The Survivors Box Set

by Nathan Hystad

  “The Iskios broke free and have my wife. They stole her as their vessel, and she’s wielding something called the Unwinding. I need to stop them and get her back.”

  You speak lies! This cannot be. They are long buried.

  “Yes, I know,” I said. “The Theos tracked them down and subjected them to an eternity on a crystal world, but they aren’t there any longer.”

  How do you know this with such certainty?

  “Because I just returned from there, and we took the last remaining Iskios through a portal, where it died after fighting the Theos inside.”

  Get inside! Now! The urgency behind its thoughts jostled my mind, and I had to shake the cobwebs out after a moment. The being looked at Garo and must have passed some silent thoughts, because my host just nodded solemnly and turned to walk back to the ship with Rivo.

  I followed it inside, and the door flew shut behind me. “Will I see Regnig now?”

  You fool. You’re talking to him. Come. You speak dangerous words. Words no other ears are meant to hear. He walked slowly on small crooked legs.

  Of course this was Regnig. Garo had warned me he was different. He certainly was that: a petite cyclops bird who spoke telepathically and had telekinetic abilities. “I only wanted to find what I need. I’ll do anything to get her back.”

  I see. Saving the universe from its ultimate destruction doesn’t play into it? he asked.

  It was truthfully second on my reasoning, but I didn’t want to scare the holder of the information away. “That too.”

  Regnig led me down a corridor made for someone shorter than myself, and I ducked as we made our way through the cramped space. The hall was rounded at the top like the door had been, and the walls were packed dirt. It smelled stuffy: a musk you could only get somewhere with no ventilation.

  It shortly opened up into a massive domed room. Glowing stones hung on ropes from the ceiling, softly lighting the area. Shelves were cut into the walls, and books filled every available crevice in the whole room. There was a seating area in the center, with worn leather chairs of all sizes. The smallest looked particularly used, and I knew this was where Regnig would perch himself, reading from the ancient tomes one page at a time for countless years.

  “This is amazing.” I spun in the middle of the room, getting the full appreciation of what I saw. These weren’t computers, viewscreens with missing details, or videos explaining history. These were books written by the historians, or perhaps diaries from long ago forgotten worlds. I suddenly understood Regnig’s choice for being the one to watch over them.

  It is.

  “Are you here alone?”

  That I am.

  What had it been like to live there in solitude for so long?

  Sit. Tell me what you know.

  I did just that and tried hard not to gloss over any important parts. I wanted nothing more than to learn what I needed and run, but I understood this as a barter. Important news from the outside world, to an isolated being, wasn’t even a fair trade for what I asked.

  He sat there unmoving, unblinking even, as I described the Kraski, the Deltra, the hybrids. He twitched when I mentioned the Bhlat, and finally passed an Oh into my mind when I told him of us handing Earth over to them in exchange for peace.

  He listened and didn’t speak as I went into our year as Gatekeepers, with the first piece of what we thought was a Theos artifact in Sarlun’s possession. Only when I told him of the ice world and the symbol where we found the second piece, the cube, did he stop me.

  The Iskios are conniving. I see why the Theos dealt with them as they did.

  I described in detail each of the challenges we went through, and he was extremely interested in the one where we were mentally sent back to Earth during the invasion. That would take a lot of energy and strength to make work, especially after being dormant for so long.

  “I don’t know how they did it.”

  Stored the energy inside the rock the island was made out of, perhaps. I’ll have to study on it. When I didn’t reply, he told me to continue.

  When I got to the Padlog being at the crystal world, he stopped me once again. And you have questioned these Padlog?

  “Yes and no. I didn’t want to implicate us in their people’s deaths. The Supreme did give me some information on the Theos after I requested it, but we really went there to get the coordinates for the world where we’d left Mary.” Regnig closed his eye as we spoke, and for a moment, I thought I might have lulled him into sleep.

  Go on.

  He heard about our entrance into the pyramid and finding the throne room where the mist took over Mary, deeming her the True. I left out the part about her being pregnant. It felt too personal, a piece of the story I should keep for myself.

  And she sent you back with a wave of her hand before the Iskios took back control? he asked.

  “That’s how it seemed.” I thought of her eyes at that moment. Her face had been so shocked and sad, tears filling her eyes at the same time as the black mist.

  I can tell you speak truth. How do you presume to solve this?

  Had I told him everything? I’d already told him I knew the Theos were inside the portals. What choice did I have? Every minute that passed by with Mary under their control, my guilt increased, and I wasn’t going to be able to live with myself soon.

  “I think the universe is about balance. It’s an age-old theory, right?” I suspected Regnig’s idea of “age-old” was different from that of a young race like humans. “I’m told the Theos and the Iskios were the first two races. Whether that’s true or not isn’t necessarily relevant. What I do think is, they were both powerful. You spoke of energy, and that’s what it comes down to.

  “The Theos thought they were doing a service to everyone when they chose to cast a judgment of death on the Iskios, but by doing this, they caused an imbalance. Unselfishly, they made portal stones around the universe, using their own life force to power them. The ultimate sacrifice. Their lives for the return of the balance.”

  I waited, and Regnig finally opened his eye. You are wise for one so young. I’ve read many philosophical collections about this very topic. It’s been of interest to many for hundreds, even thousands of years, but no one has come to the exact conclusions you have.

  I felt a “but” coming.

  But you don’t have the whole picture.

  “What am I missing?” I asked, my heart beating so fast I could hardly hear the thoughts he was pushing into my mind.

  They aren’t all dead.

  Twenty-Four

  Goosebumps rose on my arms. “What do you mean, they aren’t all dead?”

  They couldn’t make the ultimate sacrifice you speak of, and that’s why we don’t life in a peaceful, united galaxy. We have love, compassion, and times of peace, but still war, famine, and torture. Balance is important, and that’s why people like you are born. To change the universe. You are a Recaster.

  His words sent chills up and down my body. Kareem’s dying breath echoed inside my head. “What do you mean?”

  You stopped the Kraski. You saved a planet.

  “Only to give it away,” I corrected.

  That’s not the important part. You saved your people from a destructive race. You gave them a new home, a new future.

  “I also helped unleash a devastating power.” My hands ran through my hair. He was giving me too much credit.

  Balance. You did something positive, and then something negative. But what you do next will determine what it means for the ultimate equilibrium. Regnig’s beak opened, and a small pink tongue stuck out momentarily.

  “Are there others like me? Recasters?” I asked.

  He nodded. I’ve read tales of them from many worlds, over countless centuries. They aren’t frequent, though, and don’t always do things on such a grand scale.

  The idea that I was anything more than an accountant from New York who’d somehow helped save Earth from an invasion by a scared and violent race was too mu
ch. I thought Regnig might be reading too much into it all. He was caught up in the fanciful stories in the books around him. “I’m just a man.”

  I know. I’m just a Quontre, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t rise above my station and become guardian to the universe’s hidden knowledge.

  He had a point. “How do I find them? My friend said he found a text stating there was an origin planet for the portal stones, but the name of the world was missing.”

  It’s here somewhere. I’ve read it, but you see, there are far too many books to remember, and my memory isn’t what it used to be.

  All my hopes dropped with my stomach. I didn’t have time to search the hundreds of thousands of volumes around us.

  Good thing I have a system.

  ____________

  Hours later, we were both covered in dust, and dozens of texts lay sprawled out on a large wooden table. Regnig used ladders to get up and down as he searched for the books.

  This is it. His beak opened, and he blew on a thin dark leather-bound volume. He handed it to me, and I felt a rush of excitement.

  I scanned through the pages carefully and realized I couldn’t read the language. He must have known that. “Here, I don’t understand it.”

  I know, but it’s the picture you’re going to want to see.

  I flipped a few more handwritten pages and found a map, carefully drawn in black ink on the taupe paper. It showed five planets circling a star; dozens of small moons were labeled as well.

  Third from the star. That’s it. His small clawed finger scratched over the page, on a name. Elnan. The name of their world clicked into my head, and for a second, I could almost see it; then it was gone.

  I looked for coordinates but found none. “How does this help?”

  It helps if you have this. He climbed down the steps, his little legs carrying him faster than I’d seen him move yet. I followed him, the book carefully gripped in my hands.

  We stopped at the edge of the room, and he tapped a button on a tablet. One of the bookshelves moved forward and slid to the side, revealing a room with a screen and a short chair. He sat down and began powering up the screen. I had to crouch to fit into the space and began kneeling beside the little desk.

  I often have to refer to the star mapping for my research. This will allow us to scan the drawing, and it will determine if there are any matches in the system.

  “But this is just a drawing.”

  It looks to scale.

  “But still.” I passed him the book, when his clawed hands shot out for it.

  Just be patient. He opened the book to the right page and pressed it against the blank screen. A green light rolled over the glass material, and he passed the volume back to me.

  A symbol rotated on the screen in the universal “please wait” notification.

  Three matches, he said in my mind as the screen showed three detailed images of different systems. We looked through each of them, Regnig zooming in on one at a time.

  From the text, I recall the star being a yellow giant. From that, we can determine the world is…this one. He zoomed toward a small planet on the middle screen. A moon rotated around it on the computer’s program. Xatrin U3. Interesting. No details on it. No lifeforms noted. A hunk of rock, by all accounts.

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The Theos home world. “Can you give me the coordinates now?”

  Write this now. He passed something resembling a quill and ink, and I dipped it before taking the series of numbers down on the same page with the map. “I’m assuming I can take this?”

  No books may leave here. He slid a piece of paper to me and got up, stretching his back until I heard a loud crack. He stretched his wings out and flapped them vigorously.

  “Thank you for your help, Regnig, but I need one more thing. Do you have a book on the portal symbols?”

  Of course I do. He turned, hobbling back to the large open library. He tapped a claw to the tip of his beak and waved me to the far side of the room. Climb this ladder. I’m getting tired.

  I did as he requested, feeling the first rung groan under my weight. It hadn’t been built for someone as large as me to step on. I glanced up, hoping I didn’t need to climb the full twenty feet up to where the ceiling began to curve.

  Halfway. My mind was sent an image of the book’s spine.

  “I thought your memory wasn’t what it used to be,” I commented.

  It isn’t. I used to remember far more. Now don’t dawdle.

  I kept climbing. Each step up was rewarded with a creak of protest from the wooden rungs.

  To the right. Almost there.

  I stretched my right arm out, spotting the book he wanted me to grab. I held on with my left and kicked my right foot out as I stepped lightly on a railing Regnig used as a platform to walk among the levels of books, only it was far too narrow and thin for me to put my weight on.

  With a little luck, my fingers found the book. I brought it back to the ladder and felt the rung snap in half, and I began to fall to the ground. I held the book tight, as if it mattered more than my own safety in that instant.

  A gust of air slowed me, and I landed with no more than a minor bounce.

  I glanced around, wondering what happened, and I saw Regnig standing beside me. He grabbed the book and sauntered off. Then I remembered the door closing on its own and wondered what his story really was. There was a lot more to the small birdman than I could even begin to guess.

  He was already flipping through it. I got up and joined him at the table we’d been using earlier. Here it is. Xatrin U3. He slid the book toward me. I’ve been here a long time, and in all my daydreaming, I never imagined I could actually make a difference. Good luck to you, Dean Parker.

  I was about to look at the book when a rapid knocking echoed to us from the entrance door. “Sounds urgent.”

  I ran for it, unsure what I was going to find. When I opened the door, a frantic Rivo blurted out something. I didn’t have my earpiece on, and I tapped it active. “Say that again!”

  “Something’s happening above ground. We’ve being invaded!” She was shaking, and I tried to process what I was hearing.

  Garo was behind her, and he nodded, confirming the information was true.

  “Garo, you stay here with Regnig, if that’s okay with you?” I turned to the little one-eyed birdman, who’d finally caught up.

  He may stay, for a short time.

  “I can’t stay down here. We need to fend them off!” Garo said in English.

  “Father, you’re too important. We’ll scout what’s going on and send for you when we can. You have the best defenses money can buy. Don’t worry. They can handle themselves,” Rivo said.

  If they were under attack, that meant the invaders had broken through the defenses already, meaning it was likely an inside job. I didn’t have to tell Garo that; he would already know.

  “Let’s go. Thanks again, Regnig.”

  Go and find the balance again, Recaster. Leave the book.

  “But I need the symbols. There’s no other way to get there.” A thought occurred to me, and I cursed my stupidity at not having remembered the device Suma had gifted me. I fished it out of my pocket and set it on top of the book. It hummed to life and began scanning. A red light shone around the book as I held it, tiny slivers of beam folding between each page, making the volume vibrate. Soon the light stopped, and I slid the device into my pocket. I flipped it open to the page with Xatrin U3 on it and tried to memorize the symbol, but it wouldn’t stick in my jumbled mind.

  “Dean, we need to go!” Rivo was pulling my arm now, and we left behind Regnig, who didn’t for a second step outside his cavern. He held the book in his small claws. His voice entered my mind for the last time – Good luck, Dean Parker – and we ran for the ship. Soon we were back inside, heading for the surface.

  I tried to connect with Magnus but got nothing back. I went through to each different channel and still came up empty-handed. I hoped they were safe. Th
e Eklack might be a primary target for the invaders. Was it Lom of Pleva? Had he come to get the device I now held in my pocket, or was it just payback to Garo, his nemesis, for trying to kill him?

  We emerged from the sand to chaos. Ships were everywhere, laser beams flew through the air, and bombs concussed all around us.

  Twenty-Five

  I tried my earpiece again. “Magnus! Come in!”

  “Dean, where the hell are you?” he asked.

  “I just got back to the surface from underground. Are you safe?” Images of a crumbling building around my friends flashed into my mind.

  “We made it back to the promenade. Everyone’s hiding out here, but we’re getting back to the stones. We were going to wait until we heard from you,” Magnus said, concern evident in his tone.

  “Just go! Get out of here. I’ll find a way to get off this world.”

  He relayed my wishes to the others, and I could hear Slate in my ear now.

  “Boss, not a good idea. Get over here, and we can leave together.” Slate’s voice was calmer than I’d expected.

  “Go home. That’s an order, Slate. Get them safely to New Spero. I’ll be there shortly.”

  I wouldn’t be, but he didn’t need to know that. I had something to do and wanted to do it alone.

  “Rivo, I need to get to the portal.”

  “Don’t you see we’re in the middle of something here?” Rivo stared at the battle going on around us. The pilot veered lower and raced across the dunes.

  “I’m going to leave. I have somewhere to get to.”

  She looked about to lose it on me, but she held back, going to talk quietly to the pilot. He veered the ship right, and I hoped that meant he was going back to the promenade where I could access the portal and leave the invaded planet behind.

  Fires burned in luxury hotels as we flew by, lives were being lost with each breath, and I knew I should do something to help. But I couldn’t, and even if I were able, I had to find Mary. I was so close to discovering a way to end this all. I needed to balance things, and staying here wasn’t going to accomplish that.