Matakeo: Echoes of the Future

by Daniel L. Newcomb

  Darius had been counting ‘body impacts’, the contact made between an echo blade and a life form. He had tallied five to this point. He was sure of LacLok’s position in the room. He wanted him alive and needed to stop Teron from killing the alien. The hum of her weapon could be heard on a collision course to strike the scientist down.

  “Do not kill him!” Darius hoped he issued forth the words in time. The next sound he heard was deafening.

  Teron had already gone past a point in her swing to halt the action. The motion of the sweeping maneuver was bound to follow through. However, she was able to force the angle, so that the weapon’s trajectory would veer off to the side of the target. Fortunately, she missed the scientist. The power of the blade caused sparks of static to emit from off the floor.

  LacLok was scared stupid. He was positive that he would be on his way to stand before his gods. His legs were already trembling with fear. When the impact took place the vibration sent a horrendous sensation up his legs and into his hips. The muscles in his midsection became like gelatin and he toppled down onto his haunches.

  “Please do not kill LacLok.” The alien whimpered. He made no attempt to get up and run.

  “Teron, help me up from here.” Darius was relieved she was there to save them. The restraints were loosened. Darius sat up. “You can deactivate the cloaking device now.”

  Instantly, the female Matakeo materialized. “You are welcome, Darius.” This was her way of playing with him. Teron knew he was not required to thank her. He would have done it for her. She turned to Telly to free him.

  “No, Teron. Leave him up there.”

  “Why?”

  “Mr. LacLok over there is going to restore him back to his original state.”

  “Am I missing something here?”

  “Did you not here what the Banimpire said?”

  “I think I missed that part.” She answered.

  “How could you have not heard?”

  “I have my reason, embarrassing as it is.”

  “Embarrassing?” Darius sounded astonished. “Come on now. When have you ever been shy around me?”

  “If you insist.” Teron’s complexion blushed as she spilled the beans. “I had to go pee.”

  “Are you serious?” A look of disbelief reflected on his face. “You mean to tell me, while Telly and I were about to have our melons altered, you were going tinkle?”

  “You asked,” she said firmly. “A lady can only hold it for so long.”

  “Easy,” he sounded sympathetic. “I am just teasing. Where did you go? Outside?”

  “No. I used their facility.” Teron smiled before continuing. “They were some of the cleanest I have ever used.”

  Darius laughed.

  “I overheard something while I was in the restroom. Remind me to tell you about it later.”

  “No problem. At the moment, I am just glad you are here. I was beginning to wonder if you had made it aboard the ride down here.”

  “It was definitely a tight fit,” she replied with raised eyebrows. “Now what’s this about the witness?”

  “Well, the Banimpire claims Telly is really Rimsen.”

  LacLok acknowledged this report with an affirmative nod.

  “Are you talking about our classmate who disappeared?”

  “The one and same.”

  “Come on, Darius. Surely you do not believe that? Do you?” She glanced over at the source of the discussion and then back. “That guy does not look or act like the Rimsen I once knew.”

  “Think about it Teron. How many years ago was that?”

  “I am having a hard time accepting this.”

  “Malign claims that an inhibitor chip was placed on his brain. Supposedly, they can manipulate ones thought process and jack around with their character and facial features…” He pointed a finger toward the three-eyed alien. “…and Mr. LacLok there is so thankful we spared his life, he has agreed to reverse the effects by removing the chip. Is that correct, LacLok?”

  The scientist stood to his feet. After regaining his composure, he answered. “I will begin right away.”

  “Nice guy, is he not?” Darius showed off with a cheesy grin.

  “Wow! This is mind boggling.” Teron was at a loss for words. “What is going on here?”

  “There is not enough time to explain it all right now.”

  Teron sensed the serious in his voice.

  Darius continued. “Lumi and Earth forces are mobilizing as we speak. They are preparing to attack our star cluster. We need to warn our government.”

  “No kidding?” She ran a jerky hand through her hair several times. “How are we getting out of here?”

  The two carried on while they waited for Telly’s procedure to finish. Several escape ideas were bounced around between them. Unfortunately, none of them seemed practical.

  Ten minutes later, the scientist spoke. “I am done.”

  “Is he going to be okay?” Darius and Teron spoke in unison. They stared at each other quizzically before turning their regard back to the scientist.

  “He is fine.” One of the alien’s eyelids batted a couple of times. “Complete recovery I do not know. Total recall could happen in hour, maybe day.” His hands were trembling.

  Darius noticed the surgeon’s fear. “I hope your nervous twitch there did not cause you to screw up my friend’s brain?”

  “He begins to awake.” LacLok declared.

  Darius and Teron moved in close to the man on the operating chair. The female spoke first. “Is that you, Rimsen?”

  The man felt like he had just woke up from a deep sleep. Slowly, he opened his eyes. “Yes. I do not understand why I feel this way. I feel traumatized.”

  Darius patted Rimsen on the front of one shoulder.

  “Teron, would you do the honor of securing our new friend Mister LacLok into one of these seats? We do not want him running around tattling on us.”

  “My pleasure,” she said happily. First, she rubbed her hand across Rimsen’s forehead. “Good to see you again, old friend.” Only after kissing him on the cheek did she begin with putting the alien in wraps.

  “Rimsen, can you walk?” Darius seemed a bit impatient. “We really need to get out of here and fast.”

  “Sure thing.” Rimsen lifted a leg and moved it over the side of the chair. He shifted his weight and pulled the other leg to meet the first. Every part of him wobbled at first.

  “Wow!” He stared at his feet. “I hope my strength returns at a faster rate than this.”

  “Come on,” Darius announced.

  As Rimsen began to find his footing, he noticed the fatigued orientation dissipated quickly. “I think I will be okay soon.”

  “That is good. You will need all the strength you can muster.”

  “What exactly is going on?”

  “I will explain all I know as soon as we get home. In a nutshell, our people are going to be attacked.” Darius peaked out the front door to see if anyone was on the streets. “No time for it now.”

  “If you say so,” Rimsen replied.

  “I do.”

  Teron joined her two brethren at the main entrance once her task was complete. She looked to Darius for a clue as to their next move. “Well?”

  “There might be a chance the ship is still on the landing pad. We can use it to get to the space port. From there we can hijack a ride.”

  “Once we are at the space port we can go undetected by using the cloaking devices.” She flipped a switch on her waist and disappeared. Then she reversed the tool to make herself reappear. “Smart, eh?”

  “That is cool.” Rimsen was fascinated.

  “Just one problem with that,” Darius pointed out. “You only have two of them thingies. Remember? There are three of us.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “We can still pull it off.” Rimsen interjected.

  “I like his attitude.” Darius complimented. “Just like old Telly.”

  “Who is Telly?” Rimsen ha
d no clue. Total recall had not occurred.

  The other two stared at him with a blank face.

  “You wouldn’t know him.” Darius laughed. “Let’s go!”

  Once they were out of the laboratory, the Matakeo made their way toward their goal. Cautiously, they went from corner to corner. Anytime the three would see someone, they would stop and wait. Then, when the coast was clear again they would continue.

  “There it is,” Teron pointed out.

  They advanced only after double checking for clarity. All was going well. As the group made their way to the craft they heard someone whistling. They stopped. There was no one in sight. That is, until Rimsen turned and looked behind them.

  A Lumi maintenance worker had exited a building they had passed. A song was on his mind. That was quickly replaced with fear after he spied the three out-of-place humans.

  Rimsen pointed at him. Without waiting to see how the alien would react, he cleared his throat. “Behind us.”

  The other two turned to Rimsen’s request.

  “He is going to book it!” Darius declared.

  The frightened Lumi came to a quick conclusion. He knew the odds were in his favor to run. Lumis are faster than humans and this one was fully aware of the fact. After trying the lock on the door to the building he had exited, he did just that. He turned and ran.

  “If he alerts anyone we will not make it out of here.” Teron exclaimed.

  Rimsen reached for the sword on Teron’s hip and extracted it from her person.

  “What are you doing?” Darius failed to keep his voice low.

  “They will shoot us down before we can leave the atmosphere.” Rimsen pointed the weapon at his friends. “I will run it down. You two get out of here.”

  “I am not leaving without you.” Darius replied with concern. “We just found you.”

  “The only thing that matters now is you alerting our people.” Rimsen turned and gave pursuit to the Lumi.

  “Hey. Hey!” Darius was screaming after his friend. “Can we discuss it first?”

  Rimsen was obviously not going to change his mind. He kept on running.

  “I cannot believe he did that.”

  Teron sounded hasty. “He is right. We need to go. Now!”

  “I know. There is too much at stake if we do not.”

  The craft was still on the pad. Both of them entered. Teron strapped into the pilot seat, while Darius stood at the bay door. The drop ship was ready. Darius gave Teron the order to takeoff. The door was still fully opened. He stood in its threshold. As the craft ascended, he eyed the ground like a hawk in hopes to catch a glimpse of his friend. There were no visible clues.

  Telly wanted to be a Matakeo, he thought. Would he not be surprised now?

  “We are nearing the chalk-line,” Teron’s voice rang from the cockpit.

  Darius knew there was nothing he could do for Rimsen now. Some day they would meet again. The only assurance he truly had for his reasoning, was, in the short time of being with him he learned that Telly was strong willed. In just the few minutes of knowing Rimsen the man, he came to the conclusion the personality had originally never been altered. The only things that had been changed were his appearance and the speed at which his brain processed information.

  Depressing the door switch, he stepped back. The aperture sealed tightly. Solemnly, he sat down on the bench outside the cockpit. He looked in and took a second to view Teron. She is the best.

  “You okay?” Her pronunciation was deliberate.

  “Of course,” Darius reached a hand into a large pocket located on the side of his pant leg. Slowly, he pulled out the viewing toy he had found in the air vent. With all the recent events he had completely forgot about the instrument. Placing it to an eye, he peered in. With his other hand he turned the barrel’s end piece. Many shapes and colors constantly fell off to the side within the view; a different picture for the slightest twist. This was the only monument left to remind him of Telly. What he really wanted was Rimsen to be on this drop ship with him.

  Angered, he reared back his arm and threw the kaleidoscope against the far wall. The toy shattered in pieces. The shards settled on the metal floor.

  Darius noticed one of the pieces had a strange shape. Rising from off the bench, he stepped over and picked the object up. After retaking his seat, he discovered it was more than a piece from the toy. It was actually some sort of alien artifact hidden inside the toy. The object looked very old and had alien symbols inscribed on it. He scrutinized and marveled over this discovery as the ship left the atmosphere of Luminescence. Once the ship hard burned, the two escapees rocketed off toward Omphalos.

  15

  Twenty thousand light years from Luminescence, a stallion-class freighter was in the middle of a hard burn as it said goodbye to the atmosphere of Mars. The older model ship struggled to lift. After several, thunderous clanging noises it cleared the gravitational pull of the red planet. For the most part, the craft was still intact.

  Kwin occupied the copilot's seat inside the cockpit. Nervously, he swiped the back of his hand across his forehead. A pool of sweat briefly coated his knuckles before he wiped them on his trousers. His heart was still pounding faster than usual but was gradually falling back to a normal rate. The fear of going through yet another episode of near mechanical failure caused the young man to visualize himself disintegrating in a massive explosion.

  A minute later, his brother Kwal entered the cabin. He threw himself into the captain’s seat and let out a sigh of relief. Laughing, he reached over and slapped his sibling on the shoulder in a playful manner.

  “That was another close one, brother.”

  All Kwin could do was shoot a look of disgust toward his twin.

  “Oh come on?” Kwal jested. He placed an index finger against his lips. He acted as if he was thinking but the expression upon his face was one of sarcasm.

  Kwin did not budge. He tried to stand firm.

  In a mocking gesture, Kwal placed both hands to his chest as to say, not guilty.

  “Are you mad at me again?”

  Kwin looked animated. “Listen up, Kwal! I am sick of the close calls.” It was at this point he allowed his eyes to lose contact with his brother. The intensity he began with quickly dissipated. “When are you going to start allocating some of our credits toward replacement parts for our ship?”

  “Look, bro. I do put credits back for repairs. Unfortunately, other things are always springing up. You know I hate breaking into our reserve.”

  “Oh. I am sorry,” Kwin contended. “I forgot that sleazy women and parties were a priority!”

  The older brother shot the younger one, the look.

  “Why do you think you need to challenge my authority?”

  “I am sorry, Kwal. For some silly reason, the thought of burning to a crispy chunk of atmospheric dust is not my idea of a great sendoff from this life.”

  “Look, bro. I swear on our father’s grave, I will get the parts we need after we complete our next job.”

  “Why must you say that?”

  “What?” He razzed his brother.

  “You know what I am talking about.”

  “Are you to chicken to say it?” Kwal attempted to push his sibling to the breaking point of anger.

  Kwin said nothing in return. He hated all vain mentioning of his father.

  “That is what I thought,” Kwal said arrogantly. “I will say what I please.”

  Kwin pretended to busy himself at the helm.

  “We do need the parts.”

  “Put your mind at ease.” Smiling, he pointed a finger in Kwin’s direction. “I will not let any harm come to you.”

  The expression on Kwin’s face was one of disbelief.

  “Famous last words,” he muttered.

  “Okay?” Kwal knew he would not be able to walk off without reassuring him. As he stood up to leave he placed a hand on the others shoulder. “I promise.”

  “Okay,” Kwin muttered under his
breath again.

  “I am going to get a few winks now. Plot a course for Morella.” Kwal turned to leave the cockpit. As he exited the cabin he issued forth another order. “Wake me right before we come out of hyperspace.”

  Kwin was disappointed with himself. This was one of those rare moments when he actually stood up to his brother. He knew he had blown it once again. Not only did he blow it, he felt as if he dug himself deeper into the submissive hole. One day he would say something to Kwal that would incite an irreversible altercation. Kwal had a dominant personality. Kwin had never liked confrontation because he had no way of backing up an argument. Physical strength seemed to have eluded him at birth, whereas Kwal was blessed with an over abundance of it.

  “If father were still here this ship would not be falling apart,” Kwin thought to himself out loud.

  “That is not necessarily true,” a female voice called out.

  “Annie. Can you do me a favor?”

  The ship’s artificial intelligence replied. “Yes, how may I help you?”

  “Could you please bring up a list of all the replacement parts needed?”

  “Yes,” she replied in an animalistic tone. “Here they are, Sir.”

  “Thank you Annie. You’re a sweetheart.” Slowly, for a couple of seconds, he caressed his hand across the control console. The cockpit glowed with a red hue. This was Annie’s way of expressing herself. She was blushing. Kwin had never seen her show emotion like this to Captain Kwal.

  Kwin placed a finger over a touch screen on the right side of the control panel. Then he poked a tab marked Most Expensive. From the list of thirteen parts that the A.I. had given him, four appeared within the new column. The most important item was the stabilizer cell for the reactor core. The other trio was all energy cells. One was for food storage and another for the rear gun. The third was for the rear shield. The first seemed the most important to him. They had never needed the use of the other two.

  He clutched at an object that dangled from a chain about his neck. Caressing it, he pondered what life might have been like if things had been different. What if mother never died? What if father had his feet under him and not been so inclined to be skirting the stars? He buried these thoughts deep in his mind.