Descent of the Maw

by Erin MacMichael

  You’ve got it, I heard you! I heard everything! COME, we’ll help you! the human yelled vehemently across the connection. Do you need the coordinates of our primary portal?

  No, I’ll feel it when I send the matrix through the stargates. Transport team, sound the chord to open the gate in Sirius. Selina, we need to verify Alcyone’s stargate signature—NOW! Kirian screeched with a ripple of abject terror.

  Alright, I’ll ask Alcyone to show me the pattern. Just keep us in one piece for a few seconds!

  Rinzen shuddered violently from several consecutive blows hitting her hull at the same point from multiple directions. Kirian gripped the arms of his chair with escalating panic.

  They’re trying to rupture the shields! Nandi called out in alarm as the warships hammered incessantly, sending tremor after tremor through Rinzen’s frame.

  I’ve got it! Selina cried. Transport team, here’s the code.

  The group of adepts changed their tones immediately to come into sync with the star’s internal geometry.

  We’re coming! Kirian shouted at the Alcyoni man.

  When the team’s intricate chords resonated with the stargates of Sirius and Alcyone, Kirian thrust a transport matrix through them both and locked onto the primary portal of the great blue star’s second planet.

  A deafening explosion jolted Rinzen a heartbeat before they shifted her to Tarsus.

  Magnus stood in the middle of the landing field clutching the gold object in one hand and Obi’s small hand in the other. The boy had felt the lump in his jacket pocket and asked to see what it was. The moment he’d pulled it out to show him, the image of the tigerman in some kind of desperate trouble flooded into his mind and wouldn’t let go. The sounds and scenes that ensued were nothing short of flabbergasting. The trauma of conflict with the Drahks he understood all too well, but what he had seen those people do was completely beyond imagination.

  Looking down into Obi’s frowning face, he realized he had probably been standing as still as a statue like a crazy man for who knew how long.

  “I’m sorry, Obi, I just saw—”

  “The tigers.”

  “Yes! You saw them, too?”

  Obi nodded earnestly. “They’re in trouble, like we were.”

  “They’re coming here, Obi. We’ve got to help them.”

  “Ok, let’s go.”

  “I’ve got to make some calls first so they can get in, ok? Be patient.”

  Gripping the gold and refocusing his thoughts on the man he had seen, Magnus immediately tuned into the image of the tigerman slumped over his knees in the room full of sound. The bombardments from warships had thankfully ceased. You made it through?

  Yeah.

  I’ll make some calls down here to get you coordinates through the portal. Can you pick up electronic frequencies?

  Yes.

  Hang tight. We’ll get you through so you can land in the capital of Krii.

  Magnus flipped on his headset to link with the Corum and waited until Miros’s voice came over the channel. “Mag, I can’t talk right now, I—”

  “Miros! Do you see the ship that just came through?”

  “Yes—oh my god! Oh my god! It’s absolutely beautiful! How did you—?”

  “I saw them in my head a few minutes ago, Miros. They were being attacked by warships. I told them to come through to Tarsus.”

  “You mean telepathically?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That explains it. They didn’t use the ring, Mag! They just appeared out of thin air, like the Drahks!”

  “Can you call the Portal Center and tell them to let these people through the locks? They told me they can pick up our signals.”

  “Of course. Looks like they need help—the ship is damaged. Who are they, Mag?”

  “I don’t know. They look like white tigers.”

  “By the Prime, they’re Sirian Makhás! I don’t think anyone has heard from them in eons. And this ship—bloody hell, Magnus! Wait ‘til you see it!”

  “Make the call, Miros. I’ll find Dieter down here to ask for sanctuary.”

  “You got it. I’ll escort them down in a shuttle.”

  Magnus let out a short laugh. “They’ll probably beat you to the ground. See you in a few minutes.” Closing the link with the Corum, he squeezed Obi’s hand and looked down. The boy’s face was still drawn, but he seemed more thoughtful than lost since the whole thing with the unexpected contact began. “You ok for now?”

  Obi nodded without looking up.

  “Alright. The tiger people are about to come down, but I’ve got to find someone here first who can help them.” Turning his head to locate the nearest high council aide, he pulled Obi with him through the mass of children toward the group of adults speaking near the transport’s open door.

  “Excuse me,” he said to a short redhead wearing a badge. “I’m taking this child with me for the time being. Can you make a note of that in your log?”

  “Of course, Captian Talrésian.”

  “And can you please contact Dieter van der Meer and tell him to find me right away? It’s extremely urgent. We have more unexpected refugees coming in.”

  “Certainly,” the woman replied, touching her headset to make the call. After a few brief words, she looked up with a nod. “He’s coming, Captain. Stay here—he’ll be right over.”

  “Thank you.” Magnus turned, searching over the sea of heads and after a few moments, Dieter’s familiar figure came running, his blond ponytail flipping behind him.

  “Magnus, what’s up?” he called from across the crowd of youngsters. “Hella told me we have more people on the way.”

  “Yes, we do,” he confirmed briskly. As the councilor came to a stop in front of them, Magnus laid a hand across Obi’s narrow shoulders. “Dieter, this is Obi Malawi.”

  The councilor looked down at the boy and smiled. “Hi, Obi. I’m glad Magnus found you.”

  “Dieter, we’ve got another ship full of people coming down any second. They just narrowly escaped the Drahks and need a home.”

  “They’re tigers!” Obi blurted, looking up at the blond man with a serious expression.

  Startled, Dieter blinked and turned a questioning look to the tall captain.

  “Miros thinks they might be Sirian. Dieter, they’re telepathic,” Magnus pronounced urgently, “and they use sound to fly their starship! We’ve never encountered anything like these people. This could be the breakthrough we’ve been looking for!”

  “That would be a gift from the stars, Magnus. But how did they get to Tarsus?”

  Obi squeezed Magnus’s hand and bumped against his leg. “Show him the thing, Magnus. Show him!”

  Lifting his left hand, Magnus opened his fingers and held the golden device out toward the councilor. “I heard them through this.”

  “What the—”

  “I don’t get it either. I just know what I saw and heard just a few minutes ago. They cried out for help and I told them to come here. Will you give them sanctuary?”

  Dieter’s face broke into a broad grin. “Hell, yes! Even if they hadn’t come through a ‘magical thing.’”

  Magnus’s headset beeped and Miros’s animated voice crackled across the link. “They’re through, Mag! They just vanished from orbit over the portal. They should be appearing above the landing fields any second! I’m on my way!”

  Flipping off the channel, Magnus glanced back over to the high councilor. “That was Miros. They’re here!”

  Magnus looked up into the bright sky an instant before the starship materialized. Sparkling with thousands of points of refracted light in Alcyone’s afternoon glow, the mammoth grayish-white crystalline mass slowly descended out of the heavens toward the city below. With his mouth hanging open, Magnus lifted his hand in the air toward the spectacular sight, feeling an irresistible urge to reach up and touch the great ship glistening overhead.

  “Oh my god—” Dieter’s astonished voice droned beside him.

  “Yeah, I
know. Miros said the same thing. I just saw it from the inside when I had contact with them. I had nooooo idea.”

  “It looks like a huge piece is broken out of its side,” the councilor noted with concern as the upper half of the ship became visible. “I hope no one was hurt.”

  “They were taking heavy hits when I saw them through the link. Damned reptiles.”

  A loud wave of commotion rolled through the hordes of people all over the landing field as the majestic ship descended toward the ground. With no open space available on the pavement, the ship shifted its course, heading for the wide grassy fields just south of the acres of concrete. Thousands of faces gaped upward at the extraordinary sight while hundreds plunged into motion, pouring across the turf, running to meet the inhabitants of the remarkable vessel.

  “Amazing …,” Magnus whispered in awe as he watched the immense craft come down into a soft, graceful landing in the middle of the green expanse.

  “Come on! Let’s go!!” Obi urged frantically, grabbing his hand again and pulling insistently on his arm.

  “You got it, little man!” Slipping the gold object into his pocket, Magnus swung the slender boy up onto his hip and hurried through the crowd of Meropean children, making his way toward the edge of the pavement with Dieter beside him. As soon as he hit the grass, he broke into a run, clutching Obi tightly in his arms while he and the councilor flew across the field toward the crystalline ship.

  When they reached the back of the crowd that was collecting a safe distance away from the commanding vessel, Magnus put Obi down and grabbed his hand, walking next to Dieter toward the front of the gathering.

  “Dieter, am I imagining things or is it glowing from inside?”

  “I thought it was just the sunlight coming through, but you’re right, there’s luminance in its walls.”

  “Magnus!”

  The captain turned his head at the familiar voice of Li Xiangting who was running toward him with a dusky-skinned man he recognized as Adi Batur. Coming to a breathless stop beside Dieter, both the Chi’an engineer and the Ubadi crystal master gazed up at the looming ship with expressions of thunderstruck fascination.

  “Do either of you know anything about this?” Xiangting asked breathlessly, tearing his gaze away from the vessel to pin Dieter and Magnus with a questioning look.

  “It seems Captain Talrésian has hidden talents we were all unaware of,” the councilor declared smoothly. “The people on that ship called out to him and he heard them.”

  The engineer narrowed his eyes on the brawny fleet officer as if reevaluating his measure of the man while a sideways smile crept over his long features. “I’ll be damned. You’re a surprise after all. And that’s definitely one hell of a surprise,” he said, pointing out at the crystalline starship. “Good work, Mag.”

  “I’m glad you approve, Xiangting,” Magnus replied dryly.

  “Let’s hope they stay, whoever they are. I want to get inside that ship! Right, Adi?”

  The small-framed Ubadi had taken a step forward and was engrossed in his study of the breathtaking piece of crystal, oblivious to his friend’s remarks. “This is unbelievable—just unbelievable! Hello, beautiful!” he brayed with an enraptured look that transformed a moment later into one of complete shock. Lifting wild eyes to the men beside him, Adi spat out excitedly, “She answered me! That ship is alive!” He shook his head repeatedly in utter astonishment. “Good god, I have a long way to go,” he muttered to himself before turning back to the exquisite ship.

  Xiangting raised his eyebrows and shifted his gaze from Adi back up to Magnus, clearly perplexed about what the renowned crystal master had just proclaimed.

  “More surprises, Xiangting. Just go with it.”

  The smooth whine of a descending shuttle drew the faces of the throng over to one side of the gray starship. The people at the edge of the crowd pulled back to make a clearing for the admiral’s sleek craft which came down into a smooth landing on the grassy field. Miros threw open the hatch and jumped out, holding a hand out to help a petite blond disembark before turning to run across the grass, making a beeline straight for Magnus, his dark hair flying in the breeze.

  “They haven’t come out yet?” he called anxiously as he and his wife Lita slowed to a walk to join Magnus and Dieter at the front of the waiting onlookers.

  “No, they may be dealing with a crisis inside. You saw the damage,” Magnus replied somberly, all too familiar with the harsh reality of losing people and the difficulties in flying a wounded ship.

  Miros whipped around, scanning the upper quadrants of the crystalline form until his eyes landed on the gigantic broken section about halfway up, over to one side. “Damn, that’s bad. It looks worse here than up in space.”

  Abruptly, a group of nine long-haired, softly-furred figures in dark, sleeveless vests and trousers appeared on the grass between the base of the ship and Magnus’s party, causing a loud murmur to ripple through the gathered bystanders. Six of the tall, cat-like people with very human facial features had the black markings of tigers while the other three bore the coloring of lions.

  The man Magnus had spoken with through the contact stood at the front of the group next to a petite female, his long, violet overvest marking him as the leader. The piercing look in the gray, black-ringed eyes during the brief instant they landed on Magnus told him something was wrong, dreadfully wrong, and he realized with dismay that most of the catpeople were silently weeping.

  Bolting off at a dead run, the man in violet tore away from the group toward the front edge of the gathered spectators, pivoting to step backwards while craning his neck, desperately searching for the damage in the side of the ship while the crowd backed away to give him room to maneuver. When his eyes landed on the charred and shattered gouge, his face twisted with horrible grief and tears streamed down his face into his long white hair.

  “Minla!” he screamed as he stared up at the gaping hole. With angry, savage motions, he ripped off the violet vest and flung it to the ground before throwing his head back and letting out a wrenching, wounded howl that echoed clear across the grassy field. In the next instant, he vanished from sight.

  Alarmed by the man’s cry of pain and disappearance, Magnus dropped Obi’s hand and charged forward. “What happened?” he shouted as he neared the group of catpeople. Coming to a stop in front of them, he was surprised to see that the males were bigger than he was and that all but a huge lionman and his mate seemed to be unnaturally thin, making him wonder what kind of hardship these people had been through.

  The older of the two remaining tigermen had his arms around the small female who had turned to him for comfort. He gently pushed the sniffling woman away and stepped forward toward Magnus with narrowed gray eyes. “You’re the man we heard through the link,” he stated in flawless Mothertongue. “It’s thanks to you that most of us made it.”

  “Most? Do you have wounded who need help?”

  “No,” the man replied heavily. “The ten who were in the damaged section … are gone.”

  “By the Prime, I’m so sorry,” Magnus declared, clutching his chest against a sudden streak of pain, remembering his own tragic losses only four days prior. “That man who cried out—will he be alright?”

  “Kirian?” The elder closed his eyes briefly and let out a ragged exhale. “I don’t know. He just lost his wife.”

  “Oh god, no.” Magnus shook his head sadly as a soft touch landed on his shoulder.

  “We grieve with you for your loss,” Dieter offered solemnly, stepping up next to the captain while sending his gaze around to each of the newcomers. Bringing his eyes back to the towering man in front of Magnus, he continued, “I’m Dieter van der Meer, leader of the high council of Tarsus. You and your people—and your glorious starship—are welcome here. We would be very pleased to have you make Tarsus your new home. From what Captain Talrésian here told me, it sounds like wherever you came from was a very dangerous place for you to be.”

  The elder
nodded gravely. “I’m Kalden Ngari of the Makhás masters from Lyonnae in the Sirius system. The people on board this ship make up the last surviving colony of Makhás adepts and the ship herself is the only one left of her kind.”

  Magnus glanced aside and exchanged a look with Miros who had walked up quietly with Lita and Obi. The sizable flock of the bystanders were huddling a respectful distance around the Makhás and one of them was gingerly handing the violet vest over to the small tigerwoman.

  Looking back up to the elder, Magnus furrowed his brow. “What happened to you, Kalden? Why were the Drahks attacking you?”

  “We’ve been in hiding for over thirty years from the lion rulers who nearly wiped us out as well as their Drahkian masters.” An outraged, sympathetic roar rose in the crowd while Kalden went on. “The Drahks took full control of Lyonnae several days ago and came after us when we managed to repair our broken portal. They wanted her,” he explained, pointing up over his shoulder at the sparkling gray starship, “—as well as the rest of us. When we wouldn’t surrender, they tried to shoot us down. If they can’t own something, they destroy it.”

  “We know that nightmare all too well,” Miros interjected. “We all just barely escaped from Merope a couple hours ago when the Drahks threatened to blow Sahara to pieces if the leaders didn’t surrender. Most of the people on the landing field,” he said with a wave of his hand toward the collection of ships behind him on the pavement, “just lost their families and homes when the government was forced to capitulate.”

  Kalden and the other Makhás sent their gazes out across the field. “Yes, we saw the crowds when we came down. I’m sorry, little one,” the elder said gently, looking down at Obi who had started to cry again. Raising his eyes back to Miros, he added, “The Drahks are a menace and have hurt too many people.”

  “They’re spreading like the plague,” Magnus declared vociferously. “We can’t compete with their technology. They can pop their ships in and out at will. We … can’t … do that,” he growled in frustration. “But you can. You’ve got skills I didn’t know existed until a few short minutes ago. I saw you lift straight out of a mountain, shift directly into space, open a portal, and reach through a stargate to bring yourselves here, all with your minds—you’re absolutely amazing!” he spewed feverishly to the small group of masters who glanced at each other with guarded expressions. Miros’s jaw fell open in astonishment while another wave of excited chatter rippled through the crowd.