The Rylerran Gateway

by Mark Ian Kendrick

  “Mine won’t shut either.”

  Tann lowered his voice. “Why aren’t they keeping us prisoner this time?”

  “I have no idea. There’s no reason they should trust us.” Naylon was beginning to see patterns in the Telkans that spoke of their culture. His hand rested on a highly ornamented section of wall that separated their two doors. He ran it along the surface. It would make no sense to put this kind of ornamentation on a warship, since gold was a particularly heavy metal, but he could swear the raised characters written all up and down the wall were gilded.

  Tann watched him. “What?”

  “Have you noticed how much detailed ornamentation is all over everything? It’s like this isn’t primarily a military vessel, but rather was converted to be one.” It was rhetorical. He didn’t expect an answer.

  Tann looked up and down the corridor. Although they had been left alone, there were two Telkan guards standing in the middle of it, blocking their way. They didn’t move. In fact, although Tann could discern that they had eyelids, neither of them had so much as blinked. Naylon and Tann’s every move were being carefully watched. The Telkans’ eyes gave away their constant vigilance. Wandering around the ship wasn’t going to happen.

  Tann noticed movement behind the guards. It was An’Arka. The two guards moved aside to let him through. An’Arka stopped several meters from them.

  “I thought we were prisoners,” Naylon immediately told him.

  “It is a…,” An’Arka seemed to be grasping for the correct word. “gesture of our goodwill that you be allowed the comfort of freedom while we return to where we captured you.” An’Arka lowered his voice considerably, despite knowing that none of the others could possibly understand him. “Minister Ne’Uanju thinks you will find the gateway. I do not believe him.”

  Naylon wondered for an instant if this was some sort of ploy. Already he was plotting how they were going to get away. So far, he’d had little success in coming up with a surefire plan once they were back on Rylerra. “You know I have a communications array inside me, right?” Naylon told him.

  “Scans of your body have determined an intelligent processor is inside you.”

  “It has an ocular display. I can see output directly in my brain.” He pointed to his right eye. “I can adjust the scanner to detect the power output of the gateway. It has an unusual energy signature. That’s how we found it. It was emitting some strange signals, so we went to investigate. Then we use these,” he dug through his pack and held up one of the discs, “to activate it.” It was terribly risky but he had to pull the device out. After all, they had to know the devices were in there. He had no idea if An’Arka would believe him. And it was a completely different story than what he’d given the minister.

  “Observer Ba’Jinja has already gone through your belongings. He determined those objects have no inputs or outputs. They can not assist you in determining anything.”

  Tann kept his mouth shut, realizing that Naylon was feeding the alien a whole host of lies. Maybe this is part of his plan, he thought.

  “Well, it’s true,” Naylon told him. Indeed, it was true. The devices, in a way, would help them. To escape, that is.

  “We will arrive shortly. You will rest.” An’Arka turned to leave. The two guards at the end of the corridor separated briefly to let him pass, then returned to their positions.

  Tann sat in Naylon’s cell next to him. They were quiet for a moment. “Good one,” he said, referring to Naylon’s cover story. There was a slight grin on his face. “What do you think they’ll do with those guys they have prisoner back on Andakar, er, Q’emt’la.”

  “I have no idea. I really don’t care either. Really. This time I really don’t care.” He was still feeling quite sorry about having tried to rescue An’Arka.

  Tann was quiet for a moment, thinking about their fate. “How are we going to get away? We don’t know where the cavern is.”

  “I’m still working on that. But at least we have those discs. If they hadn’t returned them, we’d have no way back for sure.”

  The one thing Efren was unable to provide was rain gear. There was none onboard because they weren’t prepared to encounter a rainy environment. Regardless, he had located some plastic sheeting that would work as a good substitute. The men quietly entered the inner airlock. Efren pressed the door code and it closed.

  As quietly as possible the men unfolded the sheets, tore holes in them and donned them like ponchos. It wasn’t pretty and the makeshift ponchos only came down to their waists, but it was the only thing they had. They quickly went through their backpacks, checking what was inside and exchanging gear as needed. With everything accounted for, except their weapons, they zipped up the compartments.

  Efren handed each of them a pair of infrared glasses and showed them how they were activated. Each slipped them on. Efren lowered the lights then opened the outer airlock door.

  The captain was still in his ready room. The commander had the bridge. Efren knew they would be monitoring communications with the fire team and not focused on what was going on inside the ship.

  The raindrops looked like greenish-white streaks as they steadily came down. Darreth adjusted the glasses slightly as they stepped out into the rain. The raindrops fell noisily against the makeshift ponchos. Darreth swung his pack around and pulled out the scanner he used earlier before they were stunned. The log contained enough data to help them assess the correct direction to proceed. It had recorded their tracks in five second increments, along with their direction of travel. Efren showed him how to adjust the goggles so he could read its display more clearly. With a clear view of both the scanner’s log and the terrain they headed out. Amazingly, Darreth realized they were not more than a few kilometers from the cavern. Barring an accident or the rain not abating, they might make it in a few hours, not days as he had feared. It didn’t really matter though. He was sure they’d be caught long before they got there.

  “What,” Tann said. Naylon was staring at him like he wanted to say something.

  “You’ve held up pretty well during all of this.”

  Tann looked away. “I pretty much remember crying in front of you.”

  “So?”

  “It’s embarrassing.”

  “Embarrassed is better than dead. And we’re not dead yet.”

  “But we could be.”

  “Don’t even talk like that.”

  “Well, what are we gonna do when we land?”

  “We’re gonna fake it until we get to the cavern. If we get to it, that is.”

  Naylon realized they had both dozed off. Both of them had fallen asleep side-by-side on the lower cot. How long they had been out, he wasn’t sure. But noises at the end of the corridor woke him. Both stretched and relieved themselves before An’Arka appeared in their doorway.

  “We have arrived on M’jas’la. Gather your belongings and accompany me to the food preparation area. You will eat and drink before you exit the ship.”

  “You didn’t say we. You aren’t coming with us?” Naylon asked.

  “I will monitor your progress from the ship. Others will go with you.”

  “Others?”

  An’Arka stepped aside. He pointed to the two guards who had been standing watch at the end of the corridor. Perhaps all this time the guards had been observing them, attempting to discern their intentions or their resolve. Nonetheless, Naylon was surprised An’Arka wasn’t going with them.

  “Uh, it’s going to be difficult to talk with them. We don’t speak your language,” Naylon told him.

  “I will be in constant communication with them and you from the ship.” He pressed what looked like a large button to each of their necks. Within seconds, both felt an odd sensation as the devices pierced their flesh, and latched themselves through their dermis, apparently with some sort of anesthetic, since neither felt pain. “They will monitor your location and provide a means to communicate with you. Do not attempt to remove them. You will be… harmed.”<
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  Both of them placed their hands on the devices and tugged anyway. They weren’t coming off any time soon without ripping the skin and leaving a nasty wound.

  Naylon and Tann took their packs and followed the three Telkans to what amounted to their galley. They were handed trays and given three brown fist-sized bars, each of what looked and smelled like compressed berries and nuts. They sat while the Telkans stood by the table observing them silently. Naylon sniffed at, then bit into the semi-soft bar. It tasted like nuts and berries too, complete with crunch. Tann noticed that at the first bite and devoured the meal.

  Done with the bars, they both downed large containers of water. They were ushered to a room before the airlock where a considerable amount of talk ensued between their two Telkan guards and a communications device on the wall.

  “Something’s wrong,” Naylon whispered as they sat on a bench against the bulkhead watching the Telkans.

  “Yeah, but what,” Tann replied warily.

  One of the Telkan guards had activated a large screen. It was split into quadrants. Only the top left one was a visual image of the outside of the ship, the rest were rows of data that constantly streamed down the screen and graphs of various things they had no idea how to interpret. But the visual image was obvious. Outside, it was dark and raining. Naylon couldn’t exactly tell what had been discussed earlier, but could tell they were doing a general sensor sweep of the area. Finally, one of the Telkans pointed to three glowing dots on the screen. The image was zoomed in. Topographical markings were obvious on the screen now. The Telkans had a map of the area! It would be an invaluable aid for them if only he could download it. But what was more important was he was able to discern that they had been discussing the three moving blips. What were they? Animals? Terrans? Naylon couldn’t tell. If they were people, why were they moving about in the dark and rain?

  More conversation with the Telkan at the other end of the communicator resulted in one of Naylon and Tann’s guards opening a panel on one of the bulkheads. He pulled out two rifle-like weapons, which they both shouldered. This was in addition to the smaller, pistol-shaped weapons holstered around their massive waists.

  Naylon watched their every move. Although they were concerned with the three moving blips, and that extra weapons had come out, they were still about to exit the ship anyway.

  The guard that hadn’t gathered the weapons opened a trunk near one of the other bulkheads and pulled out what looked like simple ponchos. Four of them were removed, and two given to Naylon and Tann. The ponchos were far too big to fit them, so Naylon motioned for something to tie them around their bodies. The guard complied by cutting a length of black cord for both of them from a spool under a table. They donned the coverings, secured them over their packs, then tied them around their waists.

  The communications device on Naylon and Tann’s neck activated. A curious-sounding hollow voice presented itself in his left ear. It was An’Arka. “Do’yukya will lead. You and Tann will proceed after him. Behind you will be Ta’Norat. As you have seen there is a group of Terrans headed toward the mountain range near here. They are deliberate in their movements despite the weather conditions. Do’yukya will see that they do not arrive at their destination. The devices on your necks will track your movements. Do not attempt to flee. We will find you if you do.”

  Naylon spoke to Tann in Lingua. “Terrans. I bet they detected this ship.”

  Tann shook his head. “This is not good. It’s just not good at all,” he said angrily. He wasn’t looking forward to being captured by Pacudas and his men again.

  With their two charges in tow, the Telkan guards opened the outer airlock door. Both Naylon and Tann were given rectangular strips of what looked like opaque film. Do’yukya pantomimed for them to press the ends to their temples, while covering their eyes with the devices. Naylon did so and realized the device was effectively some sort of infrared viewing plate. Regardless, Naylon didn’t like it that they were going out into the rain. He didn’t look forward to getting soaked. Nonetheless, the raingear did its job, the viewing film provided an amazingly clear view of their passage in the dark, and the rain tapered off within fifteen minutes.

  Efren, Darreth and Rehl continued their trek several meters from riverbank, effectively backtracking the way Darreth and Rehl had come earlier. The gently sloping bank was quite sandy. Most of the runoff from the now gently falling rain was running in rivulets toward the river. They had to be careful to avoid stepping directly into one of the channels, which resulted in a considerable amount of jumping and hopping as they continued onward.

  “The Telkan ship is that way,” Efren pointed to his right. “Our ship is back that way about a kilometer. Our objective is in that direction.” He pointed straight ahead.

  “Where’s your fire team?” Darreth asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “They’re using stealth shielding. This sensor isn’t equipped to read a stealth shield.”

  Abruptly, Darreth halted in mid-stride. “All this time you knew that?”

  “Although this can’t detect a stealth shield energy signature it can detect movement.”

  “Even cloaked movement?”

  “Perhaps not.”

  “Perhaps not?” Rehl said, quite alarmed.

  “We are as close to the river as we can be. There is a ridge of rocks to our left. They have no idea we’re out here. We’re relying on our own stealth measures to prevent us from being caught.”

  “You call that stealth? I can’t believe this! We’re going to be captured, if not killed,” Darreth told him firmly.

  Efren would have none of it. “Look, this was as good of a plan as I could come up with. How far have we gotten so far and not been detected?”

  Darreth didn’t say anything in return.

  “Where do your tracks lead?” Efren asked.

  Darreth looked down at the display, then pointed.

  “Let’s go,” Efren said.

  The rain abruptly ended, making their surroundings quiet in an eerie sort of way. That was just fine with Darreth now, but it was too late for his thoroughly soaked trousers. Nonetheless, it stayed nearly pitch black because of the clouds and the complete lack of any artificial light sources except for the various sensor equipment they had on them. The goggles were quite effective in piercing the inky blackness though, providing plenty of noiseless illumination, which made their journey easy and somewhat simple despite the low bushy vegetation.

  Rehl was the first to notice the terrain becoming steeper, which indicated they were close to their objective. A few moments later, they were carefully negotiating scree and talus as they made their way to the crack in the rock wall.

  Lieutenant Navar couldn’t believe the luck. They had made extremely good time to their position despite the gear they had, the darkness and the rain. His scanner showed two Telkan biosigns coming directly toward them. They showed no signs of slowing down or changing direction. As far as he was concerned, they had still not been detected. Although they weren’t particularly scanning for Terran biosigns, the scanner’s sensor indicated more movement than what he was scanning for. After he switched to a broader biosign range, he realized two Terrans were in tow as well. Good, that meant their two previous guests were most likely with them. Perhaps the captain had been right in his intuition. Apparently, their previous guests had been working with these Telkans after all!

  Navar pecked out a message into the comm strapped to his forearm to Urret. He didn’t want to risk even whispering to him. Soldats Urret and Agrida were with him. They quietly released the safeties on their projectile weapons. It had long been known that simple projectiles, tipped with explosive sulphur compounds were extremely deadly to Telkans. No energy weapons were needed here.

  The stealth shield had been activated at the last possible minute so they could find the best place to stop and find cover. A small mound of rocks sticking up from the sandy soil was in the perfect
location. Dead ahead were the Telkans and the two Terrans. Behind them was the looming rise of the short mountain range they appeared to be headed toward. Navar pecked out another message. ‘Less than one minute until target reaches us.’

  Do’yukya, who was in front of Naylon and Tann, stopped abruptly. The scanner he had in his hand flashed a warning. A stealth shield had just activated not more than one hundred metyons ahead of them. He held up his arm in a universal motion, which meant ‘stop moving right now’. Naylon instinctively went to one knee, as did Tann. Ta’Norat went past the two and observed the sensor. They whispered to each other briefly. Ta’Norat turned around and motioned for Naylon and Tann to turn around. He pointed to a thick tangle of bushes and had them flatten themselves against the ground behind them. He returned to Do’yukya. Do’yukya opened a flap on one of the compartments on his utility belt and pulled out a different scanner. He rotated a virtual dial until it signaled a lock had been fixed on the stealth shield’s frequency. He pressed the center button. Nothing perceptible happened from his end.

  Urret and Agrida watched their scanners. They had noted the two previously moving Telkan biosigns, along with the two Terran ones, had stopped thirty-three meters from their position. Navar was getting nervous. There was no way they could have been detected. He felt irritated because the dark and obstructions were going to prevent him from getting a good shot, now that they had ceased moving. He checked one of the stealth shield generators. The display showed it was working perfectly. At that very moment, the display went dark.

  In the infrared display over their eyes the stealth shield’s energy field always looked like a barely perceptible reddish aurora when it was this dark. As soon as the display shut off, so did the aurora. Instantly, Navar realized their position had been compromised. How that was possible, he couldn’t imagine. As far as he knew, their stealth shield was not detectable by Telkan technology. Apparently, he was mistaken.