by C. A. Farlow
“And you, Lauren. Tomorrow we will travel fast and far. The terrain will be easier for everyone.”
Lauren heard a soft sigh and then a string of thoughts tickled her mind. She is amazing. So strong and resilient, but our travels will be arduous. “Sleep well Lauren and may your dreams be peaceful.”
“Yours too.”
Deep in the night, Lauren woke with a start. Something had entered her dreams and prodded her awake. She heard soft snores and quiet whiffles from the sleeping animals disturbing the quiet in the cave. But Lauren felt Alex was awake. “Hey, what’s the matter? Are you in pain? Can’t sleep?”
“I am fine. I am unable to calm my mind enough for sleep. We are facing a difficult journey. I am afraid many dangers are just around the corner.”
“I can relate to that. I’m worried too, and it seems even your furkids are worried.”
“Furkids? What is this term?”
“Oh, sorry, maybe our understanding of each other’s language isn’t as good as we thought.” Lauren sat up and crawled over to sit beside Alex where she reclined in the sled. “Let’s see if I can explain. ‘Furkids’ is a term of endearment that my friend Susan uses to describe all our animal friends. Like you say companions, she would say furkids. Anyway, I like the term and use it. Somehow I think it is appropriate for your companions, too. Though I doubt Ice would be enamored with the moniker.”
“True, Ice can be difficult at times. But I have learned the more she complains the more she cares about the one she is complaining about. My being injured worries her greatly. She shows us her anger to hide her worry.”
“Can you tell me a little about you and your world? I seem to be trapped here now and always do better when I’ve some data…information.”
“It is a long and not so happy story. One I do not think we can finish this night. But I will start, and we can continue as we travel.”
As Alex paused to organize her thoughts, Lauren interjected, “Would you like something to drink? I’ll mix up some hydration powder. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”
“That would be nice, thank you. I believe I will start with the Comin, as they are relevant to our current situation. Although our history is long, the Comin are a race we only recently encountered.”
Handing Alex a drink bottle, Lauren settled beside the sled to listen. “The Comin are a misogynistic race with a history steeped in conquest. Their culture is one of dominance and war. They do not want anything but information and technology. They conquer to add these to their world. And unfortunately, the only technologies they want are those that can increase their ability to be more successful in future conquests.”
“Sounds familiar.” Lauren shook her head at the parallels with some of the cultures on her Earth.
“Approximately four hundred years ago, the Comin came to my Homeworld of Terra Prime. Under the guise of diplomacy, they requested admittance to our court. My Great Grand’Mere welcomed them, and began trade and diplomatic talks. Our only knowledge of them was through their behavior in court.” Alex shifted on the sled.
“They come from a planet on the far side of a gaseous nebula, an area of space we had only explored briefly. There were no usable elements within the nebula, and so we left it without traveling to the other side. It was too large to go around. We always considered it a safe and impenetrable boundary around one-third of our space.” Alex paused to take a drink.
“How long have your people been able to travel in space? My people made it only as far as our moon with manned flights. Though we’ve sent various probes out into space, only a couple of those traveled beyond our solar system.”
“We have been a spacefaring people for about twenty millennia. Some of my ancestors were born on generational ships that traveled the galaxy looking for a new world. That is how Terra Prime was discovered and settled.”
Lauren was puzzled. “How do you power your ships? I’ve been taught that faster-than-light speed isn’t possible. Although Einstein thought differently, we don’t have the knowledge to do that.”
“Well, your Einstein was correct. We travel at plus-light speed using a combination solar-gravitational drive. I am sure one of the Fuar Ćala technicians would be able to explain it far better than I. But as I understand, we gather and condense energy from the solar emissions of nearby stars and use that to open space-gravity tunnels through which our ships move.”
“Space tunnels? Wow, that’s cool. I wonder if you could be generating wormholes or gravity wells? That’s amazing.” Lauren was in awe at this, her scientific curiosity spiked.
“I will be happy to feed your scientific curiosity later. Let us focus back on the Comin. A diplomatic relationship was established by my Great Grand’Mere. And the Comin held a place in the court of Terra Prime. Twenty or so years later, the Comin requested a trade of technologies of our terraforming and water filtration systems for their proto-atomic weaponry. Although we had traded these technologies in the past, we had no use for a trade involving weapons of mass-destruction.”
“This sounds like a story with a very unhappy ending.”
Alex nodded at Lauren’s comment. “We said ‘no’ to the trade. My Great Grand’Mere referred the Comin Ambassador to our trade councilors to develop a more appropriate trade. The Comin were angered, saying we had traded this water-producing technology before and would trade it to them or they would take it. Great Grand’Mere was not pleased with a threat.”
“Sounds like your great grandmother was quite the woman.”
“Oh, that she was.” Alex returned to her story. “By this time, our diplomatic delegation which had traveled to the Comin Homeworld, started sending back disturbing reports. Reports of racial atrocities and genocide. Rule on the Comin Homeworld was one of despotism. Political control was maintained through threat, murder, and torture. Some of the atrocities reported were so heinous our Council did not believe them. Great Grand’Mere recalled her ambassadors and prepared to cut off diplomatic ties with the Comin. She then asked the Comin Ambassadors to leave Terra Prime.”
Taking a drink, Alex seemed to hesitate in telling more of the tale. “My Grand’Pere was one of the delegates that went to the Comin world. They were ambushed on their return trip to Terra Prime and lost within the nebula. Their last communique was a warning to prepare for an attack by a weapon that could potentially cause planet-wide destruction.” Tears fell down Alex’s pale cheeks, and she drew a ragged breath.
“Oh, Alex. I’m so sorry.” Taking Alex’s hand in hers, Lauren began to slowly stroke her thumb over the back. “What a nightmare for your family!”
“The defenses around Terra Prime were increased. All shipping was stopped at the outer planets and inspected. Nothing was allowed into the inner solar system without proper review and authorization. Our fleet was mobilized, and it actively patrolled the boundaries of the nebula. But no attack came. Several decades after our diplomats were killed in the nebula, a single probe—so small it passed by our defenses unnoticed—made it into the inner solar system. It landed on one of the moons around Terra Prime.”
Oh this is going to be bad. I can feel Alex’s anguish. “You don’t need to go on.”
Tears streamed down both of their faces and fell on their joined hands. Lauren felt herself pulled into Alex’s nightmare. The verbal images were being reinforced by Alex’s emotions. “It is said on my planet, ‘Do not disregard the minor irritation of a single thorn prick. It could be the first of many, and many can be dangerous to one’s wellbeing.’ Or in this case, the wellbeing of an entire planet. This was the first of many small probes to penetrate into the inner planets. The first was discovered on Terra Prime by some hunters. It was imaged in situ, and then taken back to their homestead. The images were transmitted to the Institute for Offworld Scientific Discoveries. Though it was treated with all care, once back in the capitol it became active and transmitted a signal. The signal could not be stopped and our worldwide energy grid was not able to dampen it. The signal
activated all the other probes throughout our solar system.” Alex’s hand began to tremble in Lauren’s grasp. Her emotions rolled unchecked across their bond to Lauren.
“Well, that single prick grew exponentially and all the probes acted in concert to release a bioweapon into the atmosphere around their landing sites. It brought a rapid painful death to all living organisms. Soon the planet’s biosphere was lifeless. The weapon vaporized all liquid water within the planet, drying the seas, even dehydrating the minerals in the planet’s crust.”
Lauren gasped and exclaimed. “I saw it.”
“What do you mean?” Alex looked up at her sharply.
“When Ice was trying to convince me that there wasn’t a way for me to get you help, because I wasn’t on my Earth. She flooded my mind with a cascade of images. The last ones were of a barren orange planet. It was awful. The amount of destruction was unimaginable.”
“Oh, I am sorry you suffered that.”
Lauren looked down at their joined hands. “But I only suffered the images. How did you survive? How do you survive now?” With her question, she looked up into Alex’s darkened eyes.
“Luckily, I was off-planet in school when the attack was launched. That is what saved me, my companions, and my advisors. Had I been home, I too would have perished. Ironically, the technologies the Comin wanted were ones we would have gladly traded, if not given freely, had they simply told us of their plight and the environmental damage to their Homeworld. Their planet was dying a slow painful death from abuse and overuse. They did not have to take them by force and destruction.”
Lauren began to cry again. “But your world, your people, your family. How do you survive that?”
“I survived the moment by just doing what I had to in order to survive. To protect as many of my people as I could. To escape.” Alex smiled through her tears and squeezed Lauren’s hand. “Do not cry. We did survive and we found Terra.”
Sorrow permeated the cavern. “It was a long time ago. My people survived and now live here. We have re-established our civilization. Representatives of all but one of the original thirteen clans made it safely here. Only three thousand survived to make the journey, but now we have a thriving colony.”
“But Ice said you were just on the Comin world. That you were searching for a cure to the bioweapon there. Why do you need a cure if you traveled safely here?”
Alex looked up at Lauren and shook her head. “Unbeknownst to us at the time, some of the survivors we picked up along the way carried an agent from the weapon. We do not know how it happened, but it seems that the agent somehow attached something to their genetic material. This they transmitted to their offspring.”
Lauren looked up sharply at the mention of children.
“It was several generations before the first grandchildren became sick. We have successfully isolated these children and are holding them in stasis. If we can isolate the agent and remove it, then we can wake them and hopefully treat them. We have not found a cure as of yet, and if we are unsuccessful, our race is doomed to die with this last generation. Those of us who were off-world at the time of the attack are now also infected. I was trying to cross the nexus to the Comin Homeworld in hopes of finding an antidote or enough research on the agent to give our technicians a starting point.”
“To use a weapon like that is an act of such evil I can hardly comprehend how soulless the Comin must be.” Lauren shook her head. “Unfortunately, we’ve developed weapons of mass destruction, but their existence created a state of mutual deterrence. And luckily only two were ever used.” Taking a calming breath, Lauren asked. “Did you find anything? On the Comin world, I mean.”
Alex shook her head. “I didn’t find a cure, but before I was discovered and attacked, I did find the research materials on the original project. My understanding of the Comin language is rudimentary, though. So I copied them and brought them back with me.” Alex’s expression suddenly turned severe, and she tightened her grip on Lauren’s hand. “If anything happens to me, you must get the datanode back to Fuar Ćala.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you.” Lauren hoped, while she mentally crossed her fingers for their safety.
“Anything can happen. But please, you must swear that you will take the datanode to Fuar Ćala if I am unable to. Deliver it only to the Seneschal. It may be all that saves my people.” Alex dropped Lauren’s hand and rose.
Their conversation and roiling emotions woke the companions who rose as one to face Lauren, too. Lauren felt her fear rise as the companions’ faces matched Alex’s. “Please, calm down. I swore I’d do everything I can to get you back to Fuar Ćala. I’ll help however I can.” She feared for them and for herself. “It seems that I need you as much as you need me.”
“I know you will. We will be successful and we will all make it back,” Ffrwyn mumbled into their shared mindlink.
Ice shook her shoulders. “Well, we will not if you all continue to shout and fill the air with your discontent. You know Snow saw signs of others in the forest near the first cave. Who they were or why they were there we cannot say. But they are there. We will not be safe until we are home.”
Turning toward the agitated wolf, Alex admonished. “Ice you know we are safe within the caches, here no one can ‘hear’ us. Though your concern about mindspeaking outside the caches is valid. We must be cautious while traveling. Tonight, let us relax, and get some rest.”
Ice’s admonishment seemed to alter the atmosphere within the cave, and everyone took a proverbial step back from the horrific images their earlier conversation had created.
“Sleep is what all of us need because tomorrow we have another long day,” Snow said as she curled into a ball, her tail covering her nose.
Lauren lay down beside the sled and took Alex’s hand. “I’ll sleep better if I know you’re feeling well. And I seem to know how you feel if I touch you. Is this all right?”
“Of course. I can feel you when I hold your hand, too.”
Chapter Ten
THE NEXT DAY PASSED quickly. Ffrwyn was able to increase their overall travel speed across the relatively smooth basin floor. Snow and Ice patrolled around the trio in a circular pattern, each wolf circling in the opposite direction. This allowed them to cover the most ground while the trio moved toward the next cache.
As night approached, Ffrwyn alerted Alex that they were nearing the next shielded cache. “Wake, Alex. We are approaching the next cache. We have made good time today and can rest well knowing that the trip is progressing.”
“I am awake, Ffrwyn. Lauren, will you help me to stand so I can open the shield?”
Ffrwyn stopped beside a stream in a small copse of cottonwood trees. “We are here.”
“Okay, thanks, Ffrwyn,” Lauren said as she kicked out of her skis and rolled up the towrope, stowing it on the saddle. “Alex, I think you know the drill. Let’s try and get it in one this time and skip all the drama and burns.”
Alex chuckled, but stopped as pain radiated from her shoulder. “Exactly. I would like a quiet evening and not one filled with Ice telling us how we made a mess of things again. Please help me up and bring me my sword.”
“Your sword, Your Majesty.” Lauren presented the sheathed blade to Alex hilt first, bowing deeply as she did.
“Do you think you are being funny? You are beginning to sound like Ice. Remember, sarcasm can become a very ignoble habit, if you are not careful.” Reaching out to take the hilt and pull the sword from the scabbard, Alex froze. “Lauren, did you touch the sword any other time besides yesterday?”
“No, I noticed it when I originally found you, but yesterday was the first time I actually touched it. Why?”
“The stone does not look right. Its color and pulse are altered.” The stone had darkened to a deep midnight blue and now contained green inclusions. And it beat with a doubled rhythm, the green inclusions flaring in opposition to the pulse of the blue matrix. Alex couldn’t believe it. Lauren looked puzzled.
&n
bsp; “Alex, I told you the stone was different yesterday after Lauren touched the blade.” Ffrwyn turned towards them.
“Do you understand what this means, Horse?”
“No, I do not understand, and my name is not horse! My name is Ffrwyn.” Puffs of crystalline breath punctuated her statement.
“What’s wrong with the sword?” Lauren asked.
Alex couldn’t help worrying, too. What if we can’t access the caches?
“Alex, what’s wrong?” Lauren sounded worried.
“I fear that you have imprinted the sword and a bond is beginning to form.” Alex continued to speculate about the changes she saw in the stone. “There is nothing we can do here. The bond technicians may be able to unravel all of this once we return home. We do not need to worry as long as the sword still works to open the shields so we can access the caches.”
Closing her hand around the hilt, Alex pulled the blade from its sheath. Lifting her left arm, she moved the blade in a wide arc, stopping with the sword pointed toward the shield. A bright flash lit the dark glade of trees, and a cave entrance appeared in the stream bank. Lauren lowered Alex back into the sled, but Alex resisted. “It is all right. I wish to see if I can walk into the cave.”
“You really want to push it, don’t you?” Lauren shook her head. “Or is it that you just can’t let others help you?”
Smiling down at Lauren, Alex stated, “I will always accept help from you. Riding in the sled all day, I am getting soft. My injuries continue to heal, and I must work to regain any strength I can.”
“Oh, all right. Have it your way, but if you take a header into the stream, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Handing the sword hilt first to Lauren so she could replace it in the scabbard, Alex began to slowly walk through the shallow stream toward the cave. Lauren reached out for her. “Whoa there. Let me at least keep a steadying hand on your belt.”
