by Linda Mooney
“I dunno. It’s one of those pink lights we haven’t gotten to explore yet,” the ex-navigator informed her.
“Pink light? Hey, Kyber, you don’t suppose it could be like those red rooms that were over on the ice side, do you?” Mellori questioned.
“We will find out when we get there.”
Fortunately, their interconnecting tunnel was not long. When they reached the other end, Dox and the others were waiting for them. Kyber noticed who was missing at the same time Kelen asked, “Where’s Five?”
“Went ahead to check,” Dox informed them.
“Did he tell you what was happening in the orange chamber?” Kyber questioned.
“He said bik. Danger.”
“Which could be anything,” Massapa remarked.
“Not necessarily,” Sandow countered. “If it had been clickers or eye worms, I don’t believe Five would have used that word.”
Kyber agreed. “I think he used the general term because his instincts warned him although he did not know the actual cause.” He glanced down the tunnel. “Is Cooter with us?”
“Not yet,” Fullgrath responded.
Kyber motioned to Fullgrath. “I am going to check outside. Cover me.”
The man nodded. Kelen gave her husband’s arm a squeeze, and he crawled over to the concealed opening. Cautiously, he eased his head out into the dark corridor. It didn’t take him long to make a decision. Rearing back on his heels, he addressed the others.
“It feels clear.”
“Do you see a light?” Gaveer whispered.
“Yes. A pale reddish tint to our left.”
“See Ikko?” Dox asked.
“No, but I can smell him.” Kyber waved for them to follow him and exited into the tunnel. Straightening, he remained by the side corridor as Fullgrath joined him and took point. Dox slid out and remained directly behind the weapons master. When Kelen appeared, Kyber drew her behind him and began walking toward the chamber’s entrance.
He’d told them it felt clear, but there was a sound coming from ahead he couldn’t identify. The possibility of an unknown danger raised his sense of urgency, and he subconsciously extended his talons.
Everyone took care not to make any undue noise that might alert whatever was inside the pink chamber, if there was something there. As they drew nearer, it was Sandow who finally mentioned the soft chugging emanating from ahead.
“What could be causing that?”
“It sounds like machinery,” Gaveer whispered. Kyber noticed the other Seneecians also had their claws drawn in anticipation. He gave the signal for silence, and they continued to advance.
They entered the chamber to find themselves on a long ledge overlooking the room. Steps led down to floor level on both sides, but for the moment their eyes were riveted on what the cavern contained. For long seconds everyone remained mute as they tried to take in what they were looking at.
“Well bless my grandma’s knickers,” Fullgrath finally muttered almost reverently. “Can you believe this?”
No, they couldn’t. At least, not at the moment.
Kyber stared in disbelief at the mountainous walls rising nearly a hundred meters above the ground floor. It wasn’t so much the sheer sides looming over them. It was the hexagon-shaped screens filling each wall. In fact, they filled three walls. The only wall not containing the screens was the one with the tunnel entrance.
“I sees it, but I still don’t believes it,” Fullgrath continued.
“Are we seeing what I think we’re seeing?” Jules asked.
Kyber blinked. Every six-sided screen…screen?…showed a cavern. A different cavern in every panel. The angle was from high above. He glanced up at the chamber’s ceiling, wondering where the camera was located.
Mellori pointed directly in front of them. “That’s us! That’s this cavern!”
Kyber spotted it the same time everyone else did. On that panel, they appeared as tiny mobile creatures moving about on one side of the room.
“That’s the orange room,” Sandow remarked, locating the screen broadcasting that view.
“And there is the jungle,” Massapa noted. “There are the lakes.”
“Why is everything in a rosy shade of pink?” Sandow wondered aloud.
“It’s like watching the world in monochrome through a sheet of cotton candy,” Kelen commented. Kyber eyed her and made a mental note to ask her later to explain cotton candy.
“Hey, guys. Check this one out!” Fullgrath waved at the bank of monitors to their left. “Tell me I’m wrong, but ain’t that the ice temple and its caverns?”
“That would make these the monitors for the fire temple,” Kleesod said, pointing to the opposite wall, where many of those screens were blank.
“Guess the volcanic action, quakes, and lava flows wiped out a lot of those transmissions,” Mellori presumed, voicing what Kyber was thinking. He looked back at the ice temple area, searching for one cavern in particular, when Kelen located it first.
“There. See that one? Three rows down and second one from the left. That’s where I landed,” she informed him. “That’s what’s left of Five’s home. Those yellow cubes…” She stopped, unable to finish when her voice broke.
He saw them, or what was left of them. Less than a handful of cubes in different sizes remained. A huge portion of the cavern was gone. Only a section of the floor remained. The rest of the screen was filled with starlight. Emptiness. They saw the exposed edge of this half world and the vastness of space beyond.
“Do you realize a cube has six sides?” he remarked, trying to lighten her mood.
He heard Kelen softly counting. “Jules, how many lights did you say was on each transportation panel?”
“Eighteen total. Six different colors. Three of each color.”
“Except we know for a fact that, for some reason, there was no third white light on the panel at the fire temple,” Gaveer reminded them.
“Then why are there twenty-one panels on each wall?”
“Wait. Twenty-one?” Jules started counting. “There’s three extra view screens on each wall.”
“The nonagons,” Kyber intoned, inwardly smiling. “The nonagons are kept under watch, as well as the main chambers.”
“Has anyone else noticed that there are nonagons at this temple, but none at the others?” Kleesod mentioned.
“I figure the purplish rooms are the ice temple’s version of nonagons,” Sandow commented.
“There’s one of the nonagons,” Mellori told them. They quickly found the other two on the pale, reddish screens.
Fullgrath snorted. “Anyone want to hazard a guess which one is the one where we bunked?”
“It does not matter. There is enough room for all of us.”
Rage pumped through Kyber at the sound of the voice. Grabbing Kelen’s arm, he whirled around, shoving her behind him. Lifting his talons, he bared his teeth as he faced the ghostly figure standing on the other side of the chamber. At the same time, everyone else went into a defensive posture. But Kyber’s threatening stance had no effect on the Seneecian. Putting his hands on his hips, the former D’har Plat audo Reen roared with laughter.
Chapter 22
Truce?
“Why the hell are you still alive?” Fullgrath shouted at the white-furred Seneecian.
Plat eyed the blaster aimed at him and raised his arms. “You would fire upon an unarmed man?” he sneered.
Kelen noticed the rebuke stung the weapons master, but the gun never wavered. Kyber remained in front of her, shielding her with his body. After quickly glancing around, she nudged her husband. “Where’s Dayall?”
“Where is Dayall?” Kyber called out. “Where is your cohort?”
Plat appeared to hesitate, then slowly shook his head. “The man met with an unfortunate…accident.”
Fullgrath jumped on the remark with his own scathing comment. “Accident?”
“We were besieged by a mob of flat little monsters. Your Commander Dayall suffered several bites to
his legs and arms. He died two days later. It was a grisly death.”
“What did you do with the body?” Sandow asked.
“I pushed it into the abyss where it belonged.” The former D’har raised his arms again. “You can lower your weapons. I am alone and unarmed.”
Kelen shook her head. Something about the Seneecian’s tone and body language was sending out warning flags to her. “Kyber, I don’t trust him,” she murmured.
“Seems you’ve been doing all right being by yourself all this time,” Mellori remarked. “Why are you showing yourself to us now?”
“Yeah! How long have you been sneaking around, watching us?” Jules demanded.
Watching us? Kelen glanced over her shoulder. “He’s been watching us,” she said. “He’s been watching these screens. He knows where we’ve been this whole time.” She felt her husband tense beneath her hand.
“Answer the question, Plat. Why are you now showing yourself?” Kyber pressed.
Kelen didn’t like the oily smile that crossed the Seneecian’s face. And from Kyber’s body language, neither did he.
“I am…what do you Terrans call it? Human. I am human. I need interaction with another person. I need…companionship.”
“You need a swift kick in the butt,” Fullgrath shot back. The weapons master glanced at Kyber. “Whatever this guy’s got up his furry sleeve, I say don’t listen to him.”
“What are you proposing?” Kyber inquired gruffly of Plat.
“A truce,” the Seneecian replied. “I want to become a member of your crew. I am willing to do my part to aid in its survival.”
“I seriously doubt it,” Kelen challenged. She moved to Kyber’s side to face the former D’har. “You’ve had all this time to come up with a plan. You may legitimately want to join the party, but you have an ulterior motive for doing so. Kyber, I don’t know what kind of D’har this man was, but I’m willing to bet he would not like having to take orders from you, would he? Would you?” she directly challenged the white-furred Seneecian.
Plat smiled, and she knew there wasn’t a single pleasant thought behind it. “I am willing to do all that must be done to ensure our survival.” The man remained where he stood on the floor below them. They had no idea where he’d been hiding until he’d appeared.
Moving closer to Kyber, Kelen leaned toward him to whisper. “I think Dayall’s still alive and hiding somewhere while he waits for some signal from Plat.” Kyber nodded but didn’t reply.
“Well? What’s the word?” Mellori spoke up. “Do we let him into the club? Or do we deny him membership?”
The yellow ray came from their far left, striking the Seneecian. Plat froze as the pale glow surrounded him like an aura of pure sunshine. When the glow diminished seconds later, Plat teetered on his legs, then crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap.
Everyone turned to where Cooter stood on floor level a dozen meters away. Fullgrath laughed loudly and holstered his blaster. “Damn, Coot. You’re making a regular occurrence of this cavalry thing.”
“Hey, you guys needed to make a decision. I just threw in my two cents…and fourteen urgs of power.” Walking over to where the Seneecian lay unconscious, he nudged the body with the toe of his boot.
“Is he dead?” Massapa asked.
“Naw. He’ll be out for at least an hour. Maybe a little longer.” Cooter looked to Kyber. “He’s going to be majorly pissed when he comes to.”
“Which is why we need to bind him securely so he does not cause us any undue trouble.”
“Why don’t we just kill him and be done with it?” the security officer questioned.
“Why did you not kill him just now?” Kyber returned with a wry smile.
Cooter took all of two seconds to think about it. “Touché.”
Kyber frowned. Before he could ask, Kelen whispered, “It’s an ancient expression from our world. It means you got the better of him.” The Seneecian gave a single nod.
Mellori knelt on the ledge. “In the event Dayall is still alive somewhere, what do you suggest we do?”
“Yeah,” Jules piped up. “Where do we go now? Or should we camp here?”
Cooter pointed to an exit to their left. “Believe it or not, I passed through a nonagon between the orange room and here.”
“What were you firing at earlier?” Kleesod mentioned, reminding them of their hasty retreat through the small tunnel.
“Clickers. A bunch of ‘em.” Cooter grinned. “All ready for that little furry fella to grill and roast us up a mess for dinner.”
“Speaking of.” Kelen glanced around the room. “Dox? Dox, where are you?” She called out the little man’s name. Unlike the other chambers, her voice did not echo. “Dox, if you can hear me, we’re heading for the nearest nonagon.” She reached for the transmitter in her pocket, then remembered she’d given it to Dox. “Damn it. Dox has my transmitter.”
“Not a problem.” Fullgrath reached inside his breast pocket and pulled out his to wave at her. The little light on the side blinked, showing it was on and working. “He can track us using my signal.”
Kyber waved at Cooter. “Lead us to the nonagon. Massapa, bind Plat’s arms behind him. Then you, Gaveer, and Kleesod take turns carrying him between you. If he gives you any trouble, or tries to call out, gag him. The rest of us need to remain aware, in case Dayall is still around.”
Kelen noticed Massapa glancing around for something to tie Plat’s arm. Undoing the bandage around her hand, she held it out to him. The Seneecian thanked her, and all three aliens descended the steps to ground level, with her, Kyber, and the rest following. By the time they reached the floor, the former D’har was bound and slung over Kleesod’s shoulder.
Cooter pointed out the tunnel opening and vanished inside, taking the lead. Before she entered, Kelen took one more look around the watching chamber and the myriad of displays filling the walls. Nothing moved on the rose-pink screens. For all intents and purposes, this world appeared to be completely devoid of life, but she knew that wasn’t true. She planned to return to this cavern, and soon, if for no other reason than to observe and study. Somehow, she knew their ultimate survival relied on keeping constant surveillance of the planet.
Kyber gave her a little nudge forward. Ducking her head, she walked into the dark corridor.
Chapter 23
Transmitter
“This isn’t our old nonagon,” Jules announced when they emerged into the main open area.
“How do you know?” Kelen asked. She glanced around at the nine apartments clustered in threes, with a tunnel dividing each section. It appeared no different from the nonagon where they had taken refuge weeks ago, before they’d ventured to the ice and fire temples.
The ex-navigator pointed to another tunnel. “Call it a hunch. That way leads to the orange chamber. So the apartment where we stacked the skeletons of the square-headed people should be that one, correct?”
Sandow strode over and opened the door to the apartment. He peered inside, then looked back at them. “It’s empty. Unless someone took the time to remove all the bodies, he’s right. This isn’t our nonagon.”
“Well, we’re here, so let’s pick a room to crash in for now,” Fullgrath suggested. “I’m dead beat.”
“I second him,” Mellori said.
“I agree we all need to rest,” Kyber remarked. “But we need to maintain vigilance. Dayall may still be at large. If he is, then he is a threat until proven otherwise. Also, do not forget Dox is also out there somewhere.”
“Shouldn’t we go after him?” Kelen suggested and turned to Jules. “You can track him, can’t you?”
Jules tapped the screen on his tablet. “Let’s see. Dox’s signal would be…” The man paused, his eyes widening. Glancing at the row of apartments behind him, he chuckled. “Right there. First one on the right.”
Mellori strode over to the door, slamming his hand on the mechanism that would open it. Kelen hurried to catch up with the others as they entered
the room.
Dox was seated at one end, his back to the wall and his bundles opened in front of him. He looked up as they stood in the doorway. “Hi.”
“How long have you been here?” Fullgrath demanded.
“Not long,” came the cryptic answer.
Kelen started to ask about Five when she caught sight of the furry sitting near the glowing glyphs which marked the food and water dispensers. The creature was dipping one clawed hand into a bowl of the oatmeal, scooping the food into his mouth. “Looks like you’ve made yourself at home,” she chuckled.
Gaveer set Plat on the floor, as far away from the nearest doorway as possible. “Do you want us to put him in the apartment next to this one?”
“No. For now, and until we can come up with a suitable compromise, he will stay here with us.” Kyber eyed everyone in the room. “With all of us.”
“Why?” Sandow immediately challenged.
“I do not want another incident like the one where we lost Verin. I will not compromise another life. Tonight we will all remain in this apartment. We will rest and continue guard duty.”
“There’s not enough food in this apartment to feed us all,” Sandow pointed out.
“Those clickers I mowed down aren’t too far from here,” Cooter suggested.
Massapa stepped forward. “Allow me to go with him to gather them.”
“Very well. Be safe.”
The two men took off, and Kyber turned to Mellori. “You and Massapa fetch as many bowls of water and food as you can from the other apartments and bring them here. Even if those clickers are edible, it will take a while for them to cook, but we need nutrition now.”
The Seneecian and engineer exited the room. Kelen noticed Kleesod took a stance next to the former D’har, who remained unconscious. Or appears that way.
She went to sit next to Dox, who was oblivious to the goings on in the apartment. Five had finished with his meal and was currently working alongside the little man. To get their attention, she laid a hand on his arm, knowing that talking to him directly wouldn’t work. Once Dox immersed himself in a project, he tuned out everything else. In normal situations, his self-erected “bubble” was necessary for him to complete the job successfully. Unfortunately, given their current circumstances and location, that isolation could end up costing him his life if someone wasn’t around to watch out for his safety.
