The Messenger Box Set: Books 1-6

by J. N. Chaney

  They carried on. Dash knew the power core was close now. Kai led them around another turn, along a corridor that led a short distance to a small, round room, the ceiling several meters above. He waited for all of them to enter, then turned and touched a spot on the wall. It flashed briefly, bluish-purple around his fingers, and a door whispered closed.

  Dash looked around at the round, featureless room, then he turned back to Kai. “So now what?”

  Before Kai could answer, the whole room trembled slightly. Dash’s stomach fluttered as he felt a sudden acceleration.

  Leira said, “Are we moving?” and Kai nodded.

  “This elevator will take us down to the core of the complex.” Kai’s serene expression never altered. This wasn’t his first ride, and he seemed at ease in the silent, speeding chamber.

  Conover, who’d been peering around the room, apparently trying to discern more about it, turned to Kai in surprise. “The core? You mean there’s more to this place, even deeper than this?”

  Kai nodded. “This complex is vast. Our Order has been here almost two centuries, and there are still large sections of it that have yet to be explored.” He looked at Dash. “Some sections are also sealed off with doors we haven’t been able to open. There are hints that some of these, at least, may be accessible to the Messenger.”

  “Yeah, well, tours are going to have to wait. We came here for a really specific reason and need to get back to…” Dash paused, not sure how much he should reveal to these apparently self-proclaimed monks of the Unseen. “To where we came from.”

  Kai, though, simply nodded. “To wage war against the Enemy of All Life, yes, of course.”

  Another flutter in his gut announced the end of the elevator’s journey. Conover looked around and just shook his head. “Amazing. This place is huge. We must have dropped three hundred meters, and there were chambers and corridors around us almost the whole way down.”

  Kai touched the wall again, and the door slid open. Beyond it, a short corridor led to another round chamber. This one was far larger and more ornate, if the concept of ornate applied to the Unseen. For all Dash knew, the sprawl of intricate filigree covering the walls—dark, bronze-colored panels shot through with a maze of fine, bright silver inlays—could have been purely functional in some esoteric way.

  Dash’s attention was immediately caught by the other people in the room—nine of them, all dressed in plain robes similar to Kai’s. They sat cross-legged on thin cushions that were a little tattered and threadbare, a stark and primitive contrast to the rest of the place. The only other entrance to the chamber seemed to be a large, ominous door opposite them, seemingly made of the same, quicksilver-bright material as the inlays on the walls.

  Kai gestured to Dash, then turned to his fellow monks. “I am beyond honored to present to you, the Messenger.”

  Almost as one, they all—Kai included—bowed deeply. Dash wondered if they’d been practicing that bow for two hundred years. But he raised a hand and shook his head.

  “It’s my pleasure and purpose to be here, and I ask you to share your history with me. I am the Messenger, and all that entails. That does not mean I understand every aspect of my purpose, but I do know the goal—to eliminate the Golden completely. To stabilize the galaxy, and let life grow unabated. To that end, I welcome your help, with the understanding that I am only a man. An ordinary man who has been placed in an extraordinary time and place—"

  He broke off when he realized the monks were exchanging glances and smiling.

  “What? Did I say something funny?”

  Kai shook his head. “No. Our apologies. It’s just that the Unseen emphasized that the Messenger would be humble, considering himself unworthy of the title. We long ago concluded that, if and when the Messenger arrived, they would be much as you present yourself.” He gave decidedly not-very-reverential grin. “We aren’t disappointed.”

  “Still,” another of the monks said, “you are the Messenger, and your arrival is as foretold by the Unseen. So, yes, this is quite a significant moment for us, regardless of your perception of the event.”

  “That said, our reverence is truly reserved for the Unseen,” another monk said. “We are well aware that you are essentially a vessel for their purposes.”

  Dash said, “That’s a bit reductive, but I can live with it given the spectacular nature of my ride. I’m more than a courier or stick jockey, and I’m certainly not a deity. As to being a vessel for their purpose, well—I’d never really considered that part of destiny, but I welcome it. Some people are called to things they have no taste for.” Dash felt his features grow hard. “Fighting the Golden is something I look forward to, despite not thinking of every possible ending.”

  Leira gave him a coy look. “Thought about what, oh mighty Messenger?”

  “I prefer Lord Messenger, if you please,” Dash said gravely.

  “As you wish.” Leira bowed from the waist, then stuck out her tongue.

  “Now then,” Kai said, looking at Dash and Leira with mild bewilderment, “you have made it clear that your business here is urgent.”

  He moved to the silver door. As he did, the other monks stood and assembled around him, but left a way open for Dash and the others to follow. As he passed by the cushions, Dash said, “Please tell me you guys haven’t spent the past two hundred years just sitting down here in this room waiting for the Messenger to show up.”

  “No, of course not,” Kai said. “We have done many things to prepare for your arrival, such as translate the language of the Unseen. That, by itself, has taken up much of our time.” He touched another of the otherwise featureless spots on the wall. “As I told you, the Orb heralded your arrival, as those writings foretold. So, we assembled to await you.”

  “What if I’d never managed to find this place?”

  “Of course you would find it,” Kai said. “How could it be otherwise?” he said, stately with his facts.

  The silver door didn’t slide open; it rippled briefly, like water, then simply vanished. The chamber beyond was much smaller than the one in which they now stood but every bit as ornate. In the center of it was a slender pedestal, again of that same, dull bronze color inlaid with a tracery of silver-white. And upon it sat a glowing ball.

  “The Orb,” Kai said, gesturing.

  “It’s actually a power core,” Dash said, stepping between and entering the smaller room.

  “Actually,” Conover said, “it’s two power cores.”

  Sure enough, a second, smaller pedestal held what Dash immediately recognized as a level one core. “Well, that’s handy.” He turned his attention to the other one, which was clearly the level two core they sought. It was bigger and more bulbous, and it glowed with a soft, reddish light. At a half-meter in diameter, the core was ringed in segments with each end being rounded. The entire unit bridged a look of machine and organism, being oddly fluid. It was elegant, in the way that Dash was coming to expect from ancient tech.

  “For two hundred years,” Kai said, “we called this the Orb. Were we wrong?”

  He turned a questioning look to Dash, who gave him a reassuring smile. “Orb, power core, it’s all good. Religion and science are close friends here, Kai, and your people have been on the front lines protecting the tools we need to wage war.”

  “In any case, it has been in this place, untouched, since Bayard first discovered it. Our Order later determined that it would announce the arrival of the Messenger by beginning to glow,” Kai said.

  Despite his earlier dismissal of the reverent nature surrounding the power core, Dash did have to appreciate how that moment must have been for these people. For two hundred years, they, and their ancestors, had been waking up every day and checking the core, and—nothing. Then, today, which had probably started for them like any other, it suddenly began to glow. For them, it must have been a truly transcendental moment, far more than a simple pulse of light heralding something they treated as an article of faith. He’s felt the same way
when Sentinel spoke to him, and that memory made him proceed with a more diplomatic tone.

  Time was passing, so he had to hurry this along, regardless of the staggering implication here among the monks. He nodded to Kai and the other monks. “Well, thanks are in order. Not only for your care, but your diligence. You have my gratitude, Kai, as do all of your people from today stretching back into history.” He gave a bow that looked rusty, but sincere.

  Kai returned it, his eyes alight with inner purpose.

  “Dash?” a new voice called. “Leira? Are you guys there?”

  It was Amy on the comm. Dash exchanged a surprised look with the others. There should be no way for the comm to work so clearly this deep under the ground. It must have been yet another remarkable thing they could credit to the Unseen.

  “Yeah, we’re here,” he said. “Go ahead, Amy.”

  “I hope you guys are ready to come back to the ship, because you should do that right away.”

  “Why?”

  “Because a ship just landed here at the port, and I think it belongs to those Clan Shirna guys you’ve been talking about.”

  15

  Dash frowned, straightened with purpose, and addressed Leira and Conover. “Remember what I said at the outpost full of Fangrats? That it just seemed too easy?”

  “I gather that this isn’t welcome news, these Clan Shirna,” Kai said.

  “No, it’s not,” Leira replied. “They’re actually kind of like you guys, except they’re working for the other side.”

  Kai’s face hardened. “They are agents of the Enemy of All Life?”

  Dash nodded. “You could say that. They’re also our cue that it’s time to leave.” He reached for the core then paused, wondering if it might be protected by a stasis field, like the one used to protect the cores on the Forge.

  “Sentinel? Is this going to roast me to ashes? Just curious,” Dash said.

  “You may secure the item by hand,” Came the instant answer.

  Dash grabbed the core.

  A collective gasp rippled through the monks. Kai said, “Our apologies, but that’s the first time any hand has touched the Orb.”

  “Understood,” Dash said. “I know this is a pretty big deal for you guys. And I wish I could let you savor the moment, but we really need to get going. With all the care and respect due your station, if we linger, I put you at risk as well. I’m not going to do that.” He looked Kai in the eyes. “I’m genuinely sorry if this isn’t the epic moment you thought it would be, but war is work. This is a tool, albeit one with meaning, but now it’s time to fight.”

  Kai shrugged. “What matters is confronting and defeating the Enemy of All Life. That’s the true purpose of all of this.”

  Dash nodded and grabbed the level one core as well. Strangely, it seemed to have more heft, more weight to it, than the level two, which seemed almost insubstantial in his hand. He handed the level one to Conover, who nodded and tucked it into his satchel. Dash put the level two into his. The cores hung out of both bags, too big to be fully or easily concealed.

  “Best we’re going to do, I guess,” Dash said.

  “Amy,” Leira said, “status update.”

  “There are a half-dozen of those Clan Shirna guys here at the spaceport, keeping a lookout, I guess. A half-dozen more rode a little lev-shuttle out of their ship and headed into the city.”

  Viktor came on. “I’ve been keeping an eye on them. They’re definitely armed—they have plasma pistols like the ones you acquired from them, Dash. Oh, and no uniforms. They’re all wearing regular civ gear.”

  “Why don’t we just stay down here?” Conover asked. “Wait for them to just give up and go away?”

  “They obviously know we’re here,” Leira replied. “And they also obviously know we’ve come into the city. Even if they haven’t realized the Slipwing is sitting right there, we have to assume they eventually will—and then Amy and Viktor will be in trouble.”

  “Besides, we’re on a clock, remember?” Dash said. “What happens if they decide to stick around and just wait us out?” He turned to Kai. “We need to get back to the spaceport, and quietly. I don’t need a stand-up fight in the street with Clan Shirna, at least not now, if we can help it. We don’t know the city, though. Can you help us out?”

  “Of course,” Kai said. “We exist to defeat the Enemy of All Life. That certainly includes their minions.”

  “Well, I’d love to have your help actually dealing with these Clan Shirna assholes, but—no offence—you don’t seem like the fighting types.”

  In answer, Kai stepped away, then flung his staff into a blur of moves, in front, to the side, even behind and overhead. He ended with a blow that stopped centimeters from the face of one of the other monks, who didn’t flinch a millimeter. Had it connected, it would have caved in the man’s skull.

  Dash blinked. “I did not expect that.”

  Kai shrugged. “The martial arts are an excellent way of strengthening not just the body, but also the mind and the spirit. And making a few side bets along the way for fun and profit. We’re monks, but we’re still men.” He finished with a wink.

  “Besides which, you’ve probably had the time to get pretty good at them, it seems,” Leira said.

  Kai nodded, then he and the other monks of the Order of the Unseen led them out of the chamber to start the journey back to the surface of Shylock.

  Dash peered around the corner of a building. The street seemed clear of anything resembling Clan Shirna, but he once again let Kai and two of the other monks lead the way. Clad in their dark robes, and each carrying a staff, they somehow both looked frighteningly conspicuous trudging up the mostly empty street—but also like they belonged. Hopefully, Clan Shirna was unaware of the Order of the Unseen and would just ignore the monks as more oddities of Featherport.

  Kai and the monks reached the next intersection and stopped. Dash, followed by Conover and the remaining four monks, also now all sporting staves, rounded the corner and hurried up the street. Leira, her slug-pistol held under jacket, brought up the rear.

  Dash sidled up behind Kai. “How much further?”

  “Perhaps another half hour of walking until we reach the edge of the city and can start for the spaceport. We could have taken a faster and more direct route, but you made it clear that you would rather avoid confrontation with these vile creatures that would see the Enemy of All Life.”

  “You know, to save time, how about just call them the bad guys.”

  Kai smiled. “Apologies. We’ve had ample time to speak our minds over the years, so using it has become a bit of a habit.

  “Not a problem. Anyway, half an hour. And then we need to take a shuttle from there.” He frowned. “That’s going to be the really dangerous part, us jammed into one shuttle.”

  “Dangerous for us, and for anyone else aboard it,” Conover said. “I doubt that the Clan Shirna will care much about collateral damage.”

  “There’s no need to take a shuttle,” Kai said, pointing up at the high ridge upon the top of which the spaceport perched. “The only reason a shuttle is used at all is because the road to the port must go through several long switchbacks as it climbs the ridge. We know a path that will let us climb directly to it, and in little more time than the shuttle would take.”

  “It is quite steep, though,” another monk said, “and rather taxing to walk.”

  Dash shrugged. “I’ll take a tough climb over sitting in a shuttle waiting to be shot at, thanks.”

  They set off again, Kai and two monks once more leading.

  One block at a time, Dash thought. It was aggravating and slow as thick mud, but if they could avoid being seen, then their progress was steady. That plan fell apart in an instant, when one of the monks looked back and made their prearranged “bad guys” signal, a thumbs-down.

  “Well, there goes the quiet exit,” Dash said, drawing his slug-pistol from his satchel. Conover did the same, but it trembled in his hand, while his face went pale
and his eyes widened. The kid, it struck Dash, had never actually been in a face-to-face combat before.

  Dash gave him what he hoped was a reassuring look. “Stay behind me, Conover, okay? Just try to keep yourself under cover and shoot any Clan Shirna guys you get a clear bead on. Aim, point, boom. Got it?”

  He licked his lips and nodded quickly. “Got it.”

  They started up the street, walking fast, slug-pistols held out of view, trying their best to look casual—although Dash knew that people carrying an array of weapons looked anything but casual.

  At a corner, Kai said, “One of the creatures you described to us is standing at the next intersection. It is obviously keeping watch.”

  “Can we just avoid him?” Leira asked. “Work around another way?”

  Dash muttered, “We need to make good time,” and Kai nodded in agreement.

  “Not easily. This next intersection is where several main streets converge. It’s a choke point.” The monk’s lip curled. “They are cunning, like devious animals, aren’t they?”

  Dash couldn’t help noticing the hard gleam of genuine hatred in Kai’s eyes when he talked about Clan Shirna. Apparently, these monks really did practice what they preached when it came to the Enemy of All Life. It made him glad they were on his side.

  “So, we either need to slip by this guy somehow or take him out.” Dash looked down at the slug-pistol. He could reliably hit a man-sized target at twenty-five meters, meaning he’d have to get close.

  “Leave that to us,” Kai said.

  He nodded to another of the monks, who simply nodded back and started down the street. Dash knelt and peered around the corner, watching him slowly ambling away, leaning on his staff as he walked, as though he needed it for support.

  Dash tensed as the Clan Shirna agent turned and saw the monk approaching him. He gritted his teeth, certain there’d be the dazzling flash of a plasma discharge.