#
The forward view screen on the Lepitera provided a breathtaking sight: Hakilam, so similar to Earth, but with sixty percent of its surface under water. The change of seasons was less pronounced than places on Earth due to only a few degrees rotational tilt. The green belt was a rain forest; the blistering hot belt shone over water, but the water didn’t condense into the atmosphere so there were no dry, scorching deserts; and its brilliant colors shone clearly and distinctly in the unpolluted atmosphere.
Hakilam was the seventh of twelve planets orbiting Cheloran, the yellow sun. It was a star slightly less dense and with a somewhat smaller output than Sol, but far more stable and with a longer life span.
Hakilam was eight thousand miles in diameter, impressively substantial enough to have three habitable satellites—Galiora, Betslim, and Theazarn—that further stabilized the weather, allowing enough atmospheric variation for the rain that maintained the forest belt. Held in relief around it, the three moons were red, gold, and ivory respectively, their hues a testimony to the Anorasian’s love of esthetics.
Before she could do more than admire the view, Mariah suddenly froze, her eyes first widening in fear then narrowing in fury. She turned to the two scientists and said in a hiss, “I have to go back to Izorach. Now. You stay here.”
In a flash of blue-white heat, she was gone.
Chapter 82
The ground beneath their feet quaked from the energy beam projectors firing from the Stirilium cruisers.
With the MERS gone, the satellites that monitored the Zubeln star system gave them only basic information: five cruisers had suddenly appeared in Izorachian space.
Emmanuel knew why they were there. He had known the Min’yel’os would retaliate for the destruction of the Prehendere. He also knew that, in military fashion, it was logical to destroy your enemy’s camp, giving them no base to return to, thus forcing surrender.
The lab and all its inhabitants were under millions of tons of rock, the Ephres Ridge as solid as the planet itself. There was no place to hide.
As the ground heaved and the stone walls began to shatter and implode, the Three, stumbling and falling to their knees in the upheaval, made their way to the hangar in a last vain attempt to gain their freedom before the complex caved in entirely. They were not psychically strong enough to contact Mariah and had resigned themselves to their fate. Having lived over-long, their sadness at this point was for the animals that would be crushed to death in the Zones and for missing the final outcome of Mariah’s confrontation with the Min’yel’os.
The heat of the energy beam projectors finally penetrated the hangar. The wind in the gorge roared in fury while the walls of the Agrist K’anna began to buckle, its crystals exploding outward to detonate on the canyon floor below. The imminent demise of Izorach was at hand.
As the hangar walls crumbled, Emmanuel thought he saw a presence emerge from the dust and darkness.
#
Mariah stood as uncompromising and immutable as stone, the comparison all the more startling because her chest did not rise and fall with the intake and expulsion of air. Energy had replaced the oxygen that fed her blood. She no longer processed nutrients and eliminated them; instead, she fed on subatomic particles.
#
Aleris and Sateron were not surprised when seconds before, the white-blue light of a hyperspatial transport had filled the Lepitera’s main compartment. When it vanished, they were thrilled to see Mariah and the Three before them. Covered with rock dust, bruised and cut from falling debris, they were otherwise unharmed.
Not listening to words of gratitude, Mariah moved to the furthest spot forward on the Lepitera’s bridge. She never spoke nor did anyone else. They knew she concentrated on the planet below, her destiny hurtling toward her at interstellar speed.
The MERS banked to the left and stopped, awaiting further instructions. They all held their breath, unsure if Mariah waited for the Shekron to acknowledge her or if she was deciding to get close enough to the planet’s surface and try to out maneuver them.
Then their answer came. The NMIP opened a communication port and the holographic image of an Anorasian dressed in the midnight blue of the military elite stood before them.
“I am Shekron Prime Commander Ta’daeu, Military Principal of the Seftiras of the Cheloran star system, the heart and brain of the Anorasian Empire. I presume I address the renegade scientists, Ton Re’Sateron and Ton Re’Aleris, they who have disgraced themselves by disregarding Empirical laws. Furthermore we have intelligence that these traitors harbor a tutivillus suspected in the obliteration of the Stirilium Cruiser, Prehendere, and the annihilation of its complement.
“By mandate of the Minister of Finance, Chief Official of the Synadracus, Prime Legate to the Min’yel’os, your vessel will be seized and transported to Hakilam where those on board will be dealt with as prescribed by the Rules of Right.”
As his holographic image disappeared, they felt a violent jolt as a nascent beam locked onto the Lepitera’s signature. The engines on board the MERS automatically tried to break the hold by applying reverse thrust, but to no avail.
“They are secured according to protocol, Prime Commander,” said Bridge Pilot Corvus. The vid-screen showed the Lepitera held in the powerful beam. Just as Meron Ta’daeu was about to give the order to return to the planet below, the bridge compartment on board their cruiser suddenly flooded with a brilliant light so overwhelming they were momentarily blinded. The bridge Merons automatically trained their weapon on the fading light.
Momentarily blinded by the light, Ta’daeu’s eyes adjusted to the unnatural glow that remained.
He was perplexed to see a female standing before him. He had not been given any particulars concerning the tutivillus he was ordered to bring to the planet’s surface, but he certainly was not prepared for a creature that appeared, at first glance, to be Anorasian.
His mind was seized and he winced at the momentary pain.
This is the “unnatural being” herself, Prime Commander Ta’daeu. Pleased to make your acquaintance.
Mariah turned her head to stare at the control panel from whence originated the nascent beam. Her eyes narrowed slightly ... and with a pop! the panel erupted. Metal dripped in great gobs onto the command center floor while the smell of chemicals on fire filled their nostrils and caused many to cough.
Spellbound, the bridge crew watched the panel disintegrate. The navigator turned his weapon in Mariah’s direction ... and the instrument flew out of his hand as if his fingers had become lifeless, spinning through the air until it hit the bulkhead wall and fell to the floor.
She turned her gaze back to Ta’daeu, the smile on her lips not reaching her eyes.
I would be ever so grateful if you would quit screwing with my spaceship. I really do not appreciate being dragged like some fucking donkey on a choke rope. I will meet you outside the Sho’revra when I am damn good and ready.
Rest assured, Prime Commander, you will not have long to wait. For now, leave me alone. I would not want to be thought of as an inconsiderate guest by blowing the Seftiras to pieces.
Chapter 83
One of the outstanding characteristics bred into the Shekron military was the ability to think logically under extreme conditions. Being unemotional was also prized especially if one desired to rise through the ranks. Meron Ta’daeu was all this, plus he had common sense. His extensive military training guaranteed his performance; the chip implanted in his brain guaranteed his loyalty.
Nevertheless he was as close as he had ever been to fear and indecision. This creature emerged through a secured communication port which meant it had the signature of their NMIP. Furthermore, it destroyed (melted) a panel made of indestructible components with its mind.
In his seven thousand years of existence, Ta’daeu had never encountered anything like this. Due to the heat it generated, he was sure this was no holograp
hic image. He surmised correctly that he was in the presence of a being that could transport across vast distances without a transport belt.
Of a fact, it was not Anorasian.
And then it was gone, the only reminder of its presence the stinking mass of metal congealing on the forward compartment deck.
#
Aleris stared at Mariah when she appeared before them and received a wink and a grin. For several minutes nothing happened. Then Ta’daeu’s image once more appeared before them, his head held high, his nostrils flaring.
“I was prepared to destroy the Lepitera where it stands, but I have decided to allow you your last few moments of freedom while you attempt to formulate your insignificant escape plans. Do not, however, take this as a sign of weakness and waste more of my valuable time. I have other business that requires attention.”
Mariah grinned. She knew the pompous windbag had felt a chill down his rigid spine when she had worked him over. Shaking her head she realized that posturing was not proprietary to human males.
Let’s give him a few hours to sweat it out and then we will just cruise on down, nice and leisurely, she sent to her traveling companions.
The smile evaporated as she headed for her personal quarters. She had no idea if Galaxaril’s plan would suffice. But it had to. She had to defeat the Min’yel’os and identify this murderous SOS before it destroyed her solar system.
Chapter 84
The air was less dense than Earth’s and the atmosphere held more oxygen, but it didn’t matter; Mariah’s blue sheath made the appropriate adjustments to correct for the environmental change.
What did matter were the twelve Stirilium cruisers surrounding the Sho’revra. The gentle air currents caused them to bob in the inky black sky like helium balloons floating on the end of strings. As with her first sight of the Lepitera, Mariah was impressed with the Anorasian artistry in the design of their battleships.
They reminded her of an atom. The slightly cylindrical body of the ship would be the nucleus. Orbiting it were six bands of flashing lights that melded seamlessly where they overlapped. Unequal in width and length and totally encircling the ship, the bands were the delivery mechanism for the megacycle Gamma ray nuclear isomer energy beams. With a three hundred sixty degree range capability, the Anorasians had created a fighting machine that never needed to maneuver into firing position.
Mariah already knew the particulars on the Stirilium cruisers: long-range Intezelin torpedoes; close-range energy beam projectors; and stealth-producing energy fields affording them invisibility. Force fields provided nearly indestructible shielding and sensors picked up everything from radio waves to particle emissions. The Shekron knew of only one battleship that could penetrate the layered shields of a Stirilium cruiser: their own full-scale Voltrex war vessels, three times the size of the Stirilium.
The Seftiras was the only cruiser on the ground, positioned five hundred yards before the main entrance of the Sho’revra. Its energy bands were dark, inactive; however the incandescent lights on the bands of the twelve cruisers surrounding the complex illuminated the night sky and the Sho’revra.
Meron Ta’daeu had been taken off guard and bested once ... he would not make the same miscalculation again.
#
Welcome Wagon is here, Mariah sent to her five traveling companions. They accompanied her in what she called “The Offspring,” a vessel one third the size of the MERS that served, under ordinary circumstances, as a transportable research facility. The Offspring was only a few thousand miles from the planet’s surface; the Lepitera remained ten thousand miles further. Sateron and Aleris had chosen this smaller spaceship for its maneuverability even though they knew they could never outmaneuver a Stirilium.
I do believe they are finally taking me seriously. Her thoughts were a mixture of eagerness and consequence. Time to see what they have.
Sateron knew that engaging the Shekron would be foolhardy, considering that one cruiser alone could annihilate their craft without using more than a micron of energy. Nonetheless they had come this far, had trusted her intelligence and psychic power, and he would not attempt to dissuade her now.
#
They came out of suspension and headed for the planet’s surface. All twelve Stiriliums oriented in their direction but did nothing to stop them. They discovered why when, four hundred miles out, the Offspring hit something that caused it to slew sideways. The on-board NMIP adjusted immediately and restored equilibrium. Half-heartedly, the craft tried to penetrate the unassailable barrier. It failed and then ceased before it burned out its drive core.
#
“Why does the Prime Commander erect this obstruction? Did he not learn from his previous contact with our daughter?” al-Amin’s voice was harsh, a mixture of concern and boast.
“It’s a warning, my uncle,” Mariah said, her voice soft, excited. “Meron Ta’daeu is just letting me know that he has a battalion of cruisers backing him up this time and I better not try what I did before. He’s positive I can’t take on all of them. He’s probably right, but maybe there is something I can do to shake him up just long enough to accomplish my mission.”
With a smile, she addressed them all, but her eyes were on Sateron. “Stay here. Don’t do anything, no matter what happens. But be ready to transport in a microsecond. The method I plan to use will be, uh, unorthodox. You’ve never experienced it before so don’t be frightened. Trust me.”
While she spoke, the halo around her head brightened. Her last word spoken, the light flowed downward, bathing her body in a vaporous radiance.
With a momentary flash of heat and light, she was gone. Aleris looked to her colleague, nodding her head. Nothing this human did truly startled them any longer. No doubt Mariah had created a hyperspatial transport hole without the use of a belt—had, in fact, followed the path of the cruiser’s beam back to its source.
Their vid-screen came on-line ... and there she was, not two hundred feet before the Seftiras. Somehow Mariah had caused the neural processor on board the MERS to broadcast her encounter with theShekron and beam it back to them.
Chapter 85
“Prime Commander, the alien is before us.” The anticipation in the Bridge Pilot’s voice was tinged with awe. Meron Corvus was a trained fighter in an elite corps and the enemy was in sight; yet it did not look like it had previously when it materialized on their bridge and melted their nascent beam projector. The surreal light surrounding its body gave the illusion of its existence in another dimension. Yet somehow he knew this not to be true.
The twelve Stirilium cruisers hovering in the sky now brightened, their destructive beams pointing at their new target.
Mariah stood with her legs braced slightly apart, her arms folded nonchalantly across her chest. She grinned cheerfully up at him and Ta’daeu frowned. Was she so sure of her power that she was undaunted by this show of force?
Not in the least, Prime Commander. Her melodious sending was filled with smug confidence and humor. I am very much impressed by your fleet. However I would like to speak to you one-on-one down here. Unless you prefer I come aboard your vessel?
Without hesitation, Ta’daeu turned to Bridge Pilot Corvus and, with his jaw tight, said, “I will transport down to the surface and converse with the alien.”
Alarmed, Corvus said, “Allow, Prime Commander, but is this prudent? We were witness to its display of might—he stared pointedly at the mass of metal that once controlled their nascent beam—and it could do you great harm.”
“Your concern is noted.” However he felt inside, Ta’daeu wasPrime Commander and would never show fear before his crew. “It could have eliminated us as it did the array, but did not. It could have caused irreparable damage to my mind, but did not. It will do me no harm unless provoked and then it will defend itself only, of this I am certain.”
Momentarily Ta’daeu wondered why he was able to speak with such certa
inty. But he was not designed to ponder philosophical questions. He shook his head and continued. “I will speak with it before we take it captive. Mayhap I can forestall avoidable trouble. Nevertheless be ready to respond immediately on my command.” Not waiting for further discussion, Meron Ta’daeu tapped the correct sequence of buttons on his personal transport belt and was swallowed upin a flash of blue light.
#
Lightly touching down he faced the alien as he had done aboard the Seftiras. Her hands now rested lightly on her hips. He was momentarily dazzled by the luminescence that encircled her body. Mariah stared into his eyes and Ta’daeu experienced an odd sensation: the assumption of defeat. It was an uncharacteristic emotion for an Anorasian, let alone one of the Shekron’s fighting primes.
“You are curious as to my body and facial features, Prime Commander.” He was startled by the sound of her soft, melodious voice mimicking his form of speech. It was, at the same time, pleasing and pretentious.
“Briefly: I am from a race called Homo sapiens from a planet called Earth formerly known as Touranim. It resides in the Sol star system which was colonized by Anorasians over sixty-five millions years ago. The Min’yel’os sent meteorites to destroy Touranim as a cover-up for the annihilation of Izorach, the only planet in their Empire where Eocene dicit’ledoni grew naturally. But Anorasian DNA on Touranim regenerated millions of years later. And, probably due to a virus, mutated eventually into Homo sapiens.” Mariah sent him an image of what she looked like before the mutations began.
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