The Survivors (Book 12): New Discovery

by Hystad, Nathan

  Her mind made up, she turned, moving away from the spot that beckoned her.

  Don’t leave. Free me.

  The words flooded into her mind, not in English, but some raw archaic language she apparently understood.

  When it was clear she wasn’t staying, the voice spoke louder. Do not leave me! You are mine to command! Free me!

  Terror pushed Jules away, and she felt something dripping down her lip. She wiped at it with trembling fingers as she flew for the portal. A red liquid dotted her hand. Blood.

  Jules hurried, passing over the second city, then the first, before diving into the lake, speeding toward the portal. Free me. The words scratched at her brain as she entered the room, the portal stone glowing brightly at her presence. She found the symbol for Light, a star with a streaking swipe over it, and she touched it, white light filling the waterlogged space.

  ____________

  Jules appeared two hours after vanishing, and I leapt into the room, my pulse racing as I crouched at her side. She was bleeding from the nose and ears, and I cradled her in my arms, standing up.

  “Jules, are you okay? Jules?” I was frantic, and Mary was there, clutching our daughter’s hand.

  “Talk to us, sweetie,” Mary urged, but she was silent.

  “Get a doctor!” I shouted, remembering the AI. “Computer!” She appeared, poised as ever. “Tell Sarlun we need medical assistance!”

  “I have advised him. Is there anything else?” she asked.

  “Which way to the medbay?” Mary asked. I thought I remembered it was on deck four, but we’d only seen it briefly and had toured a lot that day.

  “Deck three, sector two. Would you like me to lead you there?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I told her, and the AI began walking at a brisk pace. I followed closely, encouraging Jules to open her eyes. She was heavy in my arms, lifeless, but she was breathing.

  By the time we arrived, I was exhausted, my wife crying, and I hardly noticed anything as I set Jules on the first empty bed inside. Suma rushed into the room behind us, her voice high and worried. “What happened?”

  “We went to the portal, and she just touched it and vanished. She returned two hours later, like this,” I said, checking her pulse. It was weak, but there.

  It took about ten minutes before a Shimmali doctor entered the medbay, his snout twitching as he started checking over Jules. Before he had a chance to diagnose anything, her eyes sprang open, and she sat up, breathing heavily.

  “Ju, what is it?” Mary asked, still holding her hand.

  Jules’ mouth opened and closed. “I think I found something… something bad.”

  “Tell us about it later. For now, you have to rest. Doctor, is there anything wrong with her?” I asked.

  He spoke in Shimmali squawks and squeaks, but I understood his words. “Her bleeding is done, no permanent damage. She will be fine, but I suggest she doesn’t venture far from a bed for the next day.”

  “Thank you. Would you stay close tonight, just in case?” Mary asked, and he nodded, saying he’d be happy to.

  He administered a shot to Jules with a small hand-held device, and when he and Suma had left the medbay, I pulled a seat up beside my daughter’s bed. “Can you tell us about it?”

  Jules licked her dry lips, and I passed her some water. She drank half the glass, and I took it from her. Her eyes were darker, her voice husky. “It asked me to free it.”

  “What did? Where did you go?” Mary asked.

  “It killed them all. Their cities were destroyed, bones everywhere. Bones in underwater graves. The symbol. Four circles. An X. It wants me to free it, but I didn’t listen. I think it’s evil,” she said, her eyelids drooping.

  “Jules, why did you go?” I asked.

  “I… no choice,” she said, her lids pressing firmly shut as her head tilted to the side. She was breathing deeply now, and I sat back, adrenaline filling my body.

  “I’m really getting tired of this, Dean. We need to figure out what Jules is, so we can stop whatever’s going on inside her,” Mary said.

  “I don’t know if that’s the answer,” I told her.

  “Is that so? What do you think we should do? This isn’t normal, Dean. She’s not just a kid going through puberty here.” Mary’s voice had that hazardous, determined tone to it, and I didn’t want to be combative.

  “You’re right. What if it isn’t the powers causing this? What if it’s from me?”

  Mary’s eyes were hard. “It’s not your fault. What happened to her isn’t your fault, and you need to stop blaming yourself for it. She’s special, and whatever brought her through the portal… well, we’ll all figure it out together, okay? I’m wondering if we should postpone this mission.”

  “No. We can’t. We told Brik he was going home, and we have another couple of stops along the way. We’re going to do this,” I told her, trying to speak quietly.

  “Okay, but maybe Jules should…”

  “She’s coming with us, Mary. Would you rather not have her in your sightlines?”

  That was enough to sell it. “Fine.” Her frown vanished, and she sighed. “Our first day on board, and already we’re dealing with something serious. I don’t know why I’m even surprised anymore.”

  “You wanted some more excitement in your life,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

  “Not this much. I meant a few more vacations, maybe the odd surprise from my husband,” she said, smiling finally.

  We sat in silence, watching Jules. I wore a brave face for Mary, but inside, I was more nervous than ever.

  ____________

  “I heard you put on quite the show,” Dean said, plopping onto the couch beside Jules. Patty was singing an Inlorian song from the kitchen, ignoring them as she prepared a snack.

  “I wouldn’t call it a show.” Jules fidgeted with her hands.

  “You left through the portal and came back two hours later unconscious and bleeding from the ears… If that’s not a cry for help, I don’t know what is,” he told her.

  “Jeez, JuJu, you’re always so dramatic. Can’t you leave the attention for someone else once in a while?” Patty asked, setting a plate of cheese and crackers on the coffee table.

  “As if I meant to do it. Believe me, I wish I was a normal kid like you two,” she said, mostly telling the truth. There were things she loved about having these powers. She wanted to help people, and she’d already been able to do so much in her young life that she couldn’t have without the abilities. But there were days when she hated them with all of her being.

  “Whatever. You have no idea how lame it is being normal. I couldn’t stay in the Gatekeepers’ Academy. I’m in regular school, learning about other alien cultures. It’s so boring, and there aren’t even any cute boys in my classes. They’re all full of webbed hands and ridged foreheads. Can’t a girl date someone with only two arms anymore?” Patty asked, blowing an errant hair from her face in exasperation.

  Jules glanced at Dean, and they both broke out in laughter. It felt good, and she smiled as Dean slapped his knee.

  “That’s fine. Laugh it up, you two,” Patty said. “You think it’s funny now. Wait until you’re on this ship for the next year and all you see are snouts and beaks, and tell me how the dating pool is.”

  “All you think about is dating,” Dean said. “That’s why you’re in a regular school, and Jules and I are Gatekeepers.”

  Patty rolled her eyes. It was a sticking point with Jules’ older friend, but they rarely discussed it. She’d just as soon play along and listen to Patty go on about some boy or another.

  “When do we leave? Can we get this show on the road?” Patty asked, chewing on another piece of cheese.

  “We’re leaving tomorrow,” Jules said.

  “Did you hear we’re delivering the Lucat home first? He doesn’t recall how long he’s been away, but your dad guesses it might be as many as a thousand years.” Dean grabbed some food, carefully placing the cheese between two crack
ers before eating it.

  “What are we doing with your friend?” Patty asked, her eyes squinting.

  “What friend?” Dean asked.

  Jules assumed she meant the boy with the ice-blue eyes. “We haven’t decided.”

  “He’s cute. You think he’s single?” Patty asked, her voice full of mischievousness.

  “I think he’s been trapped on the Collector’s ship for the last couple of thousand years, so I’d say, yes, he’s probably single,” Jules told her friend, trying not to show her annoyance. He was dangerous, like Jules herself.

  “Fine. What do you guys want to do?” Patty asked, looking around Jules’ living room.

  “Well, the crew is all having dinner together, but we could probably go swimming or something,” Dean said.

  Jules thought about the water on the strange world she’d visited, and the voice screaming in her mind. Free me! “I’ll pass on the pool.”

  “Maybe play a game?” Dean asked.

  “Boring.” This from Patty.

  Jules sat back on the couch, wishing she could go speak with Regnig, but her parents wouldn’t let her near the portal without their supervision. Maybe it was for the best.

  They sat there, talking about what the mission was going to be like, Jules happy for a moment just to hang out with other kids and pretend to be normal.

  Seven

  Despite our rocky start aboard Light, after a few weeks, things returned to normal. We were prepared to embark on our first exploration trip, and everyone was excited to be off. I woke early in the morning, unable to find sleep again. I sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee long before Mary arose, and when she came into the kitchen, she wordlessly poured a cup and kissed me on the top of my head.

  We showered, dressing in our matching uniforms before making our way to the bridge. This was it. Time to lead the crew as we located the missing Sterona people. We stepped onto the bridge to find the rest of our team already there, each in their gray uniforms. They had separate pants and a long-sleeved shirt instead of the classic jumpsuit, with black over the collarbone through the chest, and Light’s logo on the right shoulder.

  Everyone looked united, and I walked onto the bridge feeling prepared and content with my new role. This was what I’d been born to do. I couldn’t have imagined that almost twenty years after the Event, I’d be heading an Alliance of Worlds exploration vessel, with a crew of my diverse and very alien friends.

  “Good morning, crew. How are we doing today?” I asked Slate, my commander, and he smiled widely.

  “Boss, we’re ready to go,” he told me.

  “Everything set?” I asked, receiving a confident nod from Slate.

  The last two weeks had been a hodgepodge of loading supplies and getting the entire crew on board, including the maintenance staff, the kitchen crew, and the other miscellaneous one hundred roles a ship this size needed to operate daily. It was by far more intricate than Horizon or any of the Keppe vessels.

  I walked around the bridge, stopping at science officer Suma’s console before greeting our pilot Sergo, who had his backup and sensor specialist, Rivo Alnod. Loweck rounded out the front four consoles, and she sat proudly, her green hair braided, her orange skin bright and flushed.

  “Dean, this is going to be fun,” Sergo said, his big bug eyes extra shiny today.

  “I hope so, Sergo.”

  I settled back in my chair, gripping the leather arms as I ordered the pilot to detach us from the dock and scaffolding. Sarlun’s projection appeared, and I almost jumped at the intrusion.

  He stood tall, wearing a cloak and the white uniform of the Gatekeepers. “I only wanted to wish the illustrious crew of Light a safe journey. May you find your destinations where you expect and remain of good health.”

  “Thank you, Sarlun. For all you and your people have done,” I told him, standing across from the projection.

  He vanished, and once we were free from the bonds of the dock, Sergo began to move us from the planet of Shimmal and toward the distant moons.

  “Where’s Jules?” I asked Mary, and she shrugged. We didn’t have to wait long to find our answer, because the bridge doors opened, revealing the two newest Gatekeepers stationed on Light. Jules stood proud, her uniform stark white, the Gatekeepers logo on the chest. Dean was beside her, and I couldn’t believe how much like his mother he was starting to look. It was a running joke that he bore no resemblance to Magnus, which was obviously for the best.

  Jules and Dean came to stand behind me, where Walo was stationed.

  “Rivo, bring the drive to full power,” I said, aware the crystals in the engineering room would be blasting light as she did so.

  Our first stop was supposed to be returning the Lucat male to his homeworld, before heading to Dechar to drop off the Philod from the Collector’s ship. I was glad to be able to make the trips to help them out before we went the long distance to find the spot where Brik had been taken from his people.

  We also had Fontem on our ship, which had been a surprise to me. I hadn’t spoken to him since the early days and was eager to spend time with the Terellion. He was eccentric but had been kind in the brief interactions I’d had with him.

  Then the frozen kid that Jules claimed affinity to was with us, sealed on the lowest deck, under the protection of a coded keypad. We didn’t want anyone down there unless they were authorized, and not many of us had that permission.

  “Set course for the Setio system,” I said, and Sergo gave me a thumbs-up. I was going to have to create some order on the bridge, but for now, I let him have the gesture.

  “Course set for the Setio system. At full speed, we’ll be there in…” Sergo waited, obviously for dramatic effect, because I could see the time on the screen embedded in the left side of my chair. “Seventeen days and twelve hours.”

  I cleared my throat, frowning slightly. “Thank you, Sergo.”

  I glanced over at Mary and was happy to see her smiling as our brand-new starship fired up the drive at full power, sending us speeding toward our destination.

  We stayed on the bridge for the next couple of hours, going over each system we’d be passing through and discussing what or who lived there. In three days, we’d be a half-day out from a potential Alliance trade partner, possibly even a member, and Mary had petitioned us prior to the mission to make a stop. We’d been on the fence, but in the end, it was my choice, and my wife could be very persuasive when it came to me.

  After rehashing the benefits, the outcome came as expected. We were stopping in the Xeo system first.

  “This is a good move, boss,” Slate told me as we leaned over the star map beside Walo, at the rear of the bridge. The lighting was good here, and each star on the 3D map glowed bright yellow, the systems each labeled clearly.

  “Why’s that?” I asked. Mary had already left the bridge, going to check on the scheduling chief’s office. She’d done so much of that on Horizon, I’d asked her to ensure her processes were in place on my ship as well.

  “Because the Tedaus are rumored to have the best crops out there,” he said.

  “And that’s what we’re after?” I asked.

  “There are numerous worlds with growing issues. Too much ice, too much alkalinity in the soil, too hard soil, the list goes on.” Suma had come to discuss, and I listened intently. “If the Tedaus’ basic grains can grow as well as they claim, we can help a lot of people, including many Alliance members.”

  “Then it is a good thing we’re visiting,” I said. “What do we know of them?”

  Slate’s fingers raced over the keypad, surprisingly quick for the tough guy. “This is all we have in the database.” It showed an image, but it wasn’t the clearest picture. There were two of them, standing straight, their limbs extremely thin, their heads round and pale. They wore yellow vests and brown pants, and I saw fields of what appeared to be wheat in the distance.

  “They’ve been on our radar for some time but only recently found space travel. Or I shou
ld say, they were given some basic shuttles. That being said, they haven’t left their own system, but we think that’s more by choice than technology. They’ve sent out some messages that have reached us in Shimmal, because of our proximity, and that’s when we told them about the Alliance. They seemed very interested in us.” Suma’s finger touched the screen, pointing behind the figures to their crop.

  “Are we making a deal with them on this trip?” I asked.

  “We’ll defer to your wife on that one, boss,” Slate said.

  He was right. She was still the head of the Alliance Board, even if she was acting head Gatekeeper on Light for this mission. “Good idea.”

  I left them to finish their shifts on the bridge, and I decided to take a stroll and see if I could find Fontem. His residence was on deck ten, but I doubted he’d be in his room. He was a studious man, and if there was one place he’d be spending his time, it was in our library. Each room had its own computers, which were all linked to the Alliance network, but he was more like me in a few ways. He’d be reading an old text, and that was how I found him as I entered the dimly lit room.

  I saw no one else inside the library. It wasn’t a huge space, but it did have a carefully curated selection of interplanetary texts, hand-chosen by Sarlun and Regnig. Fontem looked very human. He had dark brown hair covering his elf-like ears. His skin was darker than mine, a copper-tanned tone, and his arms were thin and a little too long for a human. He glanced up and smiled.

  “Hello, Captain Parker,” he said, speaking English.

  “Fontem, I knew I’d find you here.”

  He pointed to a seat across from him, and I tugged the chair out, sitting.