to the other as their bodies pulsated with light, then they turned to look at him.
The Phaerion to his left stared at him in silence for what felt like an eternity, then its eyes suddenly flashed a brilliant white, forcing Breeze to throw his hands up to his face.
The blinding light receded, revealing auras that hovered above each of the Phaerion. The aura of the Phaerion who flashed him with light rose to the ceiling, and then lunged towards him.
Breeze tried to run, but couldn’t as his feet felt like they were anchored to the floor.
The aura struck him like a bolt of lightning, immediately melting away the fear and anxiety that was sweeping through him. He saw images from his memories project from his mind and play out like a movie for all to see. A part of him felt defiance and anger to the probe, but a soothing voice reassured him that no harm was intended.
Unlike the experience with the harbinger in the ravine, where he was left drained and exhausted, he felt invigorated and cleansed as the aura retracted.
The Phaerion collectively pulsated, then abruptly ceased as one of them glided towards him. “Come Breeze, follow us,” he said as they all turned and glided to the side of the chamber where a portion of it slid open without a sound.
He followed them into a massive hall where a multitude of Phaerion were handling and manipulating beams of light as they bent and shaped them into various patterns, then passed them down along an assembly line and mounted each pattern onto a frame. Further down the line, the frames were attached together and formed into ships made of light.
Spread out across the floor of the hall Breeze saw light ships in various stages of assembly. Some were familiar to him as he had seen them while practicing his flying at night. He always thought they were prototypes from the local builders being tested over the deserts of Conception. Now he realized that the Phaerion had a fleet of their own design.
The assemblymen stopped to look at him and pulsated amongst themselves before returning to work.
Breeze felt comfortable being around them and walked over to one of the partially constructed ships. The assemblers made no effort to stop him, but instead vibrated with soft and pleasing colors as he drew closer.
Breeze marveled at each beam of light and how it fitted seamlessly like skin to bone as the entire surface of the ship coursed with energy. He reached out to touch it and the ship responded with a symphony of color and light. His face broke into a wide grin as he became connected to the ship and felt as if they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time.
He pushed down and his arm sank into the ship as energy washed over him like a wave. He heard his name being called and soon he was floating through the craft and down its corridors and compartments, until he entered a cockpit that was free of instruments normally found on any aerocraft or transport. All it contained was a few seats, bare walls, and a large window.
He sat in the seat closest to the window as it molded itself to fit the contours of his body. He leaned back and closed his eyes. A sense of peace like none he had ever known flowed through him. A voice whispered in his ear, one that sang more than it spoke. “Aerion,” it said.
A hand squeezed his shoulder.
He opened his eyes expecting to see the face behind the voice, but instead was back in the hall with an assemblyman standing before him with a look of awe.
Breeze removed his hand from the craft and held it up to his face. The residual energy of the ship was still attached to it. He looked around as all of the assemblymen were staring at him and pulsating in unison.
Before Breeze could ask questions, a side passageway opened up and Sally, Ray and Achilles came pouring through, followed by several Phaerion.
He was struck at how each of them seemed to vibrate with a unique light. Sally shined like a bright torch whose light flowed everywhere, while Ray, in contrast, had a red haze over him. Achilles had a light similar to Sally’s, but was intertwined with electro-mechanical energy.
Sally shouted his name upon seeing him and ran over to throw her arms around his neck.
“I’m so happy to see you. They wouldn’t tell us where you were,” she said.
He held her tight. Though his ability to see living light was beginning to fade, Sally’s was still glowing brightly.
She smiled. “What is it with you, you’re acting different.”
He grinned. “It’s just great to see you.”
Achilles had a twinkle in its eye. “You seem energized, master.”
“Yeah, so do you” Breeze replied.
Achilles tilted its head quizzically.
One of the Phaerion spoke. “Now that you are reunited, you can see that we mean you no harm. We are protective and cautious for good reason. We are locked in a constant duel with the ones who watch from above, the Elephim. When we first detected your ship approaching we were not alarmed. Many aerocraft of late have wandered into our airspace, but they are usually transients and it is obvious they know nothing of our presence here as they pass through. But you were different. You come to our airspace on a deliberate course used by our own craft to enter the mountain, and your ship is of a manufacture we have not seen in a very long time.”
“Where is it?” Ray asked.
“It is safe.”
Another of the Phaerion spoke. “Why did you come here?”
“We need your help. I couldn’t think of anyone else to turn to,” Breeze said.
“And what is it you want us to help you with?”
“Our friend has been captured by the Elephim.”
“And what do you expect from us?”
“Our scout ship cannot reach orbit, we need better engines to boost us. I thought—”
“Your thoughts are in error.”
“Please,” Sally pleaded, “Oslo is a good man who is trying to do the right thing. Can you perhaps spare a ship for us?”
The Phaerion flashed amongst themselves rapidly as their colors changed from a crimson red to a deep purple, then subsided when a solitary Phaerion with a black robe floated to the front of the group and spoke.
“You humans long ago abandoned everything that made Earth a unique place. All of the wonders and glories of this planet, and for what? You allowed a rebellious minority of the privileged class to convince you to turn your back on your heritage.”
They began to pulsate anew, until the black-robed Phaerion held up a hand up and the lights ceased.
“I know of Oslo, I knew him well. As Earth began to crumble he was the lone voice of reason that spoke out against the madness. Oslo was a young man in those days, an explorer with a desire to rediscover the history of this planet. We allowed Oslo into our world because we knew he would understand us. We had hoped he would become an emissary to your people, to awaken them and make them understand the dangers Earth faced before it was too late. But the Elephim were allowed to fester and grow, and they soon consolidated their power. We stood by and watched in horror as the world crumbled and slid backwards. All of the accomplishments of Earth’s people were wiped away as if they never happened. We could have intervened, but it was pointless, for humanity had long ago closed their minds, their hearts, as well as their souls, and could not be reasoned with. Those who did speak out, like Oslo, were shunned, punished and cast out. So we retreated, as we always do, for we can only involve ourselves so much in human affairs. Such are the laws we are governed by. And now you come to us after all this time seeking our help?”
Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter Page 57
