by Reiter
“Particle burst!” the Traveler cried out as he jumped to the third floor. Ten emitters placed along the walls flew open and shot millions of glowing ions into the room, covering every surface… even the invisible ones. “So, there are seven of you!” Dungias concluded.
“Yes there are,” Idavara said as she dropped her stealth field. “And like you said, you don’t know how long we’ve been here… or how many times. That chamber of yours has a purge function to it. My sister, Trontusse, has already worked a bypass to trigger it should Anshuree give the command.” Dungias looked over and could see that the woman had been kicked pretty hard, but she was far from being out of the fight. “Now, knowing you, you can’t get your thoughts in to her mind and she can’t project hers out to you. You’re too high up to see her face…” the woman said, looking over at Danatra. “… but I can tell you, she doesn’t look too eager to see what your purge can do.”
“Well, at least you are well read,” Dungias said, twirling both maces. “All lock!” The command set off a number of locks which fell into place all over the facility. From the way their heads were moving about, there were more locks than the seven women expected. “But you should hardly allow the scenarios of those books to flood your mind with delusions of adequacy!
“You have entered my home uninvited and unannounced,” Dungias said, jumping to the second floor. “You have attacked with weapons you know I cannot absorb, and you probably also hope I have missed the fact that all of them are poisoned! With the level of honor already demonstrated, do you really think I would barter with you? With something as precious as the life of my Vi-Prin?! Ladies, please! The most you can hope for is to trigger the purge and kill her. Enjoy that victory quickly. You cannot leave this place now, and I have decided the courtesy I might have been willing to extend to women was not extended to one of the special women in my life. So none of you will have it!” Dungias jumped to the first floor and the one called Trontusse looked to their leader, Anshuree, for direction. “Who dies first?!”
“Do it!” Anshuree cried as she came forward with her sticks a second time. Trontusse did not hesitate and an energy flume burned inside the enclosed chamber for only an instant, but the space was empty after it passed. In the main room Dungias met the woman’s charge and roared as he swung. Both of her fighting sticks were shattered, as was her skull, as she flew back toward the giant doors. The other six gasped at the sight of such power.
“Did I fail to mention that these are charged?!” Dungias asked, holding up the maces. “Surely you have been advised as to what happens when I am charged!” He jumped to his right and Trontusse tried to jump over him. Dungias manage to spin in mid-leap and shatter nearly every bone in her left foot as she passed over him. He flipped forward, landing on the wall, and jumped again. Zipping across the room at an angle, he knocked Trontusse into Teesh before landing on Sordidia. All three were dead from the impact of his attacks, though Teesh’s death was going to take some time. She could not move and she could not feel her body. All she could feel was fear.
“Idavara!” one of the remaining women called. “What do we do?!”
“Hynay, switch to bladed staff,” the woman commanded as she drew her sword. “Enbree, go to the bomb-stars! And don’t worry about our clearance, this animal must die!”
“I am beginning to wonder if you are all from the same wedding,” Dungias stated as he walked callously through the room. “That would explain a few things.”
“This is the only explanation you’ll get!” the woman screamed as she charged. She had both hands on her blade and swung for Dungias’ chest. He opted to backbend rather than block. There was some sort of iro-form in the weapon, and it was building up as well as becoming unstable.
“Drawing the blade was like starting a timer,” Dungias thought as he turned to jump.
The woman screamed and swung her sword into the floor, setting off the Iro-Bomb. Hynay drove her bladed staff to the ground and it emitted an Iro-Barrier protecting Enbree and herself. Idavara had made the ultimate sacrifice, but at last the beast had been killed.
The smoke cleared slowly and both women were coughing as they waved the smoke away from their faces. Hynay checked to see if Enbree was injured, and though the youngest of their group was visibly shaken, she had not been hurt.
“Wait here. I will check the body,” Hynay directed. She made her way across the middle of the floor, kicking aside bits of clutter and debris. She came to the epicenter of the blast and she could see the remains of Idavara. “Bravest woman I have ever known!”
“Not as brave as my Saru!” Dungias whispered as he walked out through the smoke. “Your friend’s passing was immediate; my Saru lived in agony for s’tonki trying to keep herself and our child alive. She failed at both endeavors. Open all doors!”
The door to the chamber opened and Danatra walked out unblemished, glaring at her brother. “It seemed foolish to have that feature without some sort of safety measure. And as I was installing that, I thought to myself what sort of person would visit such pain upon another … would it not be a better thing if they were led to believe they had been successful?”
“Thus the trap door,” Danatra said while nodding.
“Thus the trap door.” Dungias then looked at Hynay. “I suppose that leaves just you two.” The young Malgovi female broke into a run. Hynay moved to attack Dungias, but both women suddenly stopped moving after initiating their objectives and fell unconscious. Dungias’ brow came up as he looked back at his Vi-Prin.
“How did you get through their head pieces with your telepathy?”
“It wasn’t telepathy,” Danatra smiled. “You forget I mastered sound just before graduation.”
“Yes, I do recall, Z’Gunok Viora Danatra,” Dungias chuckled.
“How about I wipe their memories,” she suggested. “That way they don’t even know how they failed, and there’s no way people you don’t trust will learn your secrets.
“As you wish it, Vi-Prin,” he said, tossing away the maces. Danatra watched them fly and fall and her brow furrowed.
“The charge plate is on the third floor,” Dungias explained. “It seemed prudent to have them more concerned about the maces than they were about me.” Danatra shook her head as a slight chuckle escaped. She watched her Vu-Prin walk toward the wall opposite the giant doors.
“So when you said ‘so close’, you weren’t talking about me?”
“Indeed,” he replied.
“So close to what?”
“Partly… this,” Dungias said as he tapped the wall three times with his fingertips. The room shook as the wall slowly lowered into the floor. He held out his left hand and Alpha flew to his grasp. Tapping the Osamu against his leg, the false dirt and dust fell away, revealing a shiny black rod that glowed with power.
“What have you done with Alpha?” she asked, walking quickly to join Dungias. The wall had completed one third of its drop.
“Nugar gave up the trek of being a Traveler,” Dungias announced.
“No!”
The young Traveler quickly held up his hand. “It was a necessary thing. He had been asked to join the Osur! After a few star-terms of mutual counsel, he accepted the invitation. During that time, he gave me his Osamu as he intends to fashion a new one. I added its workings into mine. He would not me let return the favor. But he did promise to train Uras.”
“Uras? Who is that?”
“Uras is the name the young Tohgrunn boy took after the memorial service. From what I can see, he is going to make quite a fine Traveler!”
“That is some endorsement.”
“It is well-earned,” Dungias remarked. “He has the same Mal-Vin threesome I started with, but he also has Nugar and The Campus. I hope you are not offended.”
“I would have been offended had you not made The Campus available to him,” Danatra smiled. “Did he take to any one of the Beta Forms more than the others?”
“Alphexeous!” The siblings laughed as neith
er was surprised by the choice.
“So you have gained control over Light,” Danatra stated.
“I have taken my time with it,” Dungias responded, the door halfway down. “I have placed most of my efforts in simple iro-form attacks, illumination, and projection, which I have been using quite a bit.”
“Projection? What sort of pro–” Danatra was drawn from the conversation to looking at a three-dimensional map of a gigantic construct. She could instantly tell it was a ship, though she was confused as to why it had been made into the shape of a sphere. “Vu-Prin!”
“For the first orbi-term, I made nothing but robots,” Dungias explained. “They were programmed to have a fascination for robotic and mechanical engineering.”
“A fascination?!”
“There is nothing like a motivated artist,” Dungias remarked. “The top thinkers and I sat down and we came up with this. It is modeled after Kiaplyx.”
Hearing that name, Danatra looked at him and took hold of his hand. “Oh, Dungias!”
“It seemed to be… one of the few justices available to me,” Dungias shared. “It will be complete in three more orbi-terms or very close to that date.”
“Where is it being built?”
“Just outside the charted Void maps of our people,” Dungias revealed. “It will take me approximately one orbi-term in that scout ship to reach it.” Dungias pointed and the three-dimensional image dimmed to reveal a very sleek looking scout ship nearing completion.
“It looks fast,” she commented.
“I call her the Kulri-Kraythe,” Dungias stated.
“Ambitious,” Danatra said with a smile. “A blade that does not miss.”
“One can hope,” Dungias replied.
“May I approach?”
Choosing not allow her inspection, Dungias decided to move things along. “After I am gone, the robots will clean this facility and they will come and find you. Do with it and them as you wish.”
“Gone? Where are you going?”
“On a Star Quest, and that too will be told to you once I am away.”
“Why do I have to wait?”
“Because you are the one person to whom I can lose an argument,” Dungias admitted.
“And if I promise not to argue?”
“You would fail to be Danatra.”
As much as she did not want to agree, the Mistress of The Campus nodded as her Vu-Prin wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She smiled as she leaned into him, saying her silent goodbye. “You will be missed, Dungias. Know that.”
“I will miss much,” he replied. “And know that I plan to stop at the House Z’Gunok, to visit our Vi-Zai… for the eighth time. I shall also make my way to the Royal Palace and Gavis Station before I am officially on my way.”
“Gavis Station,” Danatra repeated with a smile on her face. “Is that where those three are?”
“They will be… in eleven star-terms.” Danatra chuckled at how well Dungias had everything mapped out.
“I am still puzzled, Vu-Prin. What has this to do with projection?”
“Tell my noble Exemplar that he now has watch over what I prize most under these stars,” Dungias said as he pulled away from her side. He began to back-pedal into the hangar area. “I will not accept any measure of failure!”
“And the answer to my question, Traveler?”
Dungias smiled and bowed toward the Mistress of The Campus. As his head came up, his hair turned white and hung to his belt-line. His eyes turned almost white, keeping only the slightest tint of the gold coloring and his skin was a deep blue.
“The beliefs of the Traveler are in many ways the beliefs of the Vin-Mal,” Danatra thought, recalling the teachings of Nugar as he lectured one of his Bridged Culture classes. “The Malgovi brought the definitions of the Traveler to the Vinthur where convictions were assigned. In essence, the Malgovi brought the mind and the Vinthur brought the heart.
“When one has taken their own mark, it is the first sign of a Traveler that has been embraced by the Stars. Note the circle I added to my insignia.” Danatra looked upon the symbol that was now etched into her Vu-Prin’s weapons belt. Dungias had kept the three asymmetrical points, but he had dropped the circle and the symbol had been scored in such a way that they design maintained a soft blue light.
“Master Traveler,” she silently declared, gazing upon Dungias. With no intent to do so, Dungias, much like the Queen and Nugar, had found his way to the Stars and came away keeping some of their light, beauty and grace. “Star Chaser!”
“I completed my inner trekking,” Dungias reported, confirming Danatra’s suspicions. “... found my Inner Star. I was then taken to the True Chorus. I can commune with them now, Vi-Prin. The quest I set myself upon is one of great need… and great danger. I face many obstacles.”
“Then give me a moment and let me summon Felrus,” Danatra offered. “We can come with you.”
“When our people need you so much?” Dungias asked. “I hear the Games are returning soon. If that is so, I wonder what else will return with them.”
“You have heard true,” Danatra admitted. “The powerful hold hard to what they think is theirs. They control so much of the commerce and the military, but things are not the way they were. The Games are open to all who wish to take up the challenge. None of the Rounds can be formatted to omit anyone. It is progress.”
“It comes in small adjustments, and it must be overseen by the wise and loving!” Dungias said as the wall started to rise. “To my Vi-Prin I bequeath the Vin-Mal!”
“And to my Vu-Prin, I bequeath the Stars!”
We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
Jawaharlal Nehru
(X)
“Relay Unit is now in place,” the computer reported. “Shall I test the network?”
“Proceed,” Dungias replied, seated in his chair. He waited patiently, listening to the workings of his ship.
“Iro-form Broadcaster is online and operating within parameters,” the computer relayed. “I must still contend that our broadcast range can be improved.”
“And your point is still noted, Satithe. While I agree with your findings, I am hesitant to put the s’tonki–”
“You mean ‘hours’, Star Chaser,” Satithe reminded him.
“I do at that. Thank you, my friend,” Dungias replied. “I do not wish to dedicate hours of work to improving a process that is not a capability of the region where we now find ourselves. Things are pressed enough with my appearance. To be ‘more alien’ only makes things more… precarious.”
The testing of the relay network was a few seconds from beginning, and Dungias was more than a little anxious. It had taken him over ten ‘years’ to reach this area of space, an additional three moving in and around the area of space where his Star Quest was to take place. To the inhabitants here… it was known as The Rims.
Between his visits to the InterVoid and the dimension of Living Fire, Dungias had at least become proficient with the Jump-Stride. The network was being made to allow for faster communication and a possible means of return should he not be able to engage in the fabled Traveler mode of transit.
“You’re frightened, aren’t you?” Satithe asked. “This isn’t the first test of the process, Chaser!”
“No, but it is the last test.” Dungias moved his hand to the control that would deactivate the logic circuits and leave him with a simple computer, but he did not lock Satithe out. “There are times when I wonder if I made you too perceptive. Then again, I did not do it alone, did I?”
“You are my creator, Master,” Satithe replied. “Everything that I am began with you. My contribution has been minimal at best.”
“Then run a diagnostic and resolve your need to express excessive humility,” Dungias countered.
“I am only a reflection of my creator,” Satithe responded.
Sighi
ng once more, Dungias readied the power transfer process. “Indeed.”
“No!” Satithe snapped. “You were supposed to say something like, ‘smart ass’ or ‘wisenheimer’!”
“Wisenheimer?!” Dungias asked. “Where did you get that word? And by the First Light, what does it mean?”
“I discovered the word thirteen weeks ago, Master, when you allowed me begin monitoring the substandard communication channels.”
“Ahh, there is the arrogance!” Dungias smiled. “I was beginning to think you had lost it.”
“My apologies, Master.”
“There is no need,” Dungias chuckled. “The means of communication here are substandard, but we will assimilate what we have into what is used.”
“And when that is not enough?”
“Not enough for what?”
“For what we are here to accomplish.”
“When it comes to the point when we must engage all of what we are,” Dungias said, reading that all processes were ready to initiate. “… hopefully we are at the summit of the last climb.”
“Master, I believe you mean the base of the last climb,” Satithe offered. “The summit is the highest point, which would be the climax of our endeavor.”
“Then I said exactly what I meant,” Dungias confirmed. “You will note I added the word ‘hopefully’.”
“Master,” Satithe cooed, changing the lighting scheme inside the ship to a softer yellow. “It does not serve to dwell on short-sightedness. The chances that the few advances our technology has over some forms in this region are–”
“Some?” Dungias asked, stopping his work. “Did you say some?”
“Affirmative. I have encountered two examples of technology that exceed the designs found in this ship,” Satithe reported.
“And when were you going to tell me?!” Dungias said, turning to another console with a larger display monitor. “Show locations!”
