“Perhaps they found another Arinar,” Ga’an added. “It would explain the arrival of Baeal here.”
“How do they know of this site?” Ray asked
“I do not know, Raymond Harris.”
“Perhaps they feel the calling of a stone,” Sarah said. “I saw something similar in a movie once.”
“Maybe. At this point, anything we think we know about Baeal is mere speculation. He complained about the insensitivity of younger scientists the last time he wrote.” Brother Cavil said.
“Hush!” Ray warned them, signaling them to get down. “Something moved.”
Ga’an pointed to the far end of the large room they were about to enter; someone was crouching behind a knocked-over couch. He looked back and leaned close to Ray. “This hallway is too narrow to defend, we should move into the room.”
Ray nodded. There were two service desks and couches to hide behind if they needed cover.
Ga’an readied his weapon and started around the left side of the room, like a panther readying to attack its prey. Ray aimed his pistol at the shadow, waving Sarah and Brother Cavil to hide behind the nearby service desk but Sarah scowled and moved right, aiming her own weapon while pushing the old priest gently toward the nearest service table and signaling him to lay low.
“Is that—” Brother Cavil started but Sarah stopped him.
“That doesn’t look like someone who killed a station full of people,” Sarah whispered. “Crouching and all, you know…”
“Is that—”
“Hush, old man!” Ray stopped Brother Cavil. “Keep your voice down. Sarah, we don’t know what killed those—”
“Father!” Brother Cavil suddenly called, narrowing his eyes, “Is that you?” He put his head up from behind the desk where they had taken cover.
“Dammit old man!” Ray hissed, grabbing for Brother Cavil’s robe but the man heedlessly rushed into the room already, running clumsily to the shadow.
“Gabriel?” an elderly voice answered from the shadows, “Is that you?” a man raised his head from behind the couch.
“Yes!” Brother Cavil said joyously, hugging the elder man, almost bringing him down.
“By the Light, what are you doing here?” he asked, holding his son’s face in both hands. “You look older.”
“I am old, father,” Brother Cavil said, “It has been decades!”
“You are not looking after yourself,” the elder man said angrily. “Did I teach you nothing?”
“I am!” the priest protested. “I always carry a kumat in my pocket.” He pulled out one of the apple-like fruits.
“Excuse me,” Ray interrupted, “I really hate to break up the reunion, but we’re in the middle of a death trap.” Where the hell does he find those kumats?
“Oh…” Brother Cavil said, looking around in surprise. He looked down and realized he was stepping on someone’s right foot, and jumped back in disgust.
“Here,” Ga’an pulled the priest by the arm, guiding him into a storage room.
Ray pushed Brother Cavil’s father into the room behind them. Sarah came last, scanning the bigger room one last time for any surprises. Ray locked the door and turned to face the excited elders hugging.
“…The soup here is mediocre at best. You know they use broccoli with carrots. With carrots!” Reverend Marcus said, and Brother Cavil shook his head in disbelief.
“All right, what the hell happened here?”
“Mind your language, young man,” Reverend Marcus said and turned back to his son disapprovingly, “I see you have found yourself in vulgar company in my absence.”
Sarah raised her eyebrows. She glanced at Ga’an and saw he was equally puzzled, looking at Reverend Marcus.
“Everyone on your station is dead, old man,” Ray said impatiently, “and unless we get out of here fast, whatever killed them will find us, too.”
Reverend Marcus pursed his lips. “I must agree this has been shockingly wasteful. Disrespect to science and study is on a galactic scale.”
“Father, things…have transpired,” Brother Cavil said, “And we need your help to figure them out.”
“What things?” the elder man raised his brushy eyebrows over his broad nose. The resemblance to his son was obvious. “Is Damien pressuring you still?”
“No. Well, sometimes he can be—”
Ray took Brother Cavil’s arm firmly as if to say not here.
“—We can talk about it back on the ship,” the priest finished, giving Ray a frightened look.
“You bought a ship? Are you looking for senseless adventure, Gabriel?”
“No father, I—”
“Hey! What are you doing? To the ship. Now!” Ray intervened.
Reverend Marcus looked at Ray. “Very well.” His whole family is nuts!
The group and their newest member headed back to the hangar bay the way they had come, passing through the rooms, once sterile, now a series of abattoirs.
“Raymond Harris, if there is an Arinar here, we have to find it,” Ga’an said slowly.
Ray nodded. “Sarah, take Brother Cavil and his father back to the ship. We’ll look for the Arinar.”
“What?” Reverend Marcus stopped and turned to face Ray, “What did you say?”
“You’re in no shape to fight if things go sour. Brother Cavil can explain it all to you back on the ship. We need your help but getting you killed will help nothing.”
“Humph!” Reverend Marcus said, taking a step toward Ray. “Boy, I do not think I like your disrespectful nature.” He waved his finger, reprehending. “I am the utmost expert in Arinar and I will not let you take my research away.”
“Gods beyond, help me! What is it with you Cavils—” Ray stopped short when the reverend pulled out a small statuette from his robe, similar to the one they had on board the Fox, with slightly different carvings.
“My research!” Reverend Marcus hissed. No, Ray thought, he snarled.
“Light be praised,” Sarah said, mimicking Brother Cavil.
“You have the stone!” Ray couldn’t hide his surprise.
“Of course!” the elder sounded hurt by the idea of leaving his work behind. “I am not about to leave a sacred piece of history to some barbaric Neanderthal corporate show-offs who call themselves a rescue team to find in a scavenger hunt.” He snorted again, “Not that you would understand.” He eyed Ray threateningly, “What on seven heavens do you want with my Arinar?” The elder man tightened his grip on the statue.
“No time to ex—” a deafening howling sound interrupted Ray.
“Definitely not the time!” Sarah yelled, pushing the older men toward the corridor that tied the hall they were in to the lower ones.
Ga’an pointed to the far door of the large room opposite to the one they stood in. He said to Ray, “It came from behind that door.”
“Come on!” Ray bellowed, “shoot the door controls!” He rushed toward a drink automat near the doorway. “Those two can’t move any faster and I really don’t want to know what’s making that noise!”
“Blocking won’t do good with a sliding door, Ray!”
“Anything to slow them down!” Ray pushed the machine to block the doorway and waved for Ga’an to do the same with one of the couches nearby.
“Argh! To hell with this!” Sarah fired a few rounds at the door controls and the panel smoked black, then sparked. Something slammed the door at the other end just after Sarah fried the controls.
“That thing won’t hold for long!” Sarah yelled, running back into the hallway. Whatever was on the other side, it screamed in anger, tearing the silence with its voice.
“Hurry!” Ray ran after Sarah and the two priests, Ga’an following close behind. They caught up near the airlock hallway. A loud cracking filled the room behind them, announcing their pitiful barricade had been breached.
“Move!” Ray barked, turning back to face the source of the scream, aiming his pistol into the hallway.
For a moment it felt
as if time stopped. Ray’s ears were dulled, hearing only his own breathing. He turned his head. The Ancient stood next to him, looking at the doorway with vengeful eyes. Ray understood his new friend’s feelings. He’d only learned of Baeal a few days ago, but Ga’an was about to face the enemy he’d fought almost all his life and eons ago. He thought he heard the Ancient growl.
Ray’s heart sank and his guard dropped when the figure entered the hallway. He—It looked like a man— was bald and had a dark-bluish skin. The muscular creature was much taller than Ga’an, almost three meters in height. It had long, pointy ears stretching to the back of his head, connecting to his skin at their tops. The eyes—nothing reflected from them, as if they sucked the light in the room. The alien was naked but for a loincloth that shone like silver under the red-yellow illumination, and held a staff. Ray glanced at Ga’an, who stood like a statue.
The creature pointed his right hand at Ray, “Soliahis!”
“I don’t think he meant hello, Ga’an!” Ray yelled, the creature’s guttural voice pulling himself back to his senses. He burst his rounds at the creature.
Ga’an blinked, the sudden loudness of the shots waking him. He raised his own gun and fired.
The creature didn’t run or hide; it simply raised its left hand to its face. Ray saw their rounds meet its flesh but were they hurting it? Did it bleed? At least the shots disturbed the thing, and gave them ground to retreat to the ship.
“Raymond Harris, these weapons are inadequate. Their firepower is weak.”
“I can see that! Come on!” Ray fired his last rounds and ran toward the Fox. The old men and Sarah had reached the docking ramps already.
“Tarash ink massante sek Soliahis!” the creature spoke in his guttural language again, pointing at Ray and Ga’an. He walked toward them but seemed in no hurry.
The terrifying scream filled the air again.
“Raymond Harris!” Ga’an yelled in his booming voice.
Ray looked back and cursed, reloading his weapon.
Two pairs of ellipsoid glowing orbs stood between him and Ga’an. The lights flickered and a hulking tiger-like animal appeared out of thin air.
Ray’s jaw dropped. He was no xeno-biologist but the animal looked familiar—and yet completely different to his eyes. And hungry.
“It was hanging from that wall,” Ga’an said, seeing Ray’s surprise.
“I didn’t see anything!” Ray protested, stepping back slowly when the thing snarled and moved toward Ray.
“It is a creature of the night,” Ga’an moved slowly behind the alien, trying not to provoke it. The other one—a Baeal, Ray reasoned, stood in the doorway, watching his pet do his bidding.
“Ga’an, I’m open to suggestions.”
“It smells your fear. Do not do anything rash.”
“Ga’an...”
“Do nothing rash, Raymond Harris.”
“Ga’an, it’s about to eat me!”
Ga’an looked around hopelessly. “I can try and attack it from behind.”
“With what!”
“My hands.”
“Ga’an—”
The tall Ancient didn’t wait for Ray’s input and jumped on the animal. Ray winced, trying not to imagine Ga’an eaten alive by the feral alien, but instead Ga’an fell to the floor with a heavy thunk.
“What the hell!” The creature still lay before Ray but Ga’an had passed right through it. “How did that happen!”
“Do not question the good fate! Run to the ship, Raymond Harris!” Ga’an stood up and ran toward the Fox, Ray right behind him. They dashed into the ship and closed the airlock doors.
Ray risked a backward glance and saw the Baeal standing still, not following them. The huge alien watched them embark and gave one last look at its flickering pet, then turned and walked away down the corridor.
Ga’an panted beside Ray, still looking shaken from his encounter with his lifelong enemy. Ray sensed the tall man’s confidence fading, after facing his bitter rival, the adversary being everything he had feared.
“You have to see this!” Sarah called from the cockpit. Ray pulled himself together and dashed, leaving the shaken alien at the airlock.
“What’s it?” he asked as he entered the cockpit. Reverend Marcus and Brother Cavil were there too, watching in silence.
“The Baeal ship,” Sarah pointed. “Something’s happening to it.” The spider-like alien vessel flickered where it docked, like ripples in a pond.
“Is it cloaking? Brother Cavil asked.
“If it’s cloaking, it’s not doing a good job,” Sarah shook her head, “the energy readings are off the charts. Scanners would pick them out from the end of the system.”
“The same thing happened to that thing back in the corridor.”
“It is going back to its own plane of existence,” Ga’an’s voice surprised them. No one had noticed him coming into the cockpit and it made the sleeping cat jump.
“You should not creep up on older people like that!” Brother Cavil protested, his father murmuring in support. Ray heard ‘…disrespect to elders.’
Ga’an ignored the old men, “The stones are preventing them from staying on this plane too long.” He leaned forward to look at the charts on Fox’s screen. “When they had first attacked the Empire, Baeal forces disappeared and reappeared at random.”
“First?” Ray asked, as he watched the ship fade into nothingness before them.
“Eventually, their stays prolonged with each attack,” Ga’an’s voice lacked any emotion. “Without anyone to unite and activate the Arinar, they broke the barrier and poured into our space through their gates. The gates keep their connection stable.”
“So it’ll happen in our fight as well if we can’t do something about it,” Sarah completed the bleak picture.
“All right, that did it,” Reverend Marcus said, standing up slowly. “I am listening to the babbling of ignorant children, talking about things they do not understand.” He looked at everyone in anger, including the cat. “Now, someone tell me who you are and why you are interested in my Arinar!”
Brother Cavil cleared his throat, smiling apologetically, “Father, meet Ga’an, the first Nucteel mankind has ever met”—he pointed at the tall man—“and Raymond Harris, our only hope to save the known galaxy.”
Reverend Marcus took an old, rusty monocle from his pocket and screwed it into his left eye, looking at Ga’an and Ray one by one. “Interesting.” He pushed Ga’an with his finger, as if checking he was real. “Most interesting.” He turned to Sarah. “Little miss, will you be so kind as to prepare something to eat? I am hungry.”
Ga’an stood puzzled, but Ray laughed, shaking his head in disbelief as Reverend Marcus pushed a protesting Sarah toward the lounge, telling her about his favorite soup.
CHAPTER THIRTY
THE TALE OF TWO WORLDS
“I studied the Ancients my whole life,” Reverend Marcus said, spooning his soup with great appetite. “When my work back on Bunari was interrupted,” he stopped to shake his head with distaste, “I found other dig sites to continue my research.”
“You don’t look like the travelling type, Reverend,” Ray said, reaching for the pot to fill his own plate.
Reverend Marcus humphed. “I travelled the skies when you were playing with your toys.” He gestured for Sarah to give him more soup before continuing. “Eventually, some ignorant scientist finally heard that I am the utmost expert and found me for a new site.”
“You found the Arinar on that asteroid?”
“No,” the elder man’s eyebrows drew together with sudden anger, “by the time I was invited, they had already dug it out of the rock and desecrated it,” he grimaced. “Their reports were full of illiteracy. From what I could gather in my studies, each Arinar had a guardian. A statue like the one on Bunari. Well, this one did not. They probably broke the thing while they were at it.” He looked at his son and shook his finger, “Mark my words, son, if that happened on Bunari, they wo
uld have been hanged.”
“Anyway,” Ray stopped the reverend, seeing where Brother Cavil got his habits, “you were telling us about the statuette.”
“Statuette?” Reverend Marcus scowled, unhappy about being interrupted, but then his face brightened. “Ah yes, the Arinar!” He leaned back in his chair, happily patting his belly, murmuring his pleasure about the soup. “Scriptures tell us about the Nucteel using these stones as some sort of barrier against the ‘Baeal’, whatever that is.”
Ga’an’s muscles tensed, not missing the old man’s emphasis on the word Nucteel, and Ray hoped the hulking alien wasn’t going into a rage episode.
“I am a Nucteel.”
“And I told you what I think you are, tall…” Reverend Marcus looked at Ga’an, “very tall man. You are a fraud. It is neither possible not probable to have a living Ancient here. If no one ever told you before, your species died a few million years ago! Find another lie!” The elder Cavil shouted the last words, hitting his spoon onto the table with each word.
“You are trying my patience, old man!” Ga’an narrowed his eyes.
“Ah, perhaps you should tell us more, father,” Brother Cavil intervened, trying to calm down Ga’an and probably keeping his father alive. “I really do not wish to be a punch bag again.”
Please don’t tell anything Ga’an. Ray winced at the memory of Reverend Marcus calling Ga’an a fraud of ancient history—the first time—when Brother Cavil said he was an actual Nucteel. Brother Cavil had to jump on Ga’an’s back and Sarah hugged the Ancient from the front, her heels sliding against the sheer force of Ga’an. Ga’an punched and kicked, roared and cursed, reaching for the elder Cavil.
Reverend Marcus humphed. “I do not wish to be gagged and locked again. If I must submit to your barbarous methods, I prefer to listen to your colorful deceits.”
“Great gods…” Sarah murmured.
“The writings are somewhat ambiguous,” Reverend Marcus continued after a moment of pause and everyone gave a sigh of relief, “but they speak of a savior, a Lohil, who has the power to activate the stones. According to the lore, each stone has power of its own, radiating an energy beyond my comprehension, but they need to be used in harmony as a whole to be effective and the Lohil is the only one who can make them work together. The Lohil needs the stones and the stones need the Lohil.”
Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) Page 21
