by West, Shay
A tall Volgon female appeared from behind another ruined building, jumping at the pup and causing it to squeal in delight and run off again. Her mate, though trying to enjoy the moment, seemed too busy looking everywhere at once, as if expecting an attack.
“What are they doing?” Gerok's voice sounded on the verge of cracking under the strain.
“I'll find out.” Throwing caution to the wind, Voilor stepped from his hiding spot to confront the trio.
The three stopped dead in their tracks. The female motioned to the pup to come closer.
“What are you doing?” Voilor asked.
“I could ask the same of you.” In a movement born of centuries of war, the big male had loosened his weapon so quickly that had Voilor not been looking, he would have missed it. “I do not know you.”
“I am a stranger.” Voilor did not recognize any of the three. He wondered how long they had been gone to have two full-grown adults from Colony 3 that he did not recognize.
“What is your home Colony?”
Voilor hesitated only an instant before answering. “Colony 3.”
The big man relaxed a fraction. “We are from Colony 1.”
Voilor waited for him to offer more. The questions he wished to ask would give the big man more than enough reason to shoot him. “Why are you so far from home?”
“I am one of the Builders. I needed to finish mapping the city for the Restoration.”
It was as if the man was speaking another language. Builders? Restoration? Voilor merely nodded as if he understood what the man said.
“We are on our way to Colony 3. Shall we travel together?”
Voilor could see no reason to refuse without arousing suspicion. He hoped the others stayed behind so that their movements couldn't be heard.
“I am called Feylir, and this is my mate Kenfir. The little one is Namleeyr.” He looked on his young pup fondly as she scampered ahead of the adults, only to run back a few seconds later holding a shiny rock or bit of metal.
“I am Voilor.” He hoped the man from Colony 1 hadn't heard about him. The last thing he needed was to be taken into custody because Gerok had struck General Kroylir.
“Do you not have any food or water rations?”
Voilor relaxed a little. The man obviously had no idea who he was. “I was only out for the day so I did not bring any along.”
“Are you a Builder too? I thought I had met all of them.”
Voilor shook his head. “No, I am not a Builder. Merely curious about the cities of old.”
“It will be good to get out of the holes and the dirt we have been living in for so long. It feels strange to be so exposed.”
Voilor did not know what to say. He had deduced that the Volgons has decided to rebuild the cities and that they would no longer be living underground. How can this be? He wanted to grab the man by his shoulders and demand to know all that had transpired since they had left. Instead, he simply walked, watched, and listened.
There were many Volgons out walking in the heat of the day. Many looked as though they had no destination in mind and were simply walking. Others were digging deep furrows in the dirt. A few more walked behind them, carrying strange contraptions on their backs that sprayed some sort of greenish liquid on the newly turned dirt.
“If the engineers are correct, we should be able to grow plants by next season.”
Voilor was so thoroughly in shock that all he could manage was a slight shake of the head. Many of the Volgons were not wearing their armor. They looked naked without it. The ones with no armor still wore their utility belts with weapons and shield.
The trio seemed to sense his desire for silence and did not speak the rest of the journey to Colony 3. Voilor's eyes bulged when he caught sight of the entry and the Volgons coming and going at their leisure. There wasn't even a guard.
Something has happened here. Something big.
There was a lot of traffic in the entry. Voilor worried about how the others would sneak inside. He shook his head. He could not worry about them. It was possible he would encounter someone who recognized him and who would sound the alarm. His attention was better spent keeping an eye out for Volgons he knew.
“Voilor! Is that you?”
He turned slowly at the familiar voice of his mate, Syrlir. She stood, armor-less and confused. He couldn't seem to make his voice work.
“Where have you been? We thought you all had been killed in a Gorkon raid.” She wanted to reach out to him, but she held back.
“No, we weren't killed.”
“Is that all you have to say?” She crossed her arms, and her eyes burned with anger. “You have been gone years, and yet all you can say is ‘we weren't killed’? And where is everyone else?”
Things were spiraling out of control. Others were stopping to stare at the encounter. Voilor started backing toward the entrance to the colony, ready to fight if anyone tried to stop him.
Without needing to say a word, the Astrans dropped the shield, unwilling to sit by and let their comrade face an inquisitive and possibly dangerous mob alone. The Volgons drew their weapons, looking everywhere at once.
“Premier Viisyr?”
Incredulous voices greeted the sudden appearance of their Premier as did fear at seeing a room that, only moments before had held only a few Volgons, suddenly brimming with them.
“We did not mean to alarm you.” Gerok hadn't meant to have the Astrans drop the shield, but Voilor was attracting too much attention.
Gerok had wanted to throttle the man when he had boldly walked up to the trio wandering through the ruined city. Their purpose was not to figure out what was happening but to retrieve the sound weapon and meet the Kromins back at the ruined city.
“What is the meaning of this?”
A Volgon standing nearly nine feet tall strode into the main room of the Level 1.
A General, but not Kroylir.
“We have been gone on a secret mission and have just now returned.”
“Secret mission?” The big Volgon's tone indicated his disbelief.
“Yes, involving a weapon so powerful as to defy imagining.” Gerok spoke quickly, his mind reeling with the hint of an idea that would explain their presence as well as the strangers’. He motioned the Astran Chosen to move so that the rest could get a glimpse of Gwen. They had hidden her, unwilling to subject her to the loathing she was sure to face.
“What is this?” The General sneered at the deformed Volgon girl.
Gerok nodded to Gwen.
She faced the man, and in short order had him gasping for breath against invisible bonds of air constricting his heavily-armored throat.
Rather than attacking the girl, the other Volgons in the room nodded in grudging respect. Feeror smiled proudly at Gwen. On Astra, a giant lizard with huge fangs grinning at her would have caused her to faint in terror, but here the feral grin looked perfect on his scaly face. She blushed when she realized that he was not looking away as he had done when they'd first emerged through the portal.
“This girl, and some of these others, possess a strong power that none of us have. They will be an asset in the fight against the Gorkons,” Gerok said.
The General frowned at Gerok, his hands going involuntarily to his throat. “You are a bit late. The sound weapon you made has already done the job.”
“Done the job? You mean….” He trailed off, unwilling to believe that the sworn enemy of the Volgons could possibly be dead.
“Every Gorkon has been killed. We have not seen one for most of a year.”
The Volgon Chosen roared and pounded their chests, filling the room with primitive sound.
So much of the strange goings-on were finally explained. It was almost too good to be true.
“What happened to Kroylir?”
“He was killed in a skirmish with the enemy. I am General Kamlor. Where have you been? And where did you find these with the power?” He waved to the Chosen standing awkwardly, gazing about them and yet trying
to look as though they were perfectly at ease.
“That is a long story, and one that I can't explain right now. We have come for the sound weapon.”
Kamlor stared at Gerok as though he had grown a second head. “You ask much and yet offer little.”
“I do what I must.”
Kamlor stared hard at Gerok, sizing up the man whose name was well known in Colony 3. “We have several of the larger ones here in the weapons room.”
Gerok tried not to let his breath out in a sigh of relief. “We must collect it and be on our way as soon as possible.” He put all the force of his Premier status into the statement.
“As you wish, Premier.” General Kamlor bowed his head and moved aside so the group could pass into the entryway leading down into the second level.
Gerok bowed in turn and led the group down the dark tunnel. Their eyes adjusted quickly to the pitch-blackness.
“I can't believe we are being allowed to roam free. I wonder if Kroylir ever told anyone about that day,” Feeror said.
“Perhaps he didn't. What does it matter? Let's just get the machine and get out of here.”
“Ready to begin another adventure?” Feeror found Gerok's attitude hard to believe. Not long ago, the man had wanted nothing more than to return home.
“The Kromins could arrive any minute. This weapon may be our only chance at stopping the Mekans. I should think you would want to get it to Astra as soon as possible,” Gerok said as they entered the weapon's room.
Feeror refused to answer. He did not appreciate the innuendo in the man's voice, although he had to admit, part of him wanted to return to that beautiful, green world. And stay with little Gwen? Feeror tried to shut down the thought that crept into his mind, but it was impossible. He found himself thinking about the tiny girl much more than was appropriate for a Volgon warrior. His scattered thinking was interrupted by the approach of Saemus.
“How does this thing work exactly?” Saemus peered at the computer and weapon with curious eyes.
“The computer is used to obtain a read-out of the enemy brain scan.” Feeror grabbed a long sheet of paper full of undulating black lines. “The sound machine is set to the same pattern and emits a sound only the enemy can hear.”
“I still don't see how sound can kill,” Jon said.
“Do you really want to see?” Feeror grinned maliciously and strode to another computer. He hit a few buttons. The others gathered around and watched a recording of a Gorkon in its death throes. Gwen, Keera, and Kaelin peered at the sound barrier and gulped audibly.
“You have no technology on your world so it is hard to imagine. Is there a sound you can think of that hurts your ears?” Moylir asked.
“The sound of Ma yelling,” Saemus joked.
Moylir rolled her eyes. “Something much louder than that.” When the Astrans stared at her blankly she bared her fangs and grabbed a tool used for cutting through metal. She began cutting through the edge of a table. The Chosen from Astra and Earth covered their ears.
“Do you see? If a sound can cause pain, it can kill.”
The Astran and Earth Chosen nodded.
“So you used this weapon and killed your enemy?” Gwen asked quietly. She could not shake the image of the flailing Gorkon out of her head.
“Our people did, yes.” Feeror was disappointed that he had not been here to witness the downfall of the enemy. It must have been a glorious day indeed.
“All of them?”
Feeror paused before speaking. He sensed there was more to the question. “I know that war is something you do not know. I am sure your planet has seen battles, but that is different than a centuries-long war. The fighting left our planet ravaged and its surface uninhabitable. Imagine your world as such. Imagine your people brought to the brink of extinction, forced to live underground like animals. Now tell me, if given the chance to eradicate your enemy, would you not do so?
“We have not always been this way. Volgons used to live much like you, in cities and towns, able to enjoy the sun and the wind. The Gorkons took that from us.” Feeror felt his anger growing at the thought of all they had lost at the hands of the enemy.
“It just seems wrong to kill an entire race,” Gwen said softly. She was not sure she could ever bear the burden of guilt of such an act. But I have not suffered as they have.
“The deed is done. Come, we need to get this equipment back to the city,” Gerok ordered.
“Can we take more than one?” Keera pointed to the other weapons lined up against the wall.
“It will take most of us to carry this computer and weapon.”
“We can use the power to carry more,” Keera said, exasperated. “And why don't we take some of those too?” She pointed to the plasma rifles along another wall.
Gerok had not thought of using the Astran's ability to help carry more weapons. “How many can you carry?”
“As many as you need,” Keera stated.
Gerok's excitement grew when he saw that they were able to almost empty the weapons room. He insisted they leave some plasma rifles and two of the sound weapons behind.
They were greeted with stunned expressions as they appeared on the first level. The Astran Chosen used the power to push the weapons up the stairs. To the Volgons in the entryway, it looked as though their weapons had come to life and were traversing the stairs on their own.
“Can you give any indication of where you are going?” Kamlor asked.
Gerok stopped and motioned to the others to keep going toward the surface. “All I can tell you is that we have great need of these weapons elsewhere. And if we are successful, we will be protecting our world as well.”
“Are there more Gorkons elsewhere? Do they plan an attack?”
“No. The enemy we fight is much more dangerous than the Gorkons. If they reach this world, they will destroy it.”
Gerok watched the play of emotions flit across the General's face. He knew his story was hard to believe with no solid proof. If Kamlor tried to stop them, Gerok wasn't sure if he and the others would make it out alive.
“I have no choice but to trust you. Will you return?”
“If we are successful.” Gerok stressed the “if”.
“I wish you a good journey,” Kamlor said.
Gerok clasped arms with the man.
* * *
“Voilor!”
The Volgon stopped and turned. “Is your new mate a good man? Is he strong?”
Syrlir faced him. “How did you know I had taken another mate?”
“I can smell him on you.”
Syrlir bowed her head at the jealousy and anger in his voice. “I had no choice.”
“Did you ever speak with him about living on the surface the way we used to do?” Voilor asked.
“Of course not. Those were our dreams.”
“It looks like it might be a reality.” Voilor looked at the Volgons plowing and fertilizing the ground in the hopes that it would be able to sustain crops.
“It won't be the same.” Syrlir spoke softly. She wanted to reach out to him, but it would not be appropriate. If her new mate saw or was told, he would have cause to leave her and take a new mate. It would also be within his rights to insist Voilor fight him or to even demand Voilor's death.
“I didn't want to leave.” The words came faster and faster. “I didn't want to leave you behind. I was afraid you would take a new mate and share our secret dream.”
“Where did you go?”
Voilor shook his head, bringing himself back to the here and now. “I cannot say. But believe me when I tell you that what I do will keep everyone safe.”
“But what about you? Who will keep you safe?” She stared hard, eyes unflinching.
Who indeed?
* * *
“What's happening?” Saemus stood with his arms out, trying to keep his balance.
The ground vibrated violently, sending pebbles and dirt rolling across the surface. In some places, it cracked and split, sending di
rt and debris falling into the large crevasses.
Volgons poured out of Colony 3: men, women, and children alike, all carrying plasma rifles. They were ready to do battle. They stopped short when they saw what was coming.
The Mekans drifted slowly toward the group, the legs that had been tucked beneath coming down, looking like spiders unfurling theirlegs. Their engines burned like they each contained a small sun. Looking at them hurt the eyes.
“They're headed this way! We must reach the portal.” Gerok began running while carrying the bulky computer for one of the sound weapons.
“Someone try to reach the Kromins and warn them. We can't afford to have their ship destroyed on the way down,” Saemus said. If the Mekans destroyed the Kromin's ship, the people of Astra wouldn't stand a chance.
“We won't reach it before they do.” Jon stopped running and turned to Feeror. “We need to try the machine.”
“It will take too much time to calibrate the computer,” Feeror argued.
“We don't have a choice. If those machines reach the city, they will topple the building where the portal is. I have a feeling if the wall is smashed into pieces, the portal probably won't work anymore.”
Feeror nodded curtly. He motioned Gwen to bring the largest weapon. He hurriedly attached the computer, trying to concentrate despite the shaking ground and the deafening noise from the machines as they drifted closer.
“We may need to do something about the noise! It will only get worse the closer they get!” Forka had to yell to be heard. He had his hands over his ears.
“I think we can help,” Keera shouted. She nodded to the Saemus and Kaelin and they whispered a word.
Forka took his hands gingerly from his ears. He could still hear, but the noise was muffled, as if he was hearing it through water. He gave them a thumbs up and turned to watch Feeror.
The big Volgon feverishly punched buttons on the keyboard, mumbling under his breath, shaking his head, and punching more buttons.
“How long until you can fire the thing? They are almost to the city!” Jon snapped.
