by Viola Grace
Wiali snickered. “We are abiding by the orders of the corporation. We have not touched down or stepped on anything. We have neared the city though.”
“Good. They are on their way, so you have a finite amount of time before they try to extricate you.”
Wiali looked over to Comet and winked. “We will try to solve the mystery of a dead civilization as quickly as we can.”
“Excellent. We are on our way down, and we hope to make it to you before the corporation’s little bastards catch up with you.”
Wiali poured on the speed, and when Comet was even with her, she pointed to an empty space next to the largest building in the city.
“So, we are just going to hover here?” Comet raised his eyebrows.
She sighed. “No. But there is something here that the normal eye cannot see. I am going to run through the spectrum. Keep your eyes on that empty space.”
Wiali pulled light from the surrounding stars and picked out the wavelengths that she wanted. One after another showed nothing, but finally Comet said, “There. That one.”
Wiali intensified the light waves, and they floated toward the structure that was taking shape in front of them.
Once they were over the stairs, they lowered themselves to the steps and walked into the disappearing structure.
“Do you think they will be able to see us?” Comet reached out and took her hand.
Wiali shook her head. “There were references to Jesku, the invisible, creator of all, power of the world. I am guessing that this is a planetary consciousness holding.”
Comet looked around, whistling softly. “I have heard of them but never seen one.”
“Neither have I. They were myth and legend, but most legends have more than a whisper of truth in them.” She smiled shyly at the warmth that rippled through her at the small contact.
“You certainly lived up to your legend.”
She winced. “I did?”
“You are as intelligent and wise as Sovalli said.”
“How much time did you spend with Sovalli before the end?” She walked with him through the entry corridor, and the space opened up into a huge chamber.
“A year. He was concerned for my wellbeing when Suek went nova, but he had nothing but respect for the star and its child.”
“He was a good man. Quiet, but good.”
“Yes, he was.”
She fought tears and swallowed. “This is the altar, and I am guessing that it was the conduit to Jesku.”
Comet pressed his hands to the altar, and he pulsed some power into it. “It is dead.”
She sighed and stroked the stone. “That would be very sad if it was accurate.”
“What?”
“They were puzzle makers, Comet. This altar is not the true one. Look at this.”
Intricate marks and carvings depicted a glowing world, a happy, living world. “The world was happy and alive, it was bright and shining. Something fell from above, and the world lost all of its people. Grieving for the loss, it went dead.”
Comet looked at the glyphs, and he nodded. “I understand. This is the history of a dead world.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Well, there is one problem with that. If everyone was dead, who carved this stone?”
His blue eyes widened, and she desperately wanted to kiss the surprise from his face.
Biting her lip, she frowned. “The images of the planet are buttons. What order do you think we should choose?”
Comet frowned. “If I was going to be bringing something back to life, I would start with death and work backward.”
He reached out and pressed the worlds in succession, each sunken stone began to glow.
When he finished with the first image, the stone groaned and slid backward. “Nice.”
Wiali looked into the altar and the stairway it contained. “Shall we?”
He chuckled. “Please. This is turning into a surprisingly fun day.”
She laughed and led the way down into the altar. Light warmed her skin as they went deeper and deeper into Jeskulan.
When she put her foot on the final step, the light glowed all around them, focussing on the figure in the sealed tank in the centre of the room that looked as if it ran under the entire city.
Wiali walked up to it. “This is an apparatus I am familiar with.”
“I can imagine it would be.”
As Wiali touched the status screen, a hologram sprang to life.
The language was low and liquid, so Wia looked and found the translation keys.
“Welcome to Jeskulan. If you have made it this far, you are already dead. The surface of the planet is infected with a deadly pathogen that attacks water in any living thing. No amount of medical treatment can stall this infection. I am Reha-Jesku, Avatar of Jesku. I am the last of my species, and it was my last act to seal the world and hide inside the tank. If my body has survived, please give me a proper burial.”
“Should we remove the Avatar from the tank?” Braenar looked at the orange creature floating in liquid.
“No. We have the holding object that we need.”
He frowned. “What?”
“We have the last living example of this planet’s population. Technically, this body is not only the last Avatar, but also the last Jeskulan. They can’t do a bio-form on this world without its consent.” Wiali turned and hovered above the ground.
Comet asked, “What are you doing?”
“I am heading back to the surface, and I hope that we get to Rupture and Phase before they leave the shuttle. If there is an active pathogen, I don’t want them infected. The stone here stops us from warning them.”
He passed her on the way out, and he beelined for the exit. He was out and in the air before she had reached the threshold, and she came out of the invisibility field in the middle of his conversation.
“Keep it sealed. If there is an actual pathogen here, we want to verify it.”
The Sector Guard shuttle was settling down, and as Braenar spoke, they lifted off again.
Wia pressed the com unit on her neck. “Did the corporation actually send employees down here or did they just launch the units from orbit?”
Phase’s voice came through. “They dropped it from orbit, thankfully. We will set up a biohazard lock on the planet until a full Alliance team can come in.”
“When will that be? We have a single survivor here, so there is no chance that bio-forming can be enacted anyway.” Wiali hovered fifteen feet above the ground and watched the incoming ship. “Do they know there is a possibility of contamination?”
Phase confirmed it. “They do, but they didn’t believe us. They ordered their ship to land and defend the city.”
Comet was already moving. As the ship came down, he came up, lifting and shoving the shuttle back into the sky. If there were a chance that a normal person could be infected by exposure to air, they wouldn’t chance it.
“Phase, can you get me some biological samples? Anything that we could use to test the statement of the Avatar?”
There was a pause. “The flagship has medical samples from a dozen worlds on board. The captain agrees to give them to you if you come and get them.”
Wiali shrugged. “Comet, will you remain here and keep any other shuttles from landing?”
“Of course, Instructor.”
Wiali lifted off and followed the beacon to the flagship. A hatch opened on the side, and she slipped into it, waiting in the airlock.
A hiss and cascade of vapour made her grin. If they were trying to drug her, they were sadly misinformed.
A set of guards greeted her. “Please, miss, come this way.” The taller of the two Tival inclined his head.
She followed them, and two more guards followed her.
The captain was sitting in a boardroom with two other men. “Ah, the representative from the Sector Guard. Finally.”
Wiali raised her eyebrows. “I beg to differ. I am representing the Citadel, not the Sector Guard.”
That made the two men with the captain nervous. “The Citadel?”
She inclined her head. “Yes. Instructor Wiali, at your service. Now, I need those biological samples.”
The captain frowned. “In a moment. First, we need you to go on record as declaring the planet empty and void of life.”
She smiled. “No. There is one life, it is a sentient planet, and with little effort, the Avatar can be up and running.”
The two businessmen with the captain frowned. “It is a dead world.”
Chuckling and knowing something they didn’t know, she leaned her butt on the edge of the boardroom table. “Is it?”
Chapter Nine
The captain looked from one businessman to the next before he asked, “What do you mean, it isn’t a dead world?”
“The planet has an infection. Now, whether that infection has run its course is yet to be seen. The Avatar is in a stasis tube and safe for the moment, but only the Avatar is legally entitled to authorize any changes to the surface.” She leaned toward them. “I will swear to this, and I will fight you if I have to.”
The businessmen squirmed. “If you find that the infection has passed, what will you do? Our company has put a lot of effort into bringing this planet onto the open market for colonization.”
She shrugged. “Fine, but if the infection is still there, not only will your bio-forming be reversed, but you will be responsible for the death of every single colonist on that surface. Not to mention that the moment that the Avatar wakes, it can kick you off at its slightest whim.”
They looked from person to person, and the captain swiftly ordered the samples to be brought from medical.
Wiali asked a question she was dying to know the answer to. “By the way, how old were the contamination satellites that you collected when you started your work here?”
The businessman on the left opened his mouth in shock. “What…how did you know that?”
“The Jeskulan had enough tech exposure to buy the top of the line stasis module for their Avatar, they would definitely have enough tech to warn others away with satellites. I was just wondering where the satellites went.”
The captain’s face was showing alarm.
A knock on the door preceded the medical samples, and after a cursory examination, Wiali closed the case and walked out the door.
Her guards quickly formed around her and escorted her back to the airlock.
With the samples in her hand and her suspicions confirmed, she returned to the surface to run a little experiment.
Comet was watching for any incoming ships, so she landed near him to expose the samples to the air of Jeskulan.
“Test of the contamination commencing.” She opened the sealed box and cracked the seals on each sample, letting the air of the planet in to frolic on the biological material.
Two samples turned to dust immediately. “Oh dear.”
Comet landed next to her. “Still infected?”
“It is. Looks virulent too. I think I will have a talk with Reha-Jesku.”
“The Avatar? Isn’t it in stasis?”
Wiali smiled. “When your body was asleep, did Suek ever drive you around?”
Understanding dawned on his face. “I see. Let’s return to the Avatar and have a chat.”
Wiali took the hand he offered, and together, they returned to the hidden building.
Standing in front of the stasis tube, Wiali wondered if she had looked like this while she had been floating. Her body hadn’t matured while she was in the tube, but her mind had whirled on into other worlds to investigate anything her curiosity took hold of.
While under, Suek had still kept in contact with her, a comforting presence as time took her further and further from her parents. If Suek could keep in touch with her across hundreds of star systems, Jesku would easily have been able to keep entwined with its Avatar.
It was whimsy that made her reach out to knock on the plexi. “Wake up.”
The orange body flexed and the deep red hair flowed back in a curtain as two black eyes stared at Wiali. Why are you here? The air is deadly.
Not if you don’t let it touch you. My mate and I have been exposed to stellar sentience, and it has wrapped our cells in protective radiation.
Oh, good. Why are you here then?
A corporation has been preparing to bio-form your surface. We need proof of your consciousness as quickly as we can get it.
Is that what those things are? They are rather uncomfortable and a little too close to magma pockets.
Wiali grinned as a surge of energy came from the woman in the tube.
That should prove that something here is unstable. The woman’s features expanded in a smile.
I hope that it is enough. We will try to get you some help. Can you tell me how the pathogen spread?
A meteor. It crashed and the shockwave spread across my surface, killing everything it touched. Only Rena was left standing and probably for the same reason that you are not dead. She is wrapped with the same energy that you are.
Probably. Well, she can come out of stasis if you wish. If your power keeps her immune, she will be fine.
I don’t think I want to risk her. She is very precious to me and was only with me for a week before the disaster struck. Do you know how long we have been here? She is asking.
Based on the make and model of your stasis chamber, you have been here for less than three hundred years.
Your mate is trying to hear what you are saying. You may want to talk to him.
“Comet, Jesku does not want to risk Rena until a cure for the pathogen has been found. It came in on a meteor and swept across the planet on the shockwave. The only survivor is here in front of us.”
“How long have they been in there?”
“Three hundred years or less.”
“How do you know that?”
“The stasis unit. They have the Alliance year printed on the casing, and this one was manufactured three hundred years ago. Stasis units happen to be a fascination of mine.”
He chuckled. “I guess they would be. So, what is our plan of attack?”
“We lock the planet, send in a diagnostic team that uses robotic systems and deal with it from there. Is that possible?”
Braenar nodded. “There will be no shortage of applicants to help. Is Jesku willing to entertain the idea of colonists?”
“You know, you could ask her just as well as I can.”
“I know, but you already have a rapport.”
She snorted and returned to Jesku. Will you allow colonists when your surface is safe?
Of course. Though Rena can self-reproduce, I will never have an indigenous population again, well, not one with any genetic variety.
Fair enough. I will make that a condition of the search for a cure. Whoever does the best, fastest work will have the first crack at the surface.
Rena-Jesku smiled again. You are turning me into a contest?
Whatever it takes to motivate folks. I have found that things that are in a contest are considered more worth winning.
A few minutes more of conversation and Comet touched her arm. “We need to get back to the shuttle.”
She made her goodbyes to Jesku and yelped when Comet grabbed her, hauling her to the surface, using his foot to seal the entrance behind them.
“What is it, Braenar?”
He winced. “I am having a slight problem. Do you remember when I said that I was in rut?”
She blinked. “I remember you said you were receptive.”
“Well, if I don’t get some soon, I will be forced to find a temporary partner, and I do not believe that our growing relationship will withstand that.”
Wiali didn’t reply, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his lips as he took them back to the Sector Guard shuttle in orbit above them.
Chapter Ten
His caresses had her retracting her body suit five minutes after they left the pod from Udell back to Lowel.
>
She kept her lips pressed to his as cool air embraced her shoulders and kept going. She returned the favour, and soon, their bodies were tumbling to the bed, and he was easing his urges by giving into his instincts.
It was a long night, followed by a sore day and another tumultuous evening when he finally curled against her and stroked her hair. “I promise to return the favour when you are in season.”
She chuckled. “It’s all right. In the reproductive arena, I am more Nyal than Hirn. You will know when it happens.”
His horns had come and gone a dozen times during the last two days. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “I will welcome the opportunity to be of service.”
Wiali sighed. “Can we get some sleep now?”
“What, you don’t want to have your wicked way with me again?” He chuckled.
“My wicked wore out eight hours ago. I am mildly naughty at the most right now.”
He laughed and pulled her closer.
Sleeping in his arms was wonderful but waking with a strange woman staring at her was a little disconcerting.
“Wiali? My name is Kashka. I have been sent to fetch you to Udell base.”
Wiali sat up, waking Braenar as she spoke, “Okay, but how did you get in here?”
“Oh, I am not here. I am a distance projector. I am just very powerful. I will be assigned to Lowel when the Citadel is complete.”
“So, you aren’t actually here?”
“Nope. But you weren’t answering the com, so this was the solution that Guardian came up with. I promise to leave before your mate stands up all the way. See you at the base.” The woman saluted and disappeared.
Braenar made a small sound. “I heard that they were recruiting a projector but didn’t realise that she was already there.”
Wiali got to her feet and groaned. “I think our presence is required at Udell. First, a shower, then I kill Guardian.”
Braenar chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet as he carried both of them to the shower.
