- Everyone stand up!
After those words everyone without any exceptions stood up and turned so that they were facing the door. For Ronnie it seemed unusual, because of the direction they were facing and the fact that it seemed like they were staring into nothing. The figure turned out to be commander Stromak - the person in charge of New Hope. He wore a heavy body armour that looked like it would never be broken by anyone aboard the vessel. The commander looked at Tyler and Garret and observed their reactions to his stare. Then he turned his attention to Ronnie. It was much like a precursor to a duel. Even though Ronnie survived being shot after the transformation, his human nature never left his body and soul and he strongly believed that if he ended up being cornered by Stromak, his life would end prematurely and his body would be turned into a lifeless pile of meat. Stromak turned his gaze towards the screen at the moment when Ronnie knocked down a dozen or so Akeruns and helped Garret. The commander then asked Ronnie:
- Have you received any military training?
Garret was intrigued by Stromak's accent. Ronnie was far from fascinated. He couldn't move. The fear had frozen his body. Even though he had a truckload of firearms at his disposal, he could not dare to even think of using them. Opening fire would make the situation worse. After the fragile trust that was established between the trio and the engineers it would have been stupid to turn the room into a bloodbath. The best solution was to answer the questions and tell the entire story:
- No, I haven't even fired a gun up until... that fight.
That did not surprise the commander - after all the footage was on the screen, so presumably he had seen everything that happened at the stadium.
- And I presume none of you have been involved in a fight of any sort prior to those events.
Tyler scratched his neck, took a step forward and said:
- Only with members of our own race...
Stromak frowned upon hearing those words, but then Tyler added:
-...but those were completely unrelated. We have not encountered aliens before the fight at the stadium.
The commander then gave a nod of approval, which Tyler interpreted as a gesture of understanding. And rightfully so - no one in his right mind would expect a young human to inherit the technology of an Immortal and go on a killing spree as if he's been doing it his whole life.
- You didn't handle the situation perfectly, but I will give you credit for surviving that onslaught. It must have been a shock for you to have to fight for your lives when you have never done that.
- How did you guys film the footage, if you don't mind me asking? - Garret asked.
- Drones flying closely to the ships whilst recording everything. - said Stromak. He was pacing around the trio and observing the now seemingly useless jeans of Ronnie.
- What is your name?
- Ronnie Mason.
- Were you the one who decided to open the container?
- Yes, it was me.
- Did you have any idea about what you could find in it?
- No, we thought it was a ship at first.
- What did you find inside?
- Three glowing crystals.
- And what happened next?
- The crystals rose from their carriages and stuck themselves into our chests. This is the reason we look like this. Don't you have it in the footage?
- No. We don't.
Stromak resumed pacing around the room. He then turned his attention to the personnel, who were still standing up and facing the door:
- At ease.
Immediately they followed the order.
- I want you all to have a good look at these men. They have all that is left of the Immortals.
- Excuse me, but we have questions as well and...
Garret was interrupted by the commander:
- This interrogation is far from over.
- I see.
Stromak approached one of the larger computer screens, logged into the database and showed a photo of an alien. It was an Akerun.
- What do you know about these creatures? - he asked Tyler and the answer did not take long:
- Nothing, aside from the fact that they're weak. - said Tyler.
That response made Stromak giggle:
- Very amusing, but you do realise that humour is not a very strong weapon?
- No. On the contrary - I found out that it helps in life. Now... before we go on I understand that you're a military.
- Yes, I'm the commander of this vessel.
- Very well. That's wonderful, but the problem is that us three are more confused than you are. We have no idea who this Overlord person is, what he wants, how you guys are linked to him and what these Immortals have done to him that enraged him so much that he decided to hunt them down. Just tell us the entire story with all of the details, so that we can have a clearer picture of the situation and so that we could all adequately react to it.
Silence took over the room. Garret and Ronnie turned their heads in all directions. They were expecting a storm of anger, but by the looks on the faces of the personnel they understood the frustration of the trio, the chaos that occurred and the state of disarray their minds were in. Stromak stepped up to the mainframe and declared:
- So you want to know the entire story.
- All of it. - said Tyler.
The commander then entered another database and showed another photo. It was of a tall figure with a mask and a long, pale yellow cape; large spikes were protruding from his shoulders. He also appeared to have body armour just for the upper part of his body. The armour itself looked like it was made of bone and Garret doubted its robustness, but Stromak removed all doubt by explaining how his body armour was made and what he does to improve himself as a warrior and commander of an almost infinite army:
- This is Ren'ul Furot, also known as The Overlord. He commands a vast army which is divided into platoons that he likes to call Hordes. His aim is simple - power. Though he does not enslave planets and their inhabitants. Instead he takes the DNA of their strongest warriors and leaders and injects part of it into himself and leaves a fraction of it, from which he can form clones of the race in question to fight for him. He believes that slavery is not an option for him, because the slaves can turn into rebels and possibly ruin his plans. He doesn't care about the land he walks on - his armies could leave them intact or turn them to dust and rubble. We find this unexplainable, because his armies could miss one or two representatives of a particular nation or race, which could then repopulate their own planet and possibly strike back. The only race he could not defeat was that of the Immortals. They were about as old as the Universe itself and had never lost a war. They weren't exactly immortal, but they found out that it was very hard for their enemies to kill them. However, the name described them very accurately - they refuse to die. They laughed in the face of death. They mocked death. The Overlord had a very hard time fighting them and no matter what Horde he sent, what weapons he used or what arcane trickery he applied, they never fell. Ren'ul saw the perfect addition to his plan - immortality... or rather accelerated regenerating that no other race had. Aside from that they had many other abilities and weapons. Some of them have already been used...
At that moment Tyler showed one of his maces, which startled Ronnie and made him frown.
- Unfortunately in recent years tensions rose between the new and the old generation. Over the centuries they became unstoppable and conquered roughly half of the Universe. Their name caused only hatred and fear. The old generation believed that their power was granted to them from their birth, refused to fight in order to prove anything and their existence was, in their own words, unnecessary, while the new generation didn't want to leave anything to chance. In the final days of the standoff the resistance, led by Ankonian, Hexer and Kugen was wiped out completely. In a radio transmission we were told that something bad was going to happen and that the entire race would change for the worse. Ankonian had no idea how long they were going to live
, so he told us to come for help. As allies to the Immortals we tried our best to learn as much as possible from them: respect, honour, brotherhood and all that was good and beneficial. They were gods and friends to us, but more to the point, they were our brothers and we could not abandon them in those harsh times. We travelled at great speeds to their home, but we found no war, we found no authority, no resistance. All that we found was emptiness. Everyone is heartbroken, confused, angry and in despair, because we are at our most vulnerable and our friends, our teachers, are dead. As for the container that you unlocked and the crystals that you found - well... we found energy readings and traces coming out of the spot where the planet was located and we followed them, hoping to find survivors. That, of course, was our first assumption and we were sure that the Overlord would have begun scanning every corner of the Universe just to find those survivors, extract their DNA and then kill them. Usually he extracts DNA from a blood sample, because skin, bone and other parts of the anatomy can easily deteriorate if they're not quickly examined. In most cases he can take various tissue samples, including such directly from the brains of his victims. But when it comes to the Immortals, the story is far more complicated. With the use of genetics they altered their genes, so that their tissues would turn to dust once they cease to function or are separated from the body. The Immortals weren't dumb - everyone in the known Universe wanted a weapon as strong as their immortality. Now he definitely knows that the Immortals are an extinct species. Here's how the situation stands: The Overlord will chase you regardless of the obstacles that stand in his path. You may have the technology of the Immortals, but you have never been a part of a war and I can tell that you won't live long enough to tell anyone about anything you've witnessed. We have the facilities and the experts to prepare you for a fight against Ren'ul's minions and Ren'ul himself. In the process you'll learn a lot more about your abilities. Everyone aboard this vessel will receive as much information about you as possible. But if you refuse our assistance, you'll have to defend yourselves not just against the Overlord, but also against New Hope, your rulers and possibly, at some point, your own society, including your friends and family.
After that long speech Stromak made a short pause, after which he ended with the following:
- I did exactly what you wanted me to do. Now it's time for you to make a choice.
The boys were speechless. The scale of the story was enormous. Ronnie had no idea what to expect from the Overlord. He could see armies tearing down buildings and houses, killing civilians without any hesitation, people crying for help. He paced around the room several times in complete silence. Tyler and Garret were watching him anxiously. In order to break the silence Tyler suggested:
- How about we undergo an operation and have the crystals removed? That way New Hope can use the technology to their own advantage, we go back home in a clean state and watch them fly away to space. Earth remains unharmed and we go back to our everyday lives.
Ronnie did not like that idea:
- What if during that operation the crystals end up damaged? They might become useless and we'll just be a pile of corpses, because the crystals are probably now a part of our anatomy, an extra organ, if you will. Or, even worse, we figure out that they've dispersed themselves into our bodies like a virus and there's no method for surgical removal.
Garret came up with another idea:
- How about we just stay here, help them with whatever we can, kill Furot and end this story?
Ronnie disapproved once again:
- Without telling anything to our families and relatives? There's no way we'll last that long here. What you're telling me is we act as if we were the CIA and have them worried about what's happening to us?
- OK, we'll just tell them that... we had a car crash, I dunno... we'll think of something... - said Garret.
- Great idea! How about we also tell them that we messed around with an abandoned petrol station? I can already hear myself saying: "Hey mum, I played around with this propane tank that suddenly exploded in my face and turned it into a lump of coal!"
- Once we tell them, they'll go berserk. We will not be able to help New Hope, if our families are against it. - said Tyler.
- Our families have every right to know what's going on. I'm willing to bet that they are looking for us as we speak. - said Ronnie.
Everyone in the room, except for Stromak, was expecting this heated argument to erupt into a fight. The commander was silently and patiently observing. This was a perfect opportunity to figure out how the boys would behave, when they were faced with a tough decision. Ronnie wanted to reveal the situation and the events as they were and also offer their services to New Hope. Garret wanted to keep the events a secret, while Tyler just wanted to hand over the technology and live their lives like before. Such a glaring disagreement would not be fitting for an ally of New Hope, but the commander had no intention to stop them. With a frame like his he was oozing respect and was frequently in the spotlight. This time he was nothing but a spectator.
Ronnie declared:
- I agree with the idea to help...
His voice was much calmer:
- ...New Hope in their mission to stop Furot, but keeping our families guessing won't do much good. None of us know how big his armies are, nor how powerful Ren'ul is. Like the commander said: we might not survive.
Tyler rejoined the conversation with a sarcastic tone:
- And what about the media? You want them to know too?
- The media can screw itself. Same goes for the plague known as society. Did I mention anything about telling anything to those rats who work for big newspapers and TV channels? No. I said this word more than once: family.
The brothers quickly understood his idea and agreed with him.
- So it's settled, then? - Tyler asked.
- Yeah, I guess so. - Garret said.
At that point Ronnie turned his attention to Stromak and said:
- We will help New Hope. I cannot speak for my friends, but... I give no guarantees, though I do what must be done.
- That's good to know. When will you be ready to begin your training?
The boys looked at each other and Garret suggested that they rest for a week. Tyler objected:
- They won't be willing to wait that long! I say 3 days at most. How does that sound?
- OK - said Garret. - but we should stay at home the whole time.
- Very well. - Stromak agreed. - Our pilots will transport you back to the location of the crash site. Once you return, we will introduce you to every key member of this ship. Now go.
The trio turned around and followed the engineers who brought them to the mother ship. Then Tyler had a brainwave: the corpses of the Akeruns were still at the stadium:
- It might be a good idea to collect the blood and corpses from the stadium, because if someone ends up infected or the corpses end up in a laboratory, the situation would complicate itself even further.
The female scientist agreed and through an intercom requested corpse carriers from the medical centre of New Hope. Garret was puzzled by the use of that word and thought:
- "Why do they not call them "stretchers"? Oh, right, they're extraterrestrials, so their terminology is different."
***
It was almost night-time. The drop ship arrived at the stadium and dozens of soldiers poured out of the ship with the corpse carriers and some kind of suction devices similar to vacuum cleaners, presumably for removing the blood that was spilled during the fight. But there was a big problem - the bodies were missing.
- Uh, where are the bodies? - Tyler asked.
- We didn't do anything to them while we were here. Could they have possibly decomposed that quickly? - Garret asked.
- We have some information regarding that, but we're not entirely certain it's true. - the female scientist said. - The Overlord may have achieved a wilting similar to that of the Immortals.
Garret was concerned about how they would contact N
ew Hope when the time comes to begin their training. As always, the scientists provided them with an answer:
- All of you should have a built-in intercom that can connect itself to a myriad of communication devices. - the female scientist explained and pulled out an intercom out of her back pocket, which she flipped open and turned on. The male scientist did the same and instructed the boys to find a way to access their communication systems. Tyler and Ronnie found theirs without too much trouble, though Garret was struggling - he never really possessed the skills to deal with technology the way we know it today, with all of the touch screens and applications, most of the latter being next to useless. Thankfully he was helped by Ronnie, who quickly explained how it was done. Essentially what happened was they saved the frequency of the communication devices of the scientists. In order to contact them, the trio had to simply adjust to the frequency and transmit whatever information has to be transmitted.
- You should probably have the frequency of Sable's intercom as well. - the female scientist said.
As the ship faded into the dark sky, there was nothing left to do but go home. Keeping their new looks and abilities a secret would have been impossible, but that was only the beginning of their problems.
Chapter V
The next step
None of Ren'ul's minions knew what to expect. Most of them, if not all of them, only knew how to fight. They did not think - their minds could only follow orders.
The drop ship landed inside the hangar. The personnel quickly began scanning the exterior of the ship to determine if there was any damage to the hull or any sort of contamination. The pilot, on the other hand, had other ideas. He leapt out and ran towards the exit of the hangar. The engineers thought that he had lost his mind and continued their assignments.
The Immortal Trinity: Inheritance Page 4
