Star Chaser- The Traveler

by Reiter

  “You are my friend, Taas,” he declared, smiling at the female Kwilek. “Our acquaintance has not come without its challenges, but realize that we are now very well acquainted.” Dungias stood up and turned to look at Ushava.

  “And what has any of this have to do with me?” the female Athun asked, folding her arms. It was not that she thought Dungias had no answer for her; she simply wanted to enjoy the delivery. She set herself to receive the son of Z’Gunok’s words.

  “This ship is indeed a construct of the Realm Astral,” Dungias explained. “With very few of its processes in place, it could not operate at its optimal functionality.

  “Taas, would you kindly ask Kiaplyx if it knows the way to the home dimension of these Athun?”

  “Kiaplyx, restore protocols for Dungias and respond to his inquiry,” Taas commanded.

  “Protocols restored and, if I may, I am happy to report that change in status.”

  “You may say so,” Taas said.

  “Affirmative,” Kiaplyx stated. “The Dimensional Gateway functions are on line and system will be operational shortly. The dimensional destination in question is called Grathus. This unit has visited that dimension three times before this time-post.” Dungias looked at Ushava who was gazing at the hub circuit that had formed around Kiason. Her nostrils flared as she breathed deeply. Her eyes batted quickly as emotion took hold of her, twisting her mind and teasing her heart with the surge of hope.

  “There is no need for this ship to enter the dimension,” Dungias said, patting the chieftain on the hand. “All we will need is a doorway for the Athun ships to return home.”

  “And how did these Athun achieve the Astral Realm?” Kiaplyx inquired. An act that was of some interest to Dungias, but he would not speak on it.

  “Our enemy cast a portal in front of our ships as we approached their battle station,” Ushava explained. “Our homeworld had been attacked and my sister demanded retribution. We managed to break through their perimeter in one place. I now realize that soft point in their defenses was a trap. The portal opened in front of us and we were going too fast to avoid it.”

  “Inflection, mannerisms and life-signs monitored,” Kiaplyx stated. “There is a ninety-seven percent chance you, Ushava Tentra, are telling the truth, and I am therefore within my power to open a one-way portal to your home dimension. By the time you return to your ship, I will be ready to create the dimensional breach.” Ushava’s shoulders sank and her knees were ready to give. A very steady arm wrapped around her waist and kept her standing.

  “That will be satisfactory, Kiaplyx,” Dungias said. “Thank you.”

  The doors to the chamber opened and Goneo rolled into the room. “Mistress,” Kiaplyx said, its tone becoming more sensitive with every exchange. “Would you kindly escort the Athun chieftain to her ship? Goneo will provide support if there is any need.”

  Taas looked up at Dungias who would not look at her. There were things she wanted to say, things she felt she had to say. But he would not hear her, and all of this was just a very long and extremely cutting goodbye. “Of course,” she said softly. Dungias remained still until the doors closed.

  “Master,” Kiaplyx said as the main console started to change its form.

  “I suppose it would be pointless for me to remind you I prefer to be called Dungias.”

  “An argument you will take up with Master Nugar when you see him again, I am sure,” Kiaplyx replied.

  “What Nugar did for me–”

  “Can only be measured by you, Master,” Kiaplyx interrupted. “Yes, I quite agree with that perspective.” Dungias chuckled, suddenly brought to the point of understanding some of the faces his teacher often made.

  “I can see you have had extensive conversations with Alpha,” Dungias remarked.

  “Will you please approach?” Dungias did as he had been asked and Kiaplyx’s objective was immediately clear. Some sort of interface had been made, and the object meant to be placed into the port had to be cylindrical and slender in nature. The young Traveler sighed as he drew Alpha, a sense of eagerness coming from the Osamu.

  “Tell me why,” Dungias demanded. “And it will have to be more than mere gratitude!”

  “You misunderstand, Master,” Kiaplyx said. “I sent Kiason away as you hypothesized: a defensive measure. What you do not know is what I was protecting. The knowledge of the dimensions and their nature are sacred things and my makers have laws governing who… or what… may possess such knowledge. You are not the kneeling sort, Master, and I am led to presume that while your back was to Taas and the Athun Chieftain, you used your rather impressive Osamu much in the way you used it against Ejdren; to see into his mind and record his memories. I cannot allow you to leave from this place with that knowledge. Your skills and ability are considerable, Master. But I am a self-sufficient living machine, and you are a creature that needs air to breathe. I know what you took from me is still within Alpha, as you have not had time to review such a vast amount of information. Please, Master, place Alpha into the interface port so that I can send you back to your home.”

  “Subtle,” Dungias said before inserting an Alpha that was suddenly feeling hostile and betrayed. The port locked around Alpha and Dungias closed his eyes and his senses against what was happening. He waited for the sounds to fade and the lights to dim. Alpha was cold in his grasp, and Dungias quickly slid his Osamu into its sleeve. He recalled Saru and quickly put away his feelings of aggression and destruction.

  “In the hangar from which you launched your Athun attack, a ship has been made ready,” Kiaplyx advised. “It is a small craft nearing the end of its usage. It is space-worthy and quite fast. I will open a portal to your home dimension and auto-pilot the craft into the breach.”

  “I feel as if I am being dismissed,” Dungias said.

  “Then I would suggest you trust your instincts, Master. I am in your debt, but I cannot go against the laws of my makers.”

  “And if I had told Taas to remain in this room…”

  “She could have ordered me to allow you to leave without the retrieval of information,” Kiaplyx answered.

  “But then the craft would have been set to self-destruct,” Dungias said confidently. The doors of the chamber opened. Taas was waiting in the corridor. “I shall indeed trust my instincts, Kiaplyx. May the Stars guide your trek.”

  “I know not of these speaking Stars, Master,” Kiaplyx stated. “… but from all that I have done and seen, I will say they have made a fine choice.” Dungias left the room without speaking.

  “Will you see me off?” Dungias asked as he walked by Taas, holding out his arm. She jumped up, grabbed his forearm and Dungias swung her up to his shoulder.

  “What’s her name?” Taas asked. “Seeing as how I already don’t like her, and curse that fact that she met you before I had the chance.”

  “Saru,” Dungias answered plainly.

  “She must be one helluva blue-skinned woman!”

  “Yellow,” Dungias corrected.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “She is not Malgovi like me,” he explained. “She is Vinthur, and their skin is yellow. But, as to your presumption, I will confirm it into fact; she is indeed exceptional!”

  “Well, I don’t like her,” Taas said with a slight smile. “And you only like her because she’s tall!”

  Dungias staggered a step as he laughed out loud. He reached up and patted Taas on the back. “Thank you, my friend. I needed that.”

  “That’s not all you need,” Taas said before looking up. “Deactivate all surveillance between here and his destination,” she commanded. Dungias could feel a drop in the amount of power coursing through the corridor. “What happened in there?”

  “Only what needed to happen, Taas,” Dungias quickly answered. “Kiaplyx is a complex construct with many duties and, from what I am able to gather, a fair degree of internal conflict. It did what it felt it had to, and I bear no grudge against it.

  “I will say, howeve
r, that you should be about the business of getting your own ship and being on your way as soon as you can,” Dungias added. “You have no more excuses. This ship has all the tools you need, and Kiaplyx would even help you in the construction of such a vessel.

  “Or you could choose to remain,” he said. “But in doing that, you must first recognize that Kiaplyx–”

  “Needs to guard against people making off with what it knows,” Taas said, reaching to her back. From under her shirt she produced a micro-disc and held it out for Dungias to take. The young Traveler looked up at his friend in wonder and a bit of shock. “What?!” she barked. “I taught it how to access databases and what not. I didn’t teach it everything I know! Besides, your little stunt was something of a reboot which erased Kiason’s memory of what I did while you were off gallivanting with your Athun friends.”

  “Including the establishment of subroutines that would allow you to listen in on conversations where you were not invited to participate,” he remarked. “Should I even ask what is on here?”

  “Everything Kiaplyx took off your rod and a couple of additions,” Taas replied as she pulled at the lapel of her jacket, revealing the computer she wore about her torso. Dungias had forgotten about the machine, but shook his head as he looked upon it once more. “I get a good look at any information Kiaplyx gathers, whether it wants to share with me or not.”

  “Then you will be staying,” Dungias concluded as he touched the disc to the top of Alpha. A small slot appeared and Alpha received the storage unit.

  “It is my ship,” Taas clarified.

  “So it is, good Captain.”

  “Dungias,” Taas said, nibbling on her bottom lip. “Level with me… if there were no Saru, would you still leave?”

  “Yes,” Dungias said clearly, and though it was clear, it was an answer he would have preferred to keep to himself.

  “Why?”

  “A very simple perspective,” he answered as they reached the lift doors. “I could never fully commit to anyone who would assign me a task they themselves would not attempt. I am sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” she said, kissing him on the cheek before jumping off his shoulder. “Besides, it doesn’t change what we have now does it?”

  “Call on me and I will come,” Dungias vowed.

  “Same here, Traveler,” Taas smiled. “Thanks for everything… especially the honesty! I won’t be going to the hangar,” she added. “Too much of a sting.”

  “I am flattered,” Dungias said before entering the lift. The doors cut off the locked line of vision the two of them shared, and when the lift started to move, Dungias closed his eyes for the duration of the ride.

  He smiled in surprise when he entered the hangar. Ushava was standing there, waiting for him, and looking over the ship that had not been there when her shuttle landed. It was obvious to him that she approved of the make of the small ship and nodded as she backed away from it.

  “They mean to send you off well, Traveler,” she said loudly. “I am almost envious.”

  “And to think that I dared to think the Athun had no sense of humor,” Dungias said, embracing the powerfully built woman. She was surprised by the gesture, but quick to reciprocate. “To the first arm of Nyx’Zynkor.”

  “And the Stars that guide us all,” she whispered before stepping back. “We met as enemies. We part as members of the same creed; farewell, my Sherar!”

  “Fare thee well, my best and surest Blade.” Dungias boarded the ship he had been given as Ushava took to her landing craft.

  The two ships launched one right after the other, but the passage back home for Dungias was created almost immediately. He knew it would be some time before Ushava would make it back to her ship and be underway for her home dimension. The breach that had been made for Dungias reminded him of the portal to The Campus and his ship flew into it, increasing in speed. After a flash of light, he could see Quantia Prime in the distance. Not only was he home again, but he was approaching the very planet in the system he wanted to revisit. At his current velocity he was eleven s’tonki from the Malgovi homeworld. He took in a deep breath to sigh, but the activation of the speakers shook him into stillness.

  “Forgive me, Master,” the voice of Kiaplyx spoke to Dungias, though it was more likely that it had been previously recorded. “… but the percentage chance that you were somehow able to make it away from the ship with the information I cannot allow you to know or wield would not fall beneath thirty-seven percent. That is too great a chance that there is something I will miss.”

  “It means to kill me,” Dungias whispered. He started to look around the inside of the cockpit, but his mind quickly came to the conclusion that the craft had been prepared by the machine that had deemed him too precarious to live. The likelihood that it had left a means of escape inside of its own death trap was not even worthy of calculation. After all, Dungias believed his thought processes had more significant matters to fathom!

  “The energy field you passed through started a chain reaction in the hull plating of this craft,” Kiaplyx explained. “Two minutes, or tonki, after this recording has stopped, the atmosphere of space will flush this compartment. The end will come swiftly and without any pain.”

  “I cannot say the same for you, Kiaplyx,” Dungias thought, taking a silent vow to return the sentiment to the living machine, measure for measure! He grabbed the controls and tried to change the direction of the spacecraft. The helm did not respond, and Dungias could not say that he was surprised by the fact.

  “I would suggest that you not fight this,” Kiaplyx continued and the sound of the machine’s voice gave Dungias comfort. As long as he could hear it, the two tonki countdown had not yet started. “While your intangibility will prevent the vacuum of space from killing you, it will not give you air to breathe.”

  Dungias took a look at his options. Calling out for help to his allies, the Savanté, the K’Dalkian Council, or to the Malgovi Throne did not seem to be terribly useful. How could either group respond in time to keep him alive? Provided, of course, that they had an interest in saving his life!

  “It would appear that I am about to verify what my Master told me about the Malgovi and our ability to sustain brief exposure to the Void,” Dungias thought as he looked around, seeking a way out of this trap. “… but I would rather not do so.” He started breathing deeply and rapidly, his hands beginning to shake as he considered what he would need to achieve to survive the transit from his current location to Quantia Prime… with no engines… or the ability to alter course… and only five s’tonki of air in his weapons belt pocket.

  “Fear and anger have their place,” a voice spoke to him and Dungias looked at Alpha as it started to glow at both ends. “But not within you… not now!” Dungias closed his eyes and sighed. He gently touched his lips to the side of his Osamu and rolled the rod around in his grasp as it started to change its appearance. A signal was sent from Alpha as Dungias cut power to the engines.

  “I would hope that this action means you can appreciate my perspective and agree that the only outcome is your passing,” Kiaplyx said.

  “How thoughtful,” Dungias whispered. “… an interactive death message.” The cabin was bathed in light as the ship jostled before grinding to a stop. “Hmmm, perhaps I should have lowered the landing struts.” When the light faded, Dungias could see the area around the crystalized gate of The Campus and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Brother!” Berylon called out. “Brother, are you in there?!” Dungias’ foot kicked away the eroding paneling and he hopped out of the craft, looking up at his glowing friend.

  “I panicked,” he admitted. “I nearly died in this thing, forgetting I could call upon you for assistance.”

  “But I was not your only option, Traveler,” Berylon stated.

  “No, my friend, you were not,” Dungias was embarrassed to admit. “… but I did not think of that either.”

  “What is happening to craft?” Berylon asked, looki
ng at the ship becoming smaller right before his eyes.

  “It was a trap from a trans-dimensional acquaintance,” Dungias advised. “Upon sending me home from the InterVoid, the hull began to erode. Oh, that reminds me,” Dungias said, turning quickly to face the ship. He lifted Alpha and allowed it to scan the craft. When he was done, he put Alpha away and turned back to male guardian of The Campus gates. “It was a good trap, after all. Just because it was used against me does not make it any less ingenious.”

  “Is there anything under the Stars that you will not gain something from?” Berylon asked.

  “I have yet to find it,” Dungias returned.

  Berylon chuckled, nodding in agreement with a genuine belief that there was little chance such a thing would be found by the Traveler in his lifetime. He believed that even in his passing, Z’Gunok Tel Dungias would find some means of betterment. “Should I even bother to ask if you have time to sit down and visit with friends?”

  “I would hope that it is not a bother,” Dungias answered, putting his hand on Berylon’s shoulder. He was reminded what it felt like to touch pure energy and was warmed by the sensation.

  “Perhaps bother is the wrong word,” Berylon said, feeling the hand gently usher him into walking toward the door leading back to Nugar’s domicile. “Something along the lines of futility then. After all, when you come to us to spend time with us, I doubt you will need an aperture to arrive.”

  “The only point of bother for us at this moment is that ship, Sai-Eg,” Dungias said.

  “You can leave it here for as long as you need,” Berylon quickly offered.

  “Actually, I was wondering if it could be moved to the main hangar.”

  Berylon looked back at the craft as it was still eroding. “We will move it once it is done dying. And Dungias, welcome back.”