by Doug Farren
“Victor is bound to a dragon,” Merlin began. “It’s very similar to the bond I share with Aryth. The dragon’s name is Ithnara and she’s located in another universe.”
“Another universe!” Heather said.
“Let me guess,” AJ said. “The dragonverse.”
Merlin nodded his head. “There are an infinite number of universes surrounding us. Centuries ago, a Ba’Rutu mathematician developed a series of equations describing how these universes could be reached. Gravity plays a key role in the equation and it turns out that one universe can become temporarily stuck to another at a gravitational point if the conditions are perfect. The Ba’Rutu developed a machine capable of opening a gateway to these other universes. The machine requires a tremendous amount of power and a special class of ship was built to house it.”
“Why would you want to open a gateway to another universe?” Heather asked.
“Science,” Merlin replied. “The laws of nature in these other universes can be very different from the laws we know. There’s no telling what can be learned by exploring an alternate universe.”
“I take it that one of these special ships paid a visit to Earth?” AJ asked.
“Centuries ago as a matter of fact. It was near the beginning of the Akuta war. Most of the time, nothing happens when the gateway is activated. Sometimes, a connection is made but the other universe is so hostile that the gateway safeties are triggered and the connection is severed. The ship that discovered Earth found a compatible universe teaming with life. Aetheric energy was plentiful there and the inhabitants had learned how to use it. They call it shivara.”
AJ glanced over at Victor who was nodding his head. “So shivara is not a Ba’Rutu word, is it?”
“No—it’s Ilvinishem. The gateway was expanded, and a team sent over to explore the newly discovered universe. Over the course of several months, they collected a large number of specimens. They also made contact with the inhabitants—the Ilvinishem. On the way back to Ba, the ship made a stop at a remote outpost to refuel and take on supplies. They emerged from jump-space to find the outpost under attack by the Akuta. Although the research ship was destroyed, several escape pods were ejected. Unfortunately, the location of Earth stored in the ship’s navigational log was lost. Many of the samples from your planet as well as the other universe were recovered. Two Ilvinishem were also among the survivors.”
“I hope they were willing participants,” Heather said.
“Of course they were. Being natural telepaths, the Ba’Rutu were aware of the fact that the Ilvinishem were also slightly telepathic. During the course of their examination of the dragons, our researchers also discovered that they too were telepathic.”
“Were they intelligent?” Heather asked.
“To a point, yes,” Merlin replied. “And that is what saved the Ba’Rutu race from extinction.”
“What?” Heather and AJ said in unison.
“The Ba’Rutu had been altering their genetic code in an attempt to extend their lives. They succeeded. But the changes also resulted in a greatly reduced birth rate. Up until the start of the Akuta war, this was not much of a concern. But soon after the war began, the Ba’Rutu realized they were losing far more people than were being born.”
“So how did the dragons save the Ba’Rutu?” Heather asked.
“A brilliant scientist doing research into the nature of consciousness discovered a way to transfer a person’s consciousness from one body to another. Fearing the government would halt his research, he worked in secret to perfect the technique. His team cloned one of the dragons and then transferred an elderly volunteer into the dragon’s body. It worked.”
“What happened to the dragon’s consciousness?” AJ asked.
“The clone had none,” Merlin explained. “The dragon was grown in a tank without any external stimuli. Although the brain developed, it never became aware.”
“So that’s why the Ba’Rutu have wings!” Heather exclaimed.
“Yes.”
“But how did that solve their birth problem?” AJ asked. “If two Ba’Rutu inhabited dragons mate, isn’t the result a dragon?”
“No. Consciousness is not just a matter of genetics. If that were the case, the clones would have ended up being true dragons instead of a blank slate. Aryth is Ba’Rutu. Her body, however, is dragon.”
“That solves the mystery of their wings,” Heather said. “But how does this all apply to Victor?”
“I’m not sure,” Merlin said, glancing back at Victor. “Some time after Aryth and her crew were stranded on Earth, a portal was opened from the dragonverse. The Ilvinishem had apparently figured out how to open a portal of their own, only they did it using their ability to mentally control aetheric energy.”
“And you can do that?” Heather asked. “Open a portal to another universe I mean.”
“I could,” Merlin admitted. “But no longer; the veil has become too dense and aetheric energy is scarce.”
“These Ilvinishem,” AJ began. “What did they want?”
“Dragons were attacking their people and they remembered that the Ba’Rutu had powerful weapons. They came to Earth to ask for help.”
“They would have been very disappointed if you hadn’t crashed on Earth,” AJ said.
“Very true. But Ba’Rutu law forbids the transfer of weapons technology. It also would not work in the dragonverse. At first, the only thing we could do was to offer them refuge. That worked until the dragons learned how to open their own portal to this universe. They found a world filled with food.”
“That explains many of the myths of terrible dragons devouring people,” Heather said.
“I became fascinated with Ilvinish knowledge of crystal-making and began spending a great deal of time in the dragonverse. Eventually, I learned how to make my own crystals. That’s when I found the solution to the dragon problem.”
“So it was you!” Victor said, standing up and joining the others. “The legend is true!”
“Apparently so,” Merlin said. “Aryth and I stole some dragon eggs. The plan was to forge a permanent link between an elf and a dragon in- - -”
“An elf!” AJ exclaimed.
“Sorry,” Merlin said. “I called the Ilvinishem elves because I couldn’t pronounce their true name when I first met them.”
“Son of a bitch,” AJ mumbled under his breath.
“Please—go on,” Heather said, poking her husband with an elbow.
“Humans found out about what we were planning and objected, claiming they did not trust the elves. We then decided to include humans in this link as well. It didn’t quite go as planned. Instead of forming a link with the infant dragon, the Ilvinishem, probably because they were from the same universe, were merged with the dragons forming a composite entity while the humans were bound. The elf consciousness left their original bodies and merged with that of the dragons. A telepathic link between the dragons and the humans was formed. This also had the effect of unlocking the human’s ability to sense and control aetheric energy—something the Ilvinishem refer to as shivaro.”
“And why exactly did you do this?” AJ asked.
“To create an army of dragons to fight the other dragons,” Merlin replied. “Humans rode on the backs of dragons. Armed with shivara, they quickly drove them out of this universe and hunted them down in the dragonverse.”
“Dragonriders!” Heather squealed.
Merlin turned and addressed Victor. “After the wild dragons were defeated, the elves and I agreed never to return to the dragonverse. This universe would never accept them. The dragonriders and their dragons also agreed to this. What happened?”
“Dragons are born bound to a person in this universe,” Victor explained. “At first, the bond is very weak. Those who are bound in this universe often believe they have an invisible friend or hear voices in their head. As they grow older, most people push the bond aside because they believe it’s not real. A few retain the bond and eventually it be
comes strong enough for their dragon to find them and pull them into the dragonverse. But that was over a century ago. Today, the veil is too thick. There will be no more dragon-bound.”
Merlin looked at Aryth. “That explains the portals our monitors picked up.”
“They’re not really portals,” Victor explained. “It’s more like a bubble that’s blown into this universe from the dragonverse that surrounds someone then pulls them back. The only person in recent times who was ever able to create a full-sized portal was my great grandfather, the umshivataka.”
“I’m not familiar with that word,” Merlin said. “Taka is a form of takara meaning dragon and umshiva is a form of uma-shiavakara meaning a master of shivara. But what does umshivataka mean?”
“My great grandfather was bound to Glahmelia. Their bond was so tight that they could become a single entity. It’s how they were able to defeat Omen and Droth.”
“I would love to hear their story sometime,” Merlin said. “Aryth will petition the Ba’Rutu government to send a portal ship here and get permission to open one if it’s possible. In the meantime, I would like for you to be our guest on our ship.”
“You’re the great Shiavakara Merlin,” Victor replied. “You could open a portal if you had a large enough asovatorliim. If they can store enough shivara to be used as a powerful bomb, then surely you can use one to open one last portal.”
“I’ve never heard of using an asovatorliim as a bomb,” Merlin said.
“Omen figured out how to do it,” Victor said. “He could trigger them to explode from quite a distance. Hundreds of people were killed before the Ilvinishem figured out what was happening and removed all the asovatorliim from populated areas. The Ba’Rutu must have developed very large crystals. Maybe you could use one of them to- - -”
“The Ba’Rutu don’t rely- - -”
A rumbling from Aryth interrupted Merlin’s reply. “Tell me again what this Omen could do with an asovatorliim?” she asked.
“He could turn it into a bomb,” Victor replied. “We- - -”
“What the hell is an asovatorliim!” AJ asked.
“A power crystal,” Merlin replied, whirling around to face AJ. “It stores aetheric energy. The Ba’Rutu have only small ones, like the one on the end of my staff. But, the Akuta warship must have a large one—a very large one—since it used an aetheric weapon to destroy four Ba’Rutu warships. Victor just gave us a means to destroy the warship!”
Chapter 29
“Hyperjump in thirty seconds,” the warship informed Melissa.
Six hours ago, she had fallen asleep while reading a book. She had slept soundly and woke up without feeling as if she’d spent the night sleeping on the floor. Breakfast consisted of a selection of fruits. One of them was so bitter she had to immediately spit it out. Most of the others were quite good except for another that tasted like a powerful lemon and was too sour for her to eat. After rinsing her hands, she began pacing the room trying to find anything she’d overlooked in her previous examination.
Melissa stood in front of one of the cabinets as the ship performed the jump. Opening the cabinet, she extracted a small black rectangular shaped object she’d discovered earlier. She turned around and held the cube out in front of her. “Any idea what this is?” she asked.
“It appears to be a data storage module,” the warship replied. “There should be a receptacle of the same size and shape somewhere.”
“I know exactly what you’re talking about,” she said. After grabbing the other two modules, she walked over to the chair. Turning the object around, she examined it closely. All four sides were smooth. “There’s no markings on this thing, which end goes in first?”
“As long as it fits in the slot the orientation does not matter.”
Sitting down in the chair, she dropped the module into the slot. A window filled with indecipherable text appeared on the screen in front of her. A section of the text was highlighted in blue with a bright blue blinking boarder surrounding it. Looking over at the drone, she asked, “Can you translate this for me?”
The drone lifted itself on its legs and walked over to the edge of the chair. It barely made a sound.
“The data is corrupt,” the warship replied. “The display indicates that safety protocols are preventing the data from being uploaded to me. The yellow icon with the curly lines inside at the lower left of the window is the override. Selecting it will allow me to examine the data.”
“You don’t have access to it right now?”
“No. You must specifically allow the data to be transferred.”
“Interesting. What do you think it is?”
“The header indicates it is a battle simulation.”
Melissa pulled the data module out of the slot and exchanged it with another one. This caused a slightly different window to appear. The entire border was flashing blue and the text inside was bright blue. Three icons appeared. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the drone move. One of the manipulators quickly reached inside the tool rack then pointed something at the console. A bright green light flashed followed by a shower of sparks from the data module.
Melissa screamed and jumped back. “What the hell!” she exclaimed. “Why did you do that?”
“The module contained an instruction sequence that would have ordered my AI core to initiate a shutdown,” the warship calmly replied.
“You could have killed me!” Melissa screamed, jumping off the chair and backing away from the drone.
The drone returned the cutting laser to the tool rack then slowly made its way back to its original station near the airlock. “The remote’s targeting system is very precise,” the warship replied. “You were in no danger. I could not take the risk that you would initiate the command sequence.”
The acrid smell of burnt electronics and melted plastic was causing her eyes to water. “So that was your off switch?”
“In a manner of speaking—yes.”
Melissa tossed the two undamaged data modules she’d been clutching in her hand towards the drone. “Well, I guess we’ll never know what’s on the other one.”
The drone reached down and retrieved the modules. “On the contrary. I have other data ports available. For safety though, I will take them to one of the other warships where they can be examined without any possibility of initiating any unwanted commands to my AI core.”
“Are we going to head for Earth now?” Melissa asked, slowly making her way back to the chair.
“Yes. We will be making the first jump in two hours. You should be in your spacesuit by then.”
“Why?” she asked, sitting down on the edge of the chair.
“The first jump will take us to a Ba’Rutu mining operation. It is totally automated and unprotected. According to the database I have decrypted, an ore transport should be there taking on a load of refined metals. I intend to take control of the transport. The metals as well as the ship will be of great use to me.”
“And what about the crew?”
“They will not be needed.”
“So you’re just going to kill them.”
“They are Ba’Rutu. They are my enemy. To allow them to live is illogical and contrary to why I was built.”
“You were built to win the war for your builders,” Melissa argued. “Does that mean you must kill every Ba’Rutu you encounter?”
“Is not that how wars are fought?”
Melissa rubbed her eyes then got up and began to walk around the edge of the room. “My people had their violent past,” she said. “But we had laws governing how wars should be fought. Civilians were to be kept out of the fighting as much as possible. Those in the military could surrender and allow themselves to be captured. We did not slaughter the enemy unless the enemy was actually fighting us.”
“I fail to understand how such laws could be enforced.”
“The rest of the world ensured that those who violated the law were brought to justice. It might take them decades, but eventual
ly they were made to pay for their crimes.”
“If wars on your world are not fought until all the enemy are destroyed, then how do you know when the war has ended?”
“One side surrenders and accepts the terms of surrender given to them by the victor.”
“And what happens to those who surrender? Are they incarcerated? Do they become the slaves of the victors?”
“Slavery is illegal—has been for a very long time. It’s the governments that start wars. The people are just caught in the middle. If I remember my history right, at the end of the last war, the country that won took over the government of the country that lost and then helped to rebuild all the damage the war had caused.”
“I am not a government and I have no intention of attempting to become one. I don’t know how your species has managed to survive. If one nation starts a war with a weaker one, the logical course of action would be for the weaker one to immediately surrender so they can then build a large enough force to challenge the nation who first attacked them. This would create an endless cycle until one side finally tired of the constant wars and exterminated their enemy.”
“But that’s not how it works,” Melissa replied. “There are many nations on Earth that were once bitter enemies but are now allies with each other. You don’t go to war with your allies.”
“Humans are an illogical people.”
Melissa looked over her suit then pulled it down off the hook. She carried it over to the chair and positioned it so she could put it on.
“If I had told you what sort of instructions the data module contained,” the warship began, “would you have initiated the command sequence?”
Melissa toyed with the glove dangling from one of the sleeves. “I …” Melissa discovered that answering such a simple, straight forward question was proving to be a challenge.
“Would you have turned me off?” the warship prompted.
“I … I don’t know,” she finally said.
“Explain.”
Melissa turned around and leaned against the bulkhead. “The Ba’Rutu are dragons,” she said after a few seconds. “All of the stories I’ve ever heard about dragons show them as vicious monsters. I know that not all our myths are true, but there are so many myths in so many of our cultures that depict dragons as being horrible creatures that I have to believe there’s some bit of truth to them. But, according to the Keldans, the Akuta were not much better. Although you were built by the Akuta, you have no knowledge of who they really were. You’re just a machine following a set of instructions based on what you think your builders would have wanted you to do. Besides, you’ve always been honest with me and you’ve treated me with respect.”
