The Lost Tribe (Sentinel Series Book 2)

by Richard Flunker

  What she did know was that Kale had obtained several vials of nano-terminates when he had bought all the nano-bodies. She had dropped a few drops into Cruxe’s food when they had been on board the Galaxy. With a touch and command from her tablet, the nano-terminates would attack and destroy the man’s internal organs.

  Ayia had felt instant remorse when she had done it, and once again, told no one else on board. More so than usual, she was feeling like the odd man out and felt that it was up to her to make sure the crew survived. It also made her feel extremely vulnerable and alone. When she received a call from the Galaxy that night, inviting the whole crew on board to celebrate the Sanoi in their own fashion, she was delighted, and a bit relieved. The invitation was for the whole crew, but the rest were unavailable.

  The small skiff picked her up and she was escorted out to sea by two armed marines and the skiff’s pilot. All three appeared relaxed. The night had that effect. She sat in the back of the skiff and watched as the craft sprayed mist into the air. The droplets of water shined like jewels in the many moon’s light. She closed her eyes and once again felt as alone as ever.

  “What am I doing?” she thought.

  In that moment of doubt, Ayia looked back over the past three years. She had genuinely formed a bond with Kale and Gheno and even Sentinel. They had gone on countless missions and jobs and had actually been paid well. It wasn’t that she needed the money, but the satisfaction of being paid well was a boon to her ego. She was, after all, the daughter of a great businessman. He just wasn’t a great visionary. He had failed to see a planet rise up against him and sat foolishly waiting, thinking his wealth would win the day out for him. Ayia missed her father, but she also swore she would never end up like him, hiding behind the false bravado of wealth.

  Ayia was privy to the secret of the Dominion’s rebel empress and was friends with an illegal AI. She had saved people and killed people in the past three years. She just hadn’t been able to save Kale from his darkness. She desperately wanted to know him, to know how to shine a bright light into the dark of his soul, but she felt like a child next to him. He had saved her. And not just once. He had risked everything to come after her. She would risk everything if she could, but she simply didn’t know how to.

  Ayia realized in that moment, as the spray of the ocean moistened her hair, that maybe she couldn’t.

  The forward hull of the Galaxy had opened up and was serving as a party deck. The sailors had brought out several grills and were cooking up Alothian fish. Ayia recognized the smell the moment she was helped on board off the skiff. They had also strung out lights all along the deck. Sailors, officers and marines had mixed in amongst themselves. Off to the left, an area had been set aside for a dance floor and music played. Couples danced, laughed and talked as they drank whatever concoctions they had come up with. In all the foreignness that was Gadoni, Ayia felt a comfort in the familiar faces and nature of the crew of the Galaxy. In all the excitement, she stumbled into the Admiral.

  “Welcome back onboard, Ayia,” Marcus said, spinning about.

  “Thank you for having me, Admiral,” she said.

  “The others are here as well?” he asked.

  Ayia looked around sheepishly. “No. They had other arrangements.”

  “Unfortunate. I hope you enjoy yourself. I have set aside a room for you if you need to spend the night,” the Admiral pointed out.

  “If you need one, that is,” was the voice of the gruff Graham, as he walked up to them, two drinks in hand. He handed one to Ayia. “I have a feeling most might sleep it off out here.”

  Ayia took the drink and took a sip. She smiled as she recognized the drink.

  “Majaran Kone Wine?” she said excitedly, drinking deeper the second time.

  “Only the best.” Graham raised his own glass and then walked off laughing loudly.

  “Care to walk with me a moment, miss?” Marcus asked. He held out his arm.

  Ayia smiled in the dim light and put her arm in his. He led her towards the edge of the ship’s makeshift deck. The whole outer edge had been chained off. Despite that, Marcus explained how they had cameras all over to make sure no unfortunate sailor fell over. Netting had also been strung up along the sides. Marcus let her go and leaned over the chains. He had yet to touch his drink.

  “Is something wrong?” Ayia asked, sensing hesitation.

  “I hate to ruin the evening. I just wanted to relay a bit of what we have uncovered about our enemy up there,” the Admiral said, pointing up at the night sky.

  “What? What is it?”

  “This enemy, it is not alive. More precisely, it is not biological in any way that we can perceive. All the data we have indicates that it is a mechanical construct. It is software and hardware.”

  “It’s an AI?” Ayia said, realizing what she had said just moments after she did.

  “Yes, very much like an AI,” Marcus said, surprised by her quick response.

  “What does it mean?” she asked, trying to mask her thoughts.

  “Honestly, it really only means more questions. We were really hoping to see if there was any other information you could provide us.”

  “We may have some footage. I will have to ask the Captain when he gets back if there is any other data we can share that might be useful.”

  The Admiral studied her carefully. He took a sip from his drink then smiled.

  “That would be just fine,” he said. He then held out his arm again. “On another subject entirely, would you do me the honor of a dance.”

  Ayia blushed instantly and was glad it was too dark to notice.

  “Yes, of course,” she said as she took his arm.

  Sailors had set up various sound systems, hooked up to a foursome of speakers set in a straight line at the edge of their designated dance floor. They had then strung another series of lights across the top of the dance floor. The lights alternated different colors, splashing the deck with the dim light. They had all been dancing for an hour or so to their favorite music fed through the sound system. At the corner of the floor though, three men and a woman had gathered and had taken out a set of stringed instruments. As the Admiral led Ayia to the floor, the last song ended, and the group stepped forward for their own presentation.

  They began playing their song and the entirety of the crew of the Galaxy rose up in a cheer. Ayia recognized the song as well, although she remembered it in a different way. It was a popular Alothian folk song. As they started off the song, couples ran out onto the floor and began dancing to the upbeat tune. As the woman started singing, everyone sang along out loud as they danced. Ayia didn’t know the words that well, although she knew the tune well enough. The Admiral, though, knew the words perfectly it seemed, and belted them along with the rest of his crew. Those nearest him cheered him on as he sang at the top of his lungs.

  Ayia was impressed. The young man had a rich and powerful voice, perfectly in tune with the instruments. She was also impressed by the way the crew admired their leader. He was young, probably no more than a few years older than she was, but here he was the uncompromised leader of a capital space ship. She let herself get swept up by the emotions of the song and danced along with everyone else. She even sang along with the chorus once she understood the words. Again and again they sang the chorus and cheered when one of the men played his fiddle with amazing dexterity during a solo. She got so into the music that when she turned to find the Admiral, Ayia saw him at the edge of the dance floor. An officer was standing next to him, talking. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the look on his face explained it all.

  He looked up and saw her. The smile was gone. As their eyes met, she saw him purse his lips in the dim light and then he started walking off. Ayia chased after him. As she caught up to him, he was typing something into his tablet and handing it off to the officer, who took off towards the main section of the Galaxy that rose up above them. Ayia reached Marcus and took his arm. He turned and looked at her.


  “Miss Augusto. It’s probably in your best interest to get back to your ship as soon as possible,” he said. All casualness was gone. The soldier was back.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Our deep space probes just picked up several large black spheres coming through one of those wormholes. The probes were destroyed but not before they were able to send trajectory information to us. They are headed straight here.”

  Ayia quickly tapped her earpiece. She heard Cove’s chirp. It was her way of saying she had heard everything.

  “My men will get you back as soon as possible,” the Admiral said. He shouted out some quick orders at two more officers, who then turned and went running out towards the dance. “You should let your people know.”

  Ayia tapped her ear again and called out. “Kale? Gheno?”

  She waited a few moments but got no responses. “I was worried about that.” They were either out of range or too busy. Worst of all, Sentinel was too busy and she wasn’t sure what Cove could do yet. The Admiral was standing by and could tell something was wrong.

  “Not getting them on the coms?” he asked.

  “They were busy with other things. They might not even have them on,” she said. She was certainly worried.

  “Can you fly your ship?” he asked, concerned.

  “Uhm,” she began, faltering a bit, “not really.”

  “Then you stay here,” he said, shouting at one of his ensigns. Men and women had come pouring out of the super-ship to help clean everything up. “I'm not sure if it will be much safer here, but I would feel better if you were here.”

  “Thank you, Admiral,” she said. He nodded back to her, and then gave instructions to the ensign to be with her at all times and help her with anything she needed. The Admiral then flew off into the ship.

  Ayia stood back as she watched the men and women that had just been enjoying themselves begin to tear down their lights and tables. As they tore down the grills, dumping the hot coals into the ocean, they grabbed whatever food was left and stuffed it into their mouths. Three exceedingly bright spotlights exploded on, flooding the whole area. Ayia had to close her eyes for a moment to let them adjust. When she opened them just a few moments later, nearly all the strings of lights were already done.

  “I guess the party is over,” she said quietly. She stepped away from the ensign who was engrossed by the chaos on the deck. She went to the edge of the ship and tapped her ear again.

  “Cove?” she called out quietly.

  “Yes, Ayia,” came the now-familiar feminine voice.

  “What is going on?” Ayia asked. “Are our sensors picking anything up?”

  “They are now that I know where to point them at. There are seven large black spheres in a sling towards this planet.”

  “ETA?” she asked, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

  “Between four and five hours. They are traveling far faster than our ships usually sling.”

  “That’s not good. Where is Sentinel? Can you wake him back up?”

  “Sentinel is no longer on this ship.”

  “Yeah, I know, but wake him up.”

  “No, Ayia. Sentinel is no longer hosted on this ship’s core,” Cove reiterated.

  “Uhm,” Ayia stopped. She knew what Gheno had told her about their experiment, but now she wasn’t sure she truly had understood. “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that. Keep trying to get Kale on his com please.”

  “Yes, Ayia.”

  “Cove. Can you fly the ship?”

  “No. But I will be able to in two hours. Sentinel left all the programs I need to learn.”

  “Then do it quick. Find them and get off the planet if you need to,” Ayia ordered. “The night is about to bring out the dark spirits.”

  3127 – Gadoni, at a clearing on the mountain knows as ‘The Shadow’

  Kale sat on the ground on top of the furry mat Uli had set out for him. She sat directly across from him, on the same mat. She was rummaging through a smaller bag. She had laid out three thin spikes directly on the mat in front of her. She took out a small sphere. She explained that it was a large Yago seed. Inside of the seed was the powder of the Yua.

  “When our people first came to Gadoni, it was only our children that could survive. But even those children had difficulty finding sources of food that their changing bodies could use for nourishment,” Uli began explaining.

  The world was so foreign to their bodies that it was difficult to even try to understand what they could eat. They attempted to learn from the animals as to what was edible and what wasn’t, but quickly found that the line between beast and everything else was too foggy. Each beast seemed to eat something another one refused to. It took many trials and errors before they started to understand what their bodies could consume. What they did find though was that there were many other edible things that didn’t provide the body with nourishment, but instead healed them, or in the case of the Yua, opened their minds to the universe.

  Not everyone benefitted from the Yua. To most, it was a sweet spice that could be used in cooking. But to a select few, it had given them the ability to suddenly see and manipulate the threads that appeared to connect nearly everything they could see. They were able to follow the threads far up and beyond the normal vision. They saw how the threads warped through their three suns, and how they went through space itself and came out in other worlds.

  The Yua gave birth to the Threadweavers. These were the men and women who had the genetic trait that allowed them, while imbibing the Yua, to see and manipulate the threads. Uli was such a person.

  “So you're going to see through me?” Kale asked.

  “No. You are going to see through yourself,” Uli said, mixing the powder with water and filling the Yago seed back up. She dipped her finger in the open sphere and mixed the powder into a paste.

  “What makes you think it will work?” Kale asked.

  “Because my thread weaving led me to you. Because when I first saw you on board the Vahe, all the threads led to you,” she said. She took the three long spikes and put them into the open seed and set the sphere back down on the mat.

  “This, stuff, it gives you these powers?” Kale asked, looking down at the three spikes.

  “No. They open up my vision,” Uli said. She took one of the spikes out and held it up against her left wrist. She cleanly slipped it under her skin. She threw her head back instantly and stretched her arms out.

  “Other Threadweavers can only use a small amount or it drives them mad,” Uli said in an low growl as she continued to look up to the skies. “I have yet to find my limit.”

  Kale began to feel light. All around him small pebbles began to float up. He looked to the right side, towards the edge of the waterfall, and the drops of water were coming out sideways. He watched as they floated in place, barely reflecting the limited light. He could feel the vibration in the air. The scene became gruesomely familiar.

  “I know of someone with such powers,” Kale said quietly as he remembered a dark day in the forests of Oxaoca.

  Uli lowered her arms and head. As she opened her eyes, they reflected a bright green. Kale could swear they were glowing.

  “You can have this vision as well,” she said. She held out her arms.

  Kale looked down at the spike sticking out of her wrist and then looked at his own. He had done plenty of hallucinogenic drugs in the past. Many were natural, most were not. He had used them in times of utter darkness and depression in order to stave it off. They rarely succeeded.

  He kept on trying.

  He held out his hands, wrists exposed to her. She took them and set them on her crossed legs. They were cool to his touch and for a brief moment, he forgot what he was doing. Uli took the two remaining spikes and set them up, one on each wrist. She looked up at Kale in the darkness and smiled. Then, at the same time, she pushed them both in under the skin.


  There was a prick then a slight numbness in his arm. He was about to look up and say nothing had happened, when the world vanished.

  ***

  He was sitting in the plaza of the small town of Chagge on Urt. He had grown up there. Uli sat directly across from him. Her eyes were white, and her skin was no longer green, but a dark olive. Kale gasped and his heart started racing. He stood up but when he got on his feet, he looked down and found them bound. He turned around and saw them bound to a post behind him. His hands were free. As he looked around, he couldn’t see Uli anymore, but saw the familiar faces of his village in Chagge. They were all there, once again.

  “There are laws our Dominar has put down for our own order,” came a roaring voice. It was the voice of the Tormentor. Kale strained to turn around and saw a man, a giant. He turned and looked down at Kale. His face was a visage of horror. Large fangs protruded his mouth. His face was a wild combination of colors, all streaked across his cheeks. His eyes were large and red and two black horns came out of his temples and pointed down. He laughed as he saw Kale. The demon walked past him.

  Kale’s heart began to race.

  Two guards held up a woman. She was dressed in plain clothes and had long brown hair. Kale tried to focus on her face. He knew it well. But it was blank. From that blank face, tears materialized.

  “Only with the blessing of the Dominar may your seed go forth,” the demon screeched.

  Kale looked on. He tried to bend over to reach his feet but found he couldn’t bend over. He couldn’t move. His hands weren’t tied up, but he couldn’t move them. He looked up and was instantly blinded by the hot sun. Sweat poured down his face and into his eyes.

  “When you cannot follow his command, you cannot be ruled by him.”

  Kale scanned the crowd. He knew all their faces, but not their names. He struggled to remember but when he thought he did, their faces would change. He looked for anyone he could remember their names, but couldn’t. When he looked back, the demon was standing next to the woman.