Girl from the Stars 4- Day's Journey

by Cheree Alsop

  Liora tried to slow his babbling. The fact that he was filled with fear for her gripped her heart.

  “Brandis, it’s alright.”

  He shook his head. “Liora, you don’t understand. It, I mean he, can’t be reasoned with. Trust me. I tried. Look where it got me.” He gestured toward the blood-stained moss at their feet. “We need to get as far away from here as possible and hope he never finds us.”

  “But what about whoever else he finds?” Liora asked. “Do you want this for them?”

  Brandis fell silent for a moment. The fear in his gaze warred with worry. When he finally spoke, his voice was tight. “But you can’t stop him. No one can.” Defeat sounded in his words as though he knew there was no point in arguing with Liora once she made up her mind.

  “I’ve got to try,” she replied. “You know me enough to understand why. I can’t let anyone treat people like this. If I can stop him, I will.”

  “And if you can’t?”

  Brandis’ words hung in the air.

  Liora gave him what she hoped was a confident smile. “I’ll meet you at the ship, okay?”

  Two warriors helped Brandis and Malie toward the tunnel. Brandis looked back at Liora, his gaze holding her as if he feared it was the last time he would ever see her. Liora hoped he was wrong.

  “Ready?” Tariq asked.

  Liora nodded. “Let’s go.”

  She sheathed her knives and ducked under Tariq’s arm. He limped beside her toward the darkness at the other end of the cavern.

  Images flashed through her mind as she walked. They weren’t images she had seen; rather, they were sights and memories from whoever pushed at her. She couldn’t block them, so instead, she pushed them to Tariq, showing him what she saw.

  Planets were covered in the green moss. Huge areas of blue throbbed with contained energy. Long strands sucked at plants, animals, water, and creatures she had never seen before. Everywhere she looked, the inhabitants of the planets lay in various stages of death. Some were decomposing, others kicking and struggling with the last recesses of their energy. Yet every time it ended the same way, with planets dying to their very core, their essence sucked dry by the moss.

  Liora could feel the waves of hatred and disgust before they reached the upper cavern. When they stepped into the room, Liora’s hands clenched into fists. She realized that somewhere along the way she had let go of Tariq drawn her knives again. A glance at him showed the same. The handles bit into her palms. She used the dull pain to center herself.

  The moss was everywhere. It covered the room from top to bottom, a harmless-looking green fuzz that sunk when she stepped onto it.

  “Were you waiting for me?” she asked.

  The moss rumbled beneath her feet and the answer pulsed against her with a voice as much as a feeling.

  Waiting to suck you dry.

  “Is that all?” she asked aloud.

  The rumbling grew louder. You saw what I do. You heard your brother. You will never leave this planet. I will suck every last bit of energy from your bones and leave you crushed and wilted like a leaf in the sunlight.

  “Good luck with that,” Tariq said.

  The fact that he heard the speaker showed in the glare he gave the moss in front of them.

  “Tariq, why is it that so many of the new races we find have superiority complexes?” Liora asked.

  Are you saying that Damaclans don’t place themselves above others? Your race kills without mercy. You take whatever you want. How is that any different from living off the energy of weaker planets and people? They have no greater right to survival than I do.

  Liora sensed that his attack on her race was to stall rather than seek revenge. She shoved his efforts aside.

  “Why bring me here?”

  The rumble lowered to a bass note that Liora felt through her bones.

  You thwarted the Sadarin and destroyed the Gateway.

  Liora remembered the words from the memory Tariq had seen when he broke the orbs. She chose not to point out that it had been Tariq who put an end to the Sadarin. If she never heard the voice of a Nameless One again, it would be too soon.

  “Your goal was to gain access to the Milky Way Galaxy. I won’t let that happen,” Liora replied.

  You assume that you have a choice, the being told her. You also assume that I am acting alone. You should never presume to know more than your enemy.

  Liora tried to move, but the moss held her feet tight. She glanced to the left to see Tariq struggling as well. Alarm filled her when the moss crept quickly up her legs and pulled her to a kneeling position.

  Tariq let out a yell when the moss wrapped around his bleeding leg and tightened. She heard the snap of his bones.

  Liora stabbed the green substance with her knife and then the knife was swallowed along with her hand and her arm.

  “Lior—”

  Tariq’s voice was cut off by the moss that swarmed over his head. Liora struggled, but the being was too strong. She was covered as well.

  Strands searched for her face. Liora could feel them reaching through her hair, sticking into the bleeding lacerations along her back, creeping down her boots. She couldn’t fight and couldn’t move. The sensation of being slowly crushed filled her with panic. She couldn’t bring her knives up to cut the moss away. She wanted to yell to the warriors, but when she opened her mouth, the strands snaked inside.

  Her breath caught in her throat when the moss pulsed, pulling the energy from her body. Liora’s first instinct was to push back, to refuse. The strands doubled their efforts and she felt them pulling anyway.

  Liora’s stubbornness surfaced. If the strands were going to take her energy, they would take it the way she wanted them to. She used the very last of the breath in her body that the strands hadn’t choked out yet and pushed her energy instead of holding back.

  She felt the strands enlarge, then burst. Suddenly, she could breathe again. Other strands surged forward. Liora pushed again as soon as they touched her body. They collapsed as well. Liora needed more energy. She reached through the moss and found Tariq’s hand. His fingers closed weakly around hers.

  “I need to pull strength from you,” she pushed to him.

  She felt the flicker of his fingers and took it as approval. She pulled and pushed. The strength from Tariq flowed through her and out into the moss. The blanketing death above them began to shudder. Liora pushed, adding her energy to Tariq’s. The moss billowed out and Liora could see Tariq lying beside her. The strands wriggled away from his body and he drew in a deep breath. His leg was twisted beneath him and she saw blood pooling from the wound. Shards of bone showed through the pant leg of his uniform.

  He met her gaze, his own filled with pain, and said, “Finish it.”

  Liora gathered her strength and Tariq’s. She held it for a moment, pooling it into a roiling mass of fiery energy. She focused on the pinnacle of the writhing moss above them and shoved the strength toward it. The pinnacle rose, then exploded, vaporizing the moss into dust.

  Liora stared up at the green dust that floated around them. It took her a moment to realize that the moss was gone from the entire room. They lay on the hard rocky floor that wasn’t cushioned by the green substance any longer.

  “That was unexpected.”

  She glanced over to see Tariq staring up at the glass dome. His expression brought a smile to her face.

  “Did you doubt me?” she asked.

  He tipped his head to meet her gaze. “Never.”

  That made Liora’s smile broaden. She picked up one of her knives so that she could slice fabric from her shirt to bind his broken leg.

  Wrong.

  The word sent ice into Liora’s veins. It hadn’t been spoken by one voice, but by many.

  Tariq’s eyes widened and he looked around.

  You made a huge mistake, the voices continued. Now instead of one planet devourer, you have made thousands. We would thank you if we didn’t see by your expressions that you did it
by accident. What a tragic mistake you just made.

  A rumble of satisfaction filled the air.

  We don’t need our Gateway any longer. You have provided a ship with which we can travel the galaxies. The Ketulans are already hiding within, ready to tear apart your warriors as soon as they enter.

  An image appeared in Liora’s mind of her army torn apart and their mutilated bodies used as sustenance for the new moss beings as they traveled to the Milky Way Galaxy. The image closed in on Brandis, his torso ripped open and moss coursing through his body.

  The particles of green dust began to expand.

  “Liora, get out of here!” Tariq said. Liora tried to pull him to his feet. His shattered leg collapsed beneath him. “Get to the ship before the others are killed!”

  “I won’t leave you here,” Liora refused.

  “Your brother is out there!” Tariq replied. There was desperation in his gaze. He grabbed her arm. “Liora, you can’t let them walk into a trap. Think of the lives at their mercy!”

  Mercy is but a pardon weak creatures beg as an excuse to continue their paltry existence.

  Liora knew she had no choice. Tariq was already pulling the backpack off his back. If she could reach the ship while he prepared the bomb, she could get back to save him before it exploded. It had to work.

  Liora took off running.

  You’ll never stop them; they’re already at the ship. The death of all you love is inevitable, Damaclan. Your fate was sealed the moment you were born.

  Chapter 13

  Liora charged blindly through the cavern full of the bodies of slain warriors and the piles of ash left by the beasts. She ran up the hallway and to the cave of stalagmites and stalactites. The carcasses of the smaller, hinge-jawed creatures lay along the bloody path. Liora flew through the cave without looking down.

  In her mind, she saw the moss fragments growing, drawing on Tariq’s energy as he readied the bomb. She had to stop the others from entering the ship and get back to him in time. If her warriors were slain and their bodies infected with the moss, there would be no stopping the plague’s reach across the universe. There was no doubt in her mind that Tariq would sacrifice himself to keep the leech-like beings from leaving the planet. She had to keep that from happening.

  Liora burst out into the daylight. She could see those who had survived of her army in the distance. They were almost to the ship. She shouted, but nobody turned. The sky was glaringly empty of Ketulans. She knew they all waited inside the craft. She had to stop them before they opened the doors.

  Liora closed her eyes and pushed. It was further than she had ever attempted mind contact with anyone. The warriors didn’t slow. She could see men and women carrying each other, hoping to find safety within the ship’s massive hull. The thought of the death that waited for them sent a surge of adrenaline through Liora.

  She pushed beyond her limits, straining every fiber of her being. She felt something familiar, something that resonated with her thoughts and connected to the push.

  Brandis! she shouted in her mind.

  She saw him pause near the rocks just before the ship.

  Brandis, the Ketulans are waiting inside. You can’t let anyone in there. They’ll kill everyone!

  In the distance, she saw him gesture. The warriors scattered, seeking shelter among the rocks.

  They will pay for your insolence, the voices within the dome said.

  Anger fueled their words and Liora could feel them growing stronger. There was only one place they could gain strength within that chamber.

  Ketulans burst from the doors of the huge spacecraft. They looked like a swarm of swarthans bearing down on the warriors beneath. Liora was afraid the beings inside the dome were right; she was about to see her army be torn apart no matter what she did.

  The hum of engines screamed through the air. The Nines shot above her, their guns blazing. Ketulans exploded right and left. The army beneath fought those that flew low enough to attack. The machines swarmed one of the Nines. Liora could imagine the terror of the pilot inside as their claws tore through the metal of the ship. Smoke rose and the craft spun through the air.

  Liora dove to the side when the Nine crashed into the entrance of the dome. The caves collapsed beneath the dark starship and dust rose into the air. Liora ran forward, but the entrance to the dome was blocked.

  She rushed around the wreckage to the dome and stopped short at the image that met her eyes.

  Tariq leaned against the glass as if he had known she would come. Moss swarmed him, covering his flesh and his uniform so that it looked as though he wore the energy-sucking matter as his clothes. The moss throbbed blue and green as it took what it wanted from his strength. Blood streamed down his leg to be consumed by the moss and his face was pale.

  No one can save you, Damaclan, the voices said. The words were twisted with taunting menace. You will never leave this planet. We will feed on your flesh and devour your soul.

  Images flooded Liora’s mind; they were the planets she had been to, the water planet of Gliese, Verdan with its green lightning and felis roaming the forests, Corian where her father lived, Titus, Saturn’s largest moon where she had fought in the Gladarian, and the red planet where she had saved Tariq’s life and battled giant, flesh-eating worms to rescue the crew of the S.S. Kratos.

  Each planet in the vision was wrapped in the devouring moss and the planets died along with their inhabitants. Liora felt their losses as she had when she learned that the Gaulded with Zran’s mother had been destroyed by Obruo. If it wasn’t for her, the inhabitants of the manmade ship resupply planet would still be alive, and if the other planets were devoured by the moss, the same guilt would be on her shoulders.

  The moss couldn’t be allowed to spread. It would consume galaxy after galaxy. It was truly a plague, and one the Macrocosm couldn’t fight. Once the moss left the planet, it would be unstoppable. The spread would be so fast and definite that everything Liora had fought for would be annihilated. Countless lives depending on them stopping the unstoppable.

  Tariq put a hand on the glass.

  Tears filled Liora’s eyes. She lifted her hand to his.

  “No!” she protested.

  Tariq’s lips moved as he said something to her, but she couldn’t hear him through the thick dome.

  She could see the resolve in his eyes. He had already made up his mind what he was going to do.

  Liora shook her head. She hit the glass with her palm.

  “Don’t you dare!” she said and pushed toward him.

  Tariq smiled; it was the special smile he saved just for her.

  “I love you,” he mouthed.

  “No!” she yelled.

  Tariq threw the backpack over his shoulder. If the movement hurt his leg, he didn’t show it. He turned back to meet her gaze, his body covered in moss and his smile holding her, promising love and so many things that could never be.

  In the next instant, everything inside the dome turned dark. Liora felt the percussion of the explosion beneath her hand. The thousand voices of the moss vanished, leaving her thoughts empty of their overwhelming presence. She shook her head, refusing to come to terms with what had happened.

  Tariq was still there, standing in the darkness, smiling at her. He just had to be.

  She slammed her fist into the glass. It refused to give. Liora beat her hands against the thick panes again and again until her knuckles were bruised and bloody. Her knees gave way and she fell sobbing against the outside of the dome.

  “No,” she growled.

  Liora put her hand to the rocky red ground. She pulled, drawing from deep inside the planet. She felt the wrongness of what she did. It was the same method the moss used, sucking energy from the planet to use it the way she wanted to, but she didn’t stop. She gathered the strength she found and pooled it into a knot in her chest. With an outlet of angry breath, Liora shoved the energy up her arms.

  The glass shattered and time slowed.

  Lio
ra ran into the dome. She heard the tiny tinkling sound of the shards of glass hitting the ground. Nothing else was audible within the dome. Liora walked through the darkness.

  Deep down, she knew there was nothing to find. The spongy sensation of the mossy floor was gone, replaced by the red rock that had covered the rest of the caverns. There was an acrid scent in the air as if someone had lit a fire and then snuffed it out. There was no life within the dome. She could feel its absence to her core. Nothing had survived the blast.

  Her steps were muffled by a strange screaming sound that rebounded off the pillars back to her. It took Liora a moment to realize the screaming was coming from her. She closed her mouth and felt as much as heard the sound die away.

  In her mind, she saw Tariq’s hand pressed against the glass. She knew the lines and scars as much as she knew her own fingers. They were so vivid in her memory as if she could reach out and pull him through her thoughts into the present. Her hand lifted. It fell back empty to her side.

  New explosions sounded outside the dome. Liora turned, her movements automatic. She saw ships shaped like stars cutting through the atmosphere. The ships opened and closed as they honed in on Ketulans, shooting down those that attacked the Nines.

  The Ketulans threatened people she cared about. They were enemies. They were dangerous.

  Liora walked out of the dome. She felt numb, surrounded by water, by the depths of Gliese’s ocean, by the crackling void left by Verdan’s lightning, by the frayed nerve endings and emptiness that remained of Colonel Lefkin’s torture. She felt as though she was everything and nothing, floating and yet so heavy it seemed as though it was the planet that moved and she stood still.

  “Liora, get down!”

  She recognized Brandis’ voice through the haze in her mind, but she couldn’t find the will to respond. She kept walking. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her warriors hiding behind the massive red rocks. They were being destroyed by the Ketulans, shredded and torn limb from limb by the merciless creatures still intent on their directive from the moss. Liora didn’t slow; the torn metal of the massive Cherum ship marked her destination.