Invaders: The Antaran (Invaders Series Book 3)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Why not?” I said.

  “Good,” Beran said. “Excellent.”

  With that, he turned and strode out of the room.

  I followed the Tosk, and as we walked down the curving corridor, I finally realized what might have Beran so excited. He must have thought Polarions were long dead. I think most were. Then, to discover I’d spoken to a Polarion…it may have abruptly altered Beran’s plans.

  That might give me the chance I needed to turn things around with us, and soon.

  -19-

  On the dark side of the moon, after having fed me and allowing me to shower while someone cleaned up my clothes, a Tosk prodded me up a ramp into a floater, one of the semi-sized transport vehicles that I’d first seen at the CUA headquarters complex.

  The Tosk joined others of his kind, about twenty of them. Each wore a harness and a helmet, and each carried a beam-carbine. I’d noticed there were two more floaters in the small hangar bay, both vehicles filling up with Tosks.

  Each craft was narrow and long like a freeway semi, with a bubble turret at either end. A Tosk sat inside each turret and controlled a larger beam weapon. The turrets were much like those in WWII bombers with their fifty-caliber machine-guns sticking from the bubble turrets of those planes.

  A Tosk stood at a forward control panel, watching a screen and manipulating various buttons and dials.

  The floater began to hum and vibrate the slightest bit. There were no chairs. Everyone had to stand or sit on the metal floor.

  The hatch opened, and Lord Beran entered. He wore a sidearm and a helmet and carried what looked like a baton in his right hand. The baton glowed at the tip and had several buttons along the side. It wasn’t wooden, but metal like polished steel.

  Beran moved toward me and pointed the baton at a wall. The area of the bulkhead shimmered and acted like a screen, showing the moon surface and the sun in the black sky.

  “That is our first destination,” he said, making eye contact with me.

  I noted the moon was lit instead of dark. He must mean we were going to travel to the side facing Earth.

  “We’re transferring there?” I asked.

  Beran gave me a cool study before shaking his head. “Is this a deliberate act of ignorance or do you truly not understand transfer technology?”

  “I fail to perceive the thrust of your question,” I said, as if annoyed with him.

  “Do you think we can transfer through the endless mass of the interior moon?”

  “I had presumed that an Antares dominie would possess superior technology.”

  “Superior to the Galactic Guard?” he asked.

  I shrugged, since I wasn’t sure how to answer.

  “Does it surprise you that I know you think of yourself as a probationary member of the Guard?”

  “I’m only surprised the Director broke so easily,” I said.

  Beran smiled, pointing the baton at me and tapping it twice against my chest.

  “You strain so hard to be devious,” he said. “It is amusing. The only negative is that it presupposes I am an idiot. That displeases me, Kraaling Logan.”

  “You keep using that word. What does Kraaling mean?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “It is an honorific of sorts. A Kraaling is above the animals, above the creatures, but a mere infant in understanding and knowledge.”

  “Are the Tosks creatures?”

  “Can you think otherwise?” Beran asked.

  “I notice that one pilots the floater.”

  “I control the floater, as you put it, as I control the Tosk. The creature does not choose our destination. Do you suppose a knife chooses where it shall cut a prime rib or do you cut the meat merely using the knife as a tool?”

  “Point made,” I grumbled.

  “At least you are teachable. I shall give you that. Too many intelligent beings refuse to learn. I am gratified to see that you are not one of those. Perhaps there was a reason why the Polarions chose your backwater planet.”

  “I’m curious,” I said.

  Beran nodded.

  “If the Polarions chose Earth, doesn’t that imply humans are an intelligent race?”

  “Are the Tosks intelligent?” Beran asked.

  “You view them as creatures.”

  “That is because I actually see reality for what it is. I suspect that you Terrans are sentimentalists and thus believe that an upright humanoid has to be intelligent. Certainly, the Tosks are more intelligent than chimpanzees, but not by much. Yet, to answer your questions, I at first believed the Polarions chose Earth because Terrans were a good servant race. I am beginning to wonder, however, if my studies have misled me.”

  “Meaning you’re teachable?” I asked.

  Beran stared at me with his burning gaze. The Tosks around us shifted uneasily, many of them backing away from him.

  “Shall I strike you, Logan, or do you wish a shocking in front of the animals?”

  “I prefer neither,” I said.

  “That is not the choice I’m giving you.”

  “I refuse to choose between two such base actions,” I replied.

  Beran rubbed his jaw with the end of the baton. “Are you attempting to imitate me?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said in a clipped way.

  “For that, I shall forgo abasing you before the animals. Instead, I will give you a warning. Attempt to insult me at your peril. I am a dominie of the Antares Institute. Among the stars, that is one of the highest ranks, as it means I am among the most intelligent beings in existence. Do you understand?”

  “I do, Dominie.”

  He rubbed his cheek again, and his dark eyes swirled with emotion. “Enough,” he said softly.

  Around us, the Tosks began to relax from their agitated state. Like dogs, they seemed to sense Beran’s moods.

  “You spoke to Argon,” Beran said. “Where on Earth did you do that?”

  “In Greenland,” I said.

  “Describe the region to me.”

  “Do you have a globe?”

  He pointed the baton at a bulkhead, and the Earth appeared on it.

  “You are seeing the planet as it is,” Beran explained. “We have already traveled around the moon to a direct view of your world. We can transfer there at any time.”

  I stepped closer to the image before glancing at him. “Can you enlarge the picture?”

  He manipulated his baton. The Earth appeared to leap closer.

  “Up here near the North Pole,” I said, “is Greenland.”

  “A snowbound region,” Beran observed. “Why then is it called Greenland?”

  “A dark age explorer gave it that name to entice colonists there.”

  “More deceit,” Beran said, while shaking his head. “Show me now, where in Greenland did you speak to Argon?”

  I pointed to the place where I’d found the Guard ship. It was an approximation, of course.

  “Hmm,” Beran said, as he manipulated the baton. “It appears that there is harmful radiation in that location. Can you explain that?”

  I told him about the space battle between the Greenland base that Argon had run and the space pirates trying to pilfer the Starcore for their own use.

  “The place is destroyed, you say?” Beran asked.

  I nodded.

  “I see,” Beran said. Abruptly, he faced me. “We will go there. Perhaps something has been overlooked. This underground base might well possess deeper regions that escaped the space assault.”

  “I doubt it,” I said. “I heard that the CAU scoured the site and found nothing.”

  “Hmm, let us see if the Terran organization can match my expertise.”

  With that, the wall screen and the view of Earth vanished, and we transferred to Greenland.

  -20-

  I had to admit, however reluctantly, that Lord Beran surprised me, as he found something that everyone else had missed. We had only cruised a short time across the radiated snow and ice of Greenland before he made his discovery
.

  From within the floater, Beran and I watched a wall screen. I couldn’t remember any particular mountain or snow formation from when I’d been here last. I did recall the bleakness of interior Greenland. Fortunately, I hadn’t had to go outside yet and endure the intense cold.

  “There,” Beran said. He pointed it out to me on the screen.

  We saw a portion of the ancient space cannon that had fired on the pirates two years ago. According to the sensors, the place was highly radiated.

  “Interesting,” Beran said shortly, as he finished scanning data that, to me, moved across the screen in a blur. If I were to guess, it appeared that he could read ten thousand words a minute.

  He gave instructions to the piloting Tosk. The werewolf-like creature made adjustments, and we transferred once more.

  My head swayed in surprise at what I saw. “We’re underground?” I asked.

  “How perceptive of you,” Beran said dryly. “There are higher crushed levels above us. We won’t try to go there. This is the deepest level I could find. Let us see if there is anything of interest remaining down here.”

  The semi-sized floater negotiated the deep tunnel at a crawling speed. Searchlights from the vehicle roved over rock, embedded metal and the occasional stalactite-like icicle. The passing vehicle broke off the longer icicles. The tunnel was huge and curved constantly. At last, we reached a gleaming metal garage-door-like hatch.

  Beran rubbed his hands in obvious anticipation. He’d attached the baton to his belt as if one or the other was made of adhesive.

  “What lies beyond the hatch?” he asked me.

  “I have no idea,” I said.

  “Do you notice that control panel to the side of the hatch?”

  I had been noticing it, and now nodded.

  “Can you activate it?” Beran asked.

  “I doubt it,” I said.

  “According to the sensors, the panel is old, thousands of years old. I cannot detect a power source that would cause the hatch to open for us. Fortunately—”

  Beran barked an order at the piloting Tosk.

  A moment later, the floater transferred to the other side of the hatch. We’d reappeared in a vast chamber. This one had walls made of rusted metal. I could not spy any icicles. Instead, there were banks of large stasis tubes. Like the ones I’d seen in the past, these were tubular and seemed to be constructed of clear glass or a glass-like substance.

  My heart beat faster and my mouth became dry.

  In the tubes were seemingly perfectly preserved ice age beasts: wooly mammoths, sabertooth cats, great sloths and dire wolves. There were no humanoids this time, unlike before.

  “You peer at the creatures with marvel,” Beran observed. “What do they mean to you?”

  “Great age,” I said, bemused. “All these animals are long extinct. They were supposed to have died out, I don’t know, ten thousand years ago.”

  “Interesting,” Beran said. “Yes. We appear to be on the right trail. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “I do,” I said, because there was nothing else to say and I knew he expected a response.

  “I would like you to form a conjecture,” Beran said. “Why would Polarions put such beasts in stasis tubes down here?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Have you seen such stasis tubes before?”

  I sighed inwardly, wondering if he really could tell when I lied. I decided to tell the truth, as I couldn’t see how that would help Beran. Thus, I told him about previous stasis tubes holding Neanderthals and other hominids, and the tubes that had held Polarions.

  “Ah…” Beran said, his eyes shining eerily. “No wonder the Galactic Guard keeps the rest of the universe from Earth. This is amazing. The Polarions are real. They are not a myth. Can you conceive of the knowledge they must possess?”

  “Lord Beran,” I said. “I feel I should caution you.”

  The tall Antaran gazed upon me as if in wonder. “Speak, speak. By all means, give me your precious warning.”

  “I have learned something of the Polarions. I have spoken with one and seen the greatest handiwork of another. They…seemed to seek godhood, to climb above all other races.”

  “Exactly,” Beran said. “You’re merely confirming my extensive research.”

  “Seeking divinity wasn’t their great achievement but their greatest error,” I said. “They reached too high. They became powerful and deeply knowledgeable, but in the end, that destroyed them. They still maintained the normal greed, lust and envy that seems to be the lot of all intelligent beings.”

  “Are you seeking to give me religious instruction?” Beran asked in amusement.

  “Huh?” I asked.

  “I have studied various religious texts of many different races. Almost to a one, they instruct a species to accept their lot. They warn against excessive pride. They warn against seeking godhood. In a word, they warn against the highest evolution that seeks to climb to the stars and beyond as a being becomes greater than his surroundings. The only religious texts that appealed to me were the ones that promised an eventual accession into godhood. Do you not understand, Kraaling Logan? For the rare individual with massive insight and training there is a future reward of expansion of being. I will ascend to the highest rank in existence. I will be greater than any other in the universe. By following the path of the Polarions, I will become supreme.”

  “But they’re extinct,” I said.

  “No,” he said, as his eyes burned with a fierce passion. “They have moved on to a better place. This I know from my studies. The Earth was the launch point. That is why this planet is off limits to Galactic Civilization. Long ago, the Polarions set up the Galactic Guard. The Guard allows you simpletons to play in the ruins of the launch point. What better disguise than others seeing you apish dolts destroying one another in your petty squabbles?”

  Beran straightened.

  “I am a dominie of the Antares Institute. I study a thing to its bitter end. I have learned ideas and concepts and prepared for this visit to the launch point—”

  He abruptly took the baton and used the end to rub his cheek, regarding me closely.

  “You hope to find Polarions?” I asked.

  Beran did not answer me, as his eyes seemed to bore into my soul.

  “If the Polarions still live,” I said, “they will destroy you for your presumptions.”

  “I think not,” he said.

  “If the Polarions are so great and powerful as you’ve described them, how can you think to thwart them?”

  Beran smiled cryptically. “I have prepared. You have no idea of who or what you are dealing with in me. I am the greatest dominie of the Institute, and this will be my greatest achievement.”

  “Because of this cavern?” I asked.

  Beran ignored me as he spoke harshly to the Tosks.

  The pilot grounded the floater. With another manipulation, the Tosk opened a hatch. Freezing air billowed into the floater.

  I shivered, as I was only wearing my summer garments.

  The Tosks didn’t seem to mind the cold, while a blue nimbus now surrounded Beran.

  “Are you ready?” he asked me, and his voice sounded distant, as if he spoke across a chasm. That must have been a property of the protective nimbus.

  I shrugged as I shivered anew.

  Beran spoke.

  A Tosk shoved a flashlight into my hands, while another bundled me into a heavy coat. Then, with me leading the way, Beran and his Tosks exited the floater and entered the deep Greenland cavern.

  -21-

  I stayed with Beran for a time. The deep cavern was bigger than I expected and maybe bigger than Beran had imagined.

  Slowly, I began to wander around, playing my flashlight here and there. There were more stasis tubes. Some of them were empty and might have once held man-sized beings. Some of them held alien things. Those were strange creatures with blob-like bodies the size of Labradors. Each possessed many rubbery-seeming tentacles.
/>   “Do you recognize those?” Beran asked.

  I shook my head. I’d never seen anything like them. Maybe the horror on my face convinced him I was telling the truth.

  “What are they?” I asked.

  “Workers of sorts,” Beran said. “The oldest records…” He fell silent, giving his head a shake. “I wonder why they’re in stasis tubes.”

  “Are you going to thaw them?”

  “No,” he said in a decisive voice.

  It made me wonder if I should try to revive them. There weren’t many of the blob creatures, but I didn’t see a machine to wake them or any controls on the individual stasis tubes.

  I shivered despite the heavy coat, and the frigid air made me cough. I wondered if any radiation had sunken down here. I couldn’t see how it hadn’t. The air was stale, the dark oppressiveness and the sense of antiquity weighing on my spirit.

  Beran seemed insane. He certainly had outrageous ambition. His talk earlier reminded me of the Devil, aka Satan, who had made similar claims, according to the Bible, toward dethroning God. That hadn’t ended well for Satan, getting him kicked out of Heaven. It also hadn’t ended well for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when Satan had told them they could be like God. I doubted this was going to end well for Beran, either. I didn’t want to be around him when he met his end. Of course, before then, he could cause a lot of ruin. I didn’t want him messing around with humanity.

  What were those blob creatures? Why had it surprised Beran to see them? He believed them very old, clearly. Only the oldest records appeared to speak or possibly hint about them.

  More than anything, I wanted to rescue Debby. How was I supposed to get all the way to Saturn? And if I did get out there, how would I know where to find her?

  As I wandered around the underground cavern, I thought about Jenna and Rax, about Kazz and the Director. I played my light on the floor, heard a strange sound, felt a moment of disorientation and stumbled forward, bringing up the light.

  It played on a machine. I hadn’t seen that a moment ago. I turned around and moved my light back and forth. I didn’t see any Tosks, any of their lights or any sign of Beran. I listened, but couldn’t hear them, either.