Dark Matter

by S. W. Ahmed

  For the rebels, moving between the many thousands of craters dotting Meenjaza’s surface was always one of their most difficult and perilous tasks. It was so perilous, in fact, that when hiding under Meenjaza’s craters had been suggested as an option to Autamrin and his followers during their escape into exile, it had not even been given a second thought.

  With their antiquated and inaccurate monitoring equipment, it usually took the rebels a long time to figure out where the geomagnetic radiation would blast through next. There was just no easily predictable pattern that the radiation followed. Furthermore, the trek across the desert to the next crater always left them vulnerable to attack, especially if the trek turned out to be a long one. Digging into the sand and hiding was often the only option when enemy ground vessels or surveyors passed by. But this method was far from safe, and many a time entire rebel processions traveling across the desert had been spotted and destroyed.

  Everyone was more than happy, therefore, to this time have access to Sibular and Zorina’s advanced technical knowledge. It took Sibular only a couple of hours to recalibrate the monitoring equipment, so that it could track the path of the geomagnetic radiation far more accurately. Zorina, once she had been briefed on the scanning mechanisms of surveyors and ground vessels, was able to use her extensive expertise in defense to devise a protective shielding system that would render everyone invisible to enemy scans during the journey.

  And so, on the next day, early in the dawn hours after the Aftarans had held their morning prayers, they all began their journey across the desert. Their destination: the Gaufaltin crater, 170 miles north from their current position. They would steer clear of all urbanized areas along the way, and would as much as possible travel under the shadows of tall sand dunes and rocky hills. For the 21 travelers, the biggest issue was that they had no real means of transportation – no ship, vehicle or floating platform. Even if they did have one, traveling at that speed would increase the risk of their detection, with or without Zorina’s protective shield. So their only option was to move on foot, and in single file like a procession, in order for the shield to be most effective.

  Well, not quite on foot, as it turned out. Much to Marc’s delight and fascination, Sharjam enacted an enchantment that would allow everyone to float over the sand.

  “This is amazing!” Marc exclaimed, gliding effortlessly over the ground as if he was on invisible, jet-powered rollerblades. Even the heavy load of supplies and pieces of monitoring equipment he was carrying on his back no longer felt like a burden.

  “Isn’t it?” Zorina agreed, bobbing her head up and down in approval. “Now we’re all like you, Sibular!” She was right between Marc and Sibular in the procession, and, like everyone else, was carrying a load on her back. In her hand was a small device she had built herself. Its purpose was to keep the invisible protective shield operational whenever the presence of enemy ground vessels or surveyors was detected.

  Sibular followed quietly, choosing not to comment. He also chose not to rely on Sharjam’s enchantment, but on his own Mendoken-built floating mechanism instead.

  Raiha was right in front of Marc in the procession. “This is how we were able to carry the three of you here across the desert,” she explained, “using this enchantment.”

  Zorina looked puzzled. “Wait, if you Aftarans can perform such magic tricks all the time, why can’t you just make us invisible to those surveyors and scanners during our journey? Why do you need this shield mechanism I designed?”

  “Enchantments aren’t easy to enact, and are even harder to sustain for extended periods of time or for large numbers of individuals,” Raiha said. “The vanishing act is one of the hardest, and impossible to sustain for the duration of this journey.”

  “How do you guys even perform these enchantments?” Marc asked, as the procession began moving forward with Dumyan leading the way and Sharjam taking up the rear.

  “Many Aftarans can perform simple enchantments,” Raiha said. “We use the miracles of Nature itself to transform small things from one form to another, such as creating a small plant from air, for example. But bigger enchantments, such as making you vanish in the stadium or keeping all of us afloat for an entire journey, require a much deeper knowledge and understanding of the Holy Scriptures.”

  “You mean this magical power comes from the Scriptures themselves?”

  “But of course! The power lies in the words of the verses. Simple enchantments are based on simple, well-known verses. But only those who have a deep knowledge of more difficult and obscure verses, as well as the necessary training to really understand their meaning, can use the power they contain for larger, more elaborate enchantments. Sharjam is one such individual.”

  She paused, and the expression on her face turned to one of sorrow. “I also have knowledge of the Scriptures, but I’m not yet trained in enacting much of their power. My great master Heeran, the same master that Sharjam had and one of the Dominion’s most highly regarded teachers of religion, was taken away and killed by Wazilban before he could teach me those skills.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear that,” Marc said. “I hope all the efforts you’re putting into this rebellion will one day lead you to victory over Wazilban, and to justice for all the crimes he has committed against your people.”

  Raiha smiled. “For the longest time, I believed there was no hope. I was living a life of seclusion and shame. But then, Dumyan and Sharjam suddenly appeared one day at my doorstep. Sharjam, the one who I deeply loved for many years and the one who I thought was dead, came back into my life just like that. And then, just like that, you arrived.” She looked at Marc. “The prophecy from the Hidden Scripture that Sharjam told me about after we met the High Clerics has come true. You are the Sign, Marc, and we have found you. With you, and with the Creator’s help, we shall surely find victory.”

  Marc was taken aback by how much faith Raiha had in him. Sure, he seemed to have some unexplained ability to see certain things that others couldn’t, and he had helped these rebels see through the alien conspiracy that had taken hold of their Dominion. But how was he going to help a handful of rebels defeat this alien species that was not only extremely cunning and resourceful, but had also completely fooled many billions of well-armed Aftaran soldiers into unconditional servitude?

  With the revelation of his visions, all he had done was create an even more impossible situation for himself, for Sibular and for Zorina. And yet, he knew that he had to help these rebels, even though their chances of success were ludicrous at best. Not just because they had saved his life, not just because they were fighting an enemy intent on destroying all life in the galaxy, but also because they had placed their trust and faith in him. And that was more than could be said for anyone he had known back on Earth.

  They glided along silently over the sand, under the dim lighting of the dawn sky. A crimson hue soon appeared to their right over the horizon and spread upwards, chasing away the darkness of the night. The sunrise of Afta-Raushan followed, the old, small sun responsible for the birth of the mighty Aftaran civilization.

  Marc was mesmerized by the beautiful, golden brilliance of the sun, its rays spreading quickly across the cloudless atmosphere. The sand dunes lit up one by one in their own golden color, as if an invisible hand of light was sweeping across the land.

  “It’s beautiful!” Raiha remarked. “Meenjaza’s sunrise is something I can never get enough of.”

  Marc welcomed the warmth of the sun’s rays after the cold night. “I don’t remember the last time I ever saw a sunrise. I have seen many a sunset, mind you.”

  “Ah, but sunsets don’t compare to sunrises! The sky is much clearer after a quiet night.”

  Marc had to agree. It truly was a spectacular sight, and he felt that just being able to witness it had made this trek through the desert worthwhile.

  But that feeling was abruptly brought to an end by Sibular, who, with his razor-sharp 360 degree vision, had been watching the rest of t
he horizon all around him at the same time. “Is that a sandstorm approaching, Raiha?” he asked.

  Marc immediately turned the other way to look. At first, he saw nothing. That direction was still fairly dark, and his eyes had been partly blinded by staring at the rising sun for so long. But then, as the blindness disappeared, he saw it. A vast, white cloud, covering one end of the horizon to the other and rising up high into the sky, was creeping over the sand dunes and heading straight towards them.

  “No,” Raiha said, almost whispering, “that’s no sandstorm.” Raising her hands to her mouth, she yelled out, “Alarm! A surveyor approaches from the left!”

  Marc froze in his tracks. A surveyor – the deadly weapon used by Wazilban to seek out and destroy his enemies in the remotest places. Now one was heading straight for them!

  “Well, let’s just hope the shield works,” Zorina said, adjusting some controls on the device she was holding. “Tell everyone to stand absolutely still. Nobody should move or open their mouths.” She looked surprisingly calm, seemingly confident in her own work.

  Raiha yelled the order out to everyone else. They all immediately stood dead in their tracks, their eyes focused on the rapidly approaching terror.

  Within a few minutes, the surveyor reached them, passing effortlessly over the nearest sand dunes. Marc could now see thousands of globules of yellow light inside the cloud, dancing around in all directions. Upon closer scrutiny, he noticed that the globules actually represented Aftaran faces, with their eyes wide open as they searched every corner of space for anything suspicious. The faces looked innocent enough, but as he had been told, as soon as any one of them found the target they were looking for, the bulk of the surveyor would explode, indiscriminately obliterating everything within a 10 mile radius.

  The first globules approached him. He closed his eyes in apprehension. A second went by, then two, then three. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes again, and to his amazement saw how the globules were simply flying by over his head. Straining to look out of the corner of his eye, he could see them flying over everyone else’s head as well. The surveyor, unable to penetrate or see through the protective shield, was simply passing over it as if it was just another sand dune.

  Marc heaved a sigh of relief. Once again, Zorina’s genius had saved the day. He eyed the surveyor passing overhead, and felt as if he was inside a narrow tunnel with transparent walls, a tunnel barely high enough to fit the tallest Aftaran, yet long enough to protect the entire procession.

  It took a long time before the surveyor’s last globules made their jump over the shield. And, just like that, the vast cloud was gone, heading off in the direction of the rising sun.

  After offering Zorina their heartiest congratulations and thanks, everyone began moving again. Fortunately, the rest of the journey was fairly uneventful. They stopped once for a quick meal, and a couple of times spotted convoys of military ground vessels in the distance. But Zorina’s shield turned itself on automatically every time, rendering the entire procession invisible to both the soldiers’ scanners and their naked eyes.

  A few hours later, they arrived at their destination. As they amassed at the edge of the Gaufaltin crater, Marc got a good look at the depths of blown out rock below. The crater was huge, easily over twice the size of the crater they had left behind. The other side had to be at least a couple of miles away.

  “The largest crater in this hemisphere,” Dumyan pointed out, standing next to Marc. “The impact, billions of years ago, is recorded in historical chronicles to have spread volumes of ash over the whole globe.”

  “Why does Meenjaza have so many craters?” Marc asked. “Shouldn’t the atmosphere burn up most meteors on a collision course with the planet?”

  “The craters were actually not caused by meteors,” Dumyan replied. “They were caused by bombs. It was during a time when our civilization was still in its infancy, and we still hadn’t united as a people or traveled out into space. There were several nations of Aftarans here on Meenjaza, constantly battling each other for supremacy and control of the planet.

  “The craters have been preserved by the Aftar ever since. To serve as a reminder of the horror and destruction in times of war.” Dumyan sighed. “Not that it’s done much good since Wazilban came to power. Within the span of a few years, he has single-handedly destroyed all the ethics and morals our civilization took so long to develop before that.”

  Dumyan led the way down a steep, narrow path to the bottom of the crater. At the bottom, he made straight for a narrow opening in the wall of the crater, hidden behind a column of rock. He disappeared inside, and popped out again shortly afterwards to signal that the coast was clear.

  Minutes later, they were all inside a cavern under the crater, similar to the one they had left behind. To Marc’s surprise, several other Aftaran rebels he hadn’t met before were already there. They had arrived less than an hour earlier, after scouting several different cities on Meenjaza to keep track of Wazilban’s activities. Dumyan and Sharjam spoke to them quietly for a while, and then came back to the others.

  “Some important updates,” Sharjam announced. “Wazilban is frantically looking for you everywhere.” He pointed at Marc, Sibular and Zorina. “He’s been sending scores of surveyors and millions of soldiers, not just all over the planet, but into the rest of the star system and beyond. He’s bent on catching and killing you.”

  “That is no surprise, considering what is at stake for him,” Sibular remarked.

  “No, it’s no surprise, but here’s what you’ll find interesting, Sibular,” Dumyan said. “The wars on both fronts are continuing to escalate – ours against the Phyrax, and yours against the Volona. The Mendoken in particular appear to be suffering due to continuous waves of Volonan consar attacks. So Wazilban has apparently convinced the Mendoken Imgoerin to join forces with him in a coalition, to fight both the Phyrax and Volona together. He’s inviting the Imgoerin to visit the Dominion. They will meet at the Bara Dilshai resort in five days, where they’ll publicly sign a covenant.”

  Marc thought he actually saw Sibular’s single eye flicker in a faint show of astonishment. It was the highest amount of emotion he had ever seen in Sibular’s face.

  “That isn’t all,” Sharjam added. “Wazilban has somehow found out that the Mendoken also have consar technology now, and he has convinced the Imgoerin to use it in all joint battles against the enemy.”

  “What!” Zorina shouted, violently flapping her ears. “This is a hoax, right? Tell me this is a hoax! The Volona don’t have consar technology! Why doesn’t anybody understand this? We are not behind those consar attacks on Mendoken territory! For the Mendoken to strike again with consar technology against the Empire will be pure one-sided aggression!”

  Sharjam shook his head. “I don’t know who really is behind the consar attacks, but I’m afraid what I’m telling you is not a hoax.”

  “This is unacceptable,” Sibular said. “It will ultimately spell disaster for all.”

  Marc wasn’t terribly surprised by this development. “This is exactly what I’ve been on about! It’s what Wazilban wants – for the major civilizations in this galaxy to wipe each other out. That leaves the path clear for whatever he and his alien cahoots want to do next.”

  “The timing also makes sense,” Dumyan said. “The meeting will receive much publicity and fanfare. Wazilban wants to bolster waning support for the war against the Phyrax in the Dominion, by showing everyone that he now has a powerful ally joining forces with him. And he probably also wants to speed up his grand scheme, whatever that is. Now that you’re on the loose, Marc, he knows it’s only a matter of time before his secret is unveiled to the masses.”

  Zorina was still angry. “But how can a handful of aliens possibly expect to wipe out all the civilizations in this galaxy? Even if the Mendoken and Aftar defeat the Volona and Phyrax, that still leaves the Mendoken and Aftar for the aliens to deal with, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, but the Mendoke
n and Aftar will be severely weakened by the war,” Marc said. “And we don’t know yet how many of those aliens are already here, or how much military power they have at their disposal.”

  “Actually, Sharjam and I do have an idea,” Dumyan said.

  Everyone turned to stare at Dumyan.

  “How?” Zorina asked.

  “During our journey out of the planet Tibara, we landed on the neighboring planet Droila. There, in the depths of its oceans, we discovered vast fields of Starguzzlers. Th...”

  Zorina interrupted him. “Starguzzlers?”

  “That was what the Doolins called them.”

  “The who?”

  “Zorina, I will explain it all, not to worry,” Dumyan said, looking slightly irritated.

  Zorina flapped her ears and kept quiet.

  Without any further interruptions, Dumyan described everything he and Sharjam had witnessed on Droila, including meeting the Doolins, inspecting the Starguzzler fields, and finally encountering Ozwin and Ruminat. He described what the Starguzzlers looked like, with their spherical shells and glowing red sparkles within.

  “They were not very big,” Sharjam added. He displayed a diameter of 3 feet with his hands. “But there were millions of them. And they were being tended to by the Doolins like crops.”

  “You believe these Starguzzlers are weapons?” Sibular asked.

  “Of some sort, yes,” Dumyan said. “The very name the Doolins gave them – Starguzzlers – suggests their purpose is far from peaceful. We have no idea what kind of weapon or how they will be used, but I have no doubt they’re meant for mass destruction.”