Naveya smiled at the thought, then saw a phaser lying on the ebb concrete. Had Savanna been assassinated? But...why didn't they take the papers? Then the worst possible scenario occurred to Naveya...suicide?
Naveya's shoulders sank forward as she whispered, “No, no, this can't be.” Had everything become too much for Savanna? Yet, there was nothing she could do about it now, so whether it was suicide or not didn't matter. She was gone.
Softly cursing under her breath, Naveya said, “I'm sorry, Savanna. You will not be forgotten,” and silently thanked Savanna's soul for being In Service to everyone. Then she tucked her I.D. card into a secure pocket in her bag, knowing that she would make good use of it. She could now access the biosphere on her own by swiping the card at any one of the entry ways.
Naveya bowed her head, placing her palms together. “Seek the Light, dear one.”
∞
It was late and Crystal couldn't sleep, so she got out of bed and headed toward Tech Quarters. The lighting was dim in the hallway, just like all of the lighting at this hour, which made it nice for thinking about things. If she had it her way, she'd take this heap of a starship and fly it right off the planet, especially since the enemy seemed to have taken the day off, and the night, as well. Her mom, however, claimed that more repairs were needed after the last ground attack. Crystal would at least make an attempt to fly the starship and make repairs after they jumped into another system, far away from this one. Yet, she acknowledged that her mom had the entire population of the ship to consider, responsibilities Crystal couldn't even begin to fathom, plus her mom would need to make sure all of the systems were functioning before she flew the ship out of the planet's atmosphere. Taking drastic risks might not always be the best solution.
Crystal shook her head. She'd never want to have to carry the weight of her mother's responsibilities, something she was beginning to realize was less about being power hungry, like she had always pictured her mom, and more about helping the greater good. Perhaps her mom wasn't so bad after all.
She turned the corner and pushed the doors open to Tech Quarters. The HDC she had used earlier in the day was shut down. A bright light in the corner of the large room was evidence that someone else was present. It was probably another Tech on night watch, ready to warn the ship if another attack was in the makings.
Suddenly, a sharp clang reverberated through the air, making her jump. Some cussing occurred and she realized that a tool had fallen to the floor. A conversation and laughter ensued, which calmed her down. But, more importantly, it was an indication of there being more than one Tech on duty at this hour. Two or more people watching the vids were always better than one.
She sat down at a desk and muttered, “HDC 79, on.”
The HDC powered up, and within seconds she went through several commands pulling up the blueprints she had viewed earlier in the day. When she came to the Mech Series S101, she asked for the originating author. Gasruhni Nikne blinked onto the screen next to the Mech S101 schematic.
Who the hell would be so cruel as to name their kid that? Crystal thought. Gasruhni Nikne has to be a fictitious name. Perhaps the genius who created this Mech Series had a real name like Bob Smith, but wanted to sound a little more unique, thus Gasruhni Nikne came into being?
“Access Gasruhni Nikne,” she said to the HDC. When it blinked Authorized Access Only, she waved her hand in front of it and a blank password box appeared.
How in the Guild could my name be the password? Nonetheless, she spoke it out loud. “Crystal McCoy.”
Suddenly, someone touched her on the shoulder, making her leap out of the chair, ready to strike.
“Whoa, Chief!”
“Daf, what are you doing?!”
Daf was standing behind her chair, wearing a surprised look on her face.
“I thought you'd need some company.” Daf grabbed Hank's chair and wheeled it next to Crystal's, then plopped into the seat.
Crystal shot Daf a weary look. “You mean, you needed company, Daf.”
“Yeah, that's about it. I went to your bunk, hoping you were still up, but when you weren't there I went to Wrench, thinking you were building my Mech with him.” She was biting her lip with raised eyebrows, offering a questioning gaze. But, Daf dismissed her ill fated hope when Crystal didn't give any indication as to whether or not Wrench had started working on Daf's Mech, or even if they would in the future. “When Wrench was nowhere to be found, I had a crazy feeling that you'd be in here.”
“And, there it is.” Crystal stared at the human genome on the HDC. “That's why I came here tonight, to somehow figure that out.”
“That's neat,” replied a sarcastic Daf, not understanding the significance of what was being displayed. “What are all of those x's on the DNA strand?”
“Dammit!” Crystal slapped her thigh and looked at Daf. “I told Jerrod to work on this with Hank today, but I never got back to him. And he may know what those x's mean by now.”
Daf stared at the vid, narrowing her eyes, as if trying to figure it out. But then her eyes got wide, and then she lunged for Crystal's wrist and squeezed it hard.
“Ow! What?” responded Crystal.
“Look!”
Crystal twisted her hand away from Daf's fingers and looked back at the HDC to see the typed words, Hi Crystal. You're up late.
Surprised, Crystal asked, “Daf? Did you do that?”
“Yeah, Chief, it was me. I did it so fast that you couldn't see me.” She shook her head because of the stupid question.
“Then who—”
I'm happy to finally meet you, typed on the screen.
Crystal scratched her jaw, then shrugged her shoulders. “Uh...HDC, commence dialogue.” She looked at Daf and then at the HDC. “Nice to meet you, too?” The HDC spelled out Crystal's reply.
I'm glad you're here.
“Who are you?” asked Crystal.
You can call me S for now. Or know me as the one who kept you and your friend alive while you were fleeing for your lives in your Mechs. You wouldn't have made it to your starship without the things I did to get you there. But, that's all you need to know of my name for now. If someone is spying on my conversation with you, I would be considered a traitor to my race for helping you and those of your race still surviving on Lumus. I do all of this in secrecy.
“Are you of the race that is trying to kill us?”
Yes, but many of us disagree with that approach. We wish for you to live, to be free.
“Why is my name the password?”
You are of my blood and I am of your blood. I've watched you for many years, and before that I watched your mother and your grandmother, and even your great grandmother. I chose you because you are one of the strongest of our bloodline.
Crystal looked at Daf and shrugged. Daf did the same, mouthing an 'okay, that's good?'. They didn't know if this was a prank or if it was real, and had no idea what bloodline meant.
“How could we be of the same blood if we're of a different species?”
Both of our species are more similar than you may think.
“Then, how could you know my grandmothers? That would make you very, very old and I'm sorry, but that’s hard to believe. People just don't live that long.”
That's not entirely true. And right now, you couldn't understand the reasons for our longevity.
“Try me.” She looked at Daf and rolled her eyes. This had to be a joke.
At your personal level of consciousness, you would neither understand or believe me. Your race's thought structure is programmed with the concept that your body must rapidly decline when it passes its prime. Your belief system dictates that you must age. You are drugged and brainwashed into thinking that your cells must die, and that life is a tedious downhill slide to an ultimate death. But, that is not why I have come to speak with you. You must know that your time in physicality, and that of your race, is going to be immediately shorter lived if you don't do exactly as I say.
Crystal t
ilted her head, “Okay...”
I need you to lead your people to Forever Mountain.
Crystal's heart felt like it had just been thumped. The impossible had just been asked of her. “What? How...but why?”
If you don't, you will die, along with the rest. I can hold them off only for so long. In the next few days, an experimental weapon will be used on your ship. For now, Forever Mountain is the best place for your people to hide.
Daf jabbed Crystal in the shoulder, whispering, “I told you so,” referring back to when they were in their Mechs at the base of Forever Mountain. Daf had asked why they couldn't hide from the attackers in one of the mountain's tunnels.
Crystal shot Daf an angry look, then peered back at her HDC that read, Come back here at the same time tomorrow for more instructions. I must go now.
“Excuse me? How am I supposed to get everyone off the ship?”
When nothing came back in response, Crystal eyed Daf, who wore a blank expression and said, “I don't know, Crystal.”
Crystal considered that if this was real, there was practically no way she could get everyone off the ship and over to the mountain, let alone convince her mom to do so, which would be danged near impossible. She moved out of her chair and walked briskly toward the doors to exit Tech Quarters.
Daf swung around in her chair. “Where are you going now?”
“I'm waking up Wrench. We've just been warned and if it's a real warning, it's time we slapped your Mech together with the new specs. You're going to help me move as many people from Sirona to the warehouse next door so we can secure as many Mechs as we can and bring them over here. Then we can start herding everyone to Forever Mountain.”
“What if the enemy is setting us up, Crystal?”
Crystal paused, thinking for a moment. In her emotional rush to save everyone, that question had completely slipped her mind. If she took this “S” character's words on blind faith, she could be walking her people into a death trap and she'd be known as the idiot who killed her people—if anyone survived. She had to re-think this. “Well, I'll know more at this time tomorrow when I talk to S again. Until then, let's get Wrench out of his barracks and working on our Mechs. We can at least get as many of them over here as we can, just in case. Plus, we can gear them up and use them as infantry, like I wanted to do in the beginning.”
Daf smiled. Finally, something to do on this ship besides sit around and get pounded on by the enemy until we die.
Yep, it’s time to get our freedom back.
Episode 7
The Plot Thickens
Swift!
It was dark and no matter where she searched, Eden couldn't find the path. Brush scraped at her bare feet as she tripped on roots and stumbled over rocks trying to find what she and Thomas Berard had hiked the day before. The path had led them to the top of Star Guild Hill and down an elevator shaft to a vast cavern housing three gigantic, orb-like starships that were the real ships of Star Guild, not the smaller ones currently being used.
Eden's dark hair whipped at her eyes, blown by the wind that had suddenly wrapped her robe around her legs. She clutched at the cloth and got it loose, then pulled the hem up past her knees. She gripped the material hard so it couldn't wrap around her again. Does it get any worse? Where's the path? She'd never experienced more than a breeze during her entire lifetime, and now this.
As if in answer, a big drop of rain splatted on her hand, then another landed on her cheek. With a clap of thunder, rain dumped down upon her. She was drenched in a matter of seconds, also something she'd never experienced.
The downpour eventually abated as she trudged up the now soggy hill just to slip and fall again. She laid on her belly, wiping muck out of her face. Smooth move, Eden. She rubbed her muddy hands on her once white robe, then pushed herself up from the ground to move onward. Then she noticed that her hand felt heavy. She looked down, and was shocked to see that she was holding a glowing rock. It was the dragon crystal.
When did I grab that?!
Swift!
There it was again—Swift! It was that voice in her head and where'd that come from? Its call was irresistible and compelling her to climb the hill, and now with a dragon crystal that had materialized out of nowhere. Crazy.
She realized that the rain had stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Admittedly, it felt good after all of the dry heat she'd been experiencing since she'd arrived on Aurora. When water dripped from her hair, down her face and into her mouth, she thought it tasted good. It was a bit salty, which made her smile, but then she stumbled and tripped over a rock, landing on her knees in the slop. Dammit, I can't see a thing! Where's the sun?
She raised the dragon crystal, hoping it would shed enough light to guide her way so she could quit tripping on everything. But, it glowed barely enough to outline the shape of her hand. She emitted a puff of annoyance as she managed her way back to her feet but yelped as she stepped on something sharp and fell yet again, dropping the dragon crystal on the ground.
Oh, no!
Fearful that she might have lost the precious artifact, she frantically scrimmaged around in the dark until she saw its glow beneath a leafy plant. She grabbed it, got up and continued at a faster pace. She had to get there no matter what—to the source of the voice in her head. It was the beckoning of Swift that had made her wake from a heavy sleep, had drawn her out of bed and prompted her to exit the dome in the dark of night on this strange planet.
Swift!
Its draw was hypnotic. She pushed forward, clutching the crystal as she thrashed through the foliage, stepping over more roots and rocks littering the hill, all of which made her realize why a path was so important and not needed on Starbase Matrona.
It has to be somewhere over here. When she finally felt grass between her toes and saw the ebb bridge up ahead, she knew she'd found the path and the rest of the way would be smooth going.
Swift rang in her ears again, but this time so loudly that she dropped to her knees, covering both ears with her hands and dropping the dragon crystal during the process.
“Ack!” She cringed and bent over, pressing her forehead to the ground. “Stop it!” she screamed.
When the ringing stopped, the crystal was by her knees pulsating a white glow. She grasped the dragon crystal tightly, squeezing hard, determined to hang onto it.
Where's that voice coming from? Show yourself!
She got no response, so pressed onward, skipping over the bridge so she wouldn't get shocked again, continuing on her way to the elevator on top of the hill.
Reaching the crest of Star Guild Hill, she quickly strolled over to the flat landing of the elevator that was covered in grass and clover. Nothing happened, but then she remembered the rock that Thomas had pressed to pull up the holographic globe of Aurora. She sat down cross legged on the grass, looked around until she spotted it, then reached over and pressed on the rock. The holograph of Aurora materialized, hovering in the air in front of her. She remembered her exact location from the day before within the hovering globe,Village Onyx, so she touched it. The globe disappeared, then a glass dome silently formed around her, blocking out the weather. The grassy platform she was sitting on began its dimly lit descent into the depths of the hill.
Swift!
“Ugh!” She leaned forward, the sound vibrating through her body.
What is it? Why am I still hearing this? I'm here!
After awhile, the elevator stopped and the glass dome dematerialized as light surrounded her. She lifted her eyes from her lap. She was surprised to see that she was already at the base of the seemingly endless cavern she had visited the day before. Then surprise turned into awe once again when she saw the starships. They were emitting a golden light that slowly transformed into a silvery luminescence and back again. Over and over again, in waves, the ships pulsated colors, calming her as she stared at them. It was not only the rhythmic glowing that was so calming, it was also the orbed ships themselves that were so beautifully designed, es
pecially for craft miles long and hundreds of feet high.
“Wow,” she uttered, as her own curiosity and awe made her step off the elevator pad and walk slowly toward the starships. But, then she wondered if something might jump out at her, or worse, she might have been lured into some sort of a trap. Shaking her head and chuckling at her fear, she intuitively knew that she was completely safe anywhere on planet Aurora.
She approached the first glowing starship and started to walk beneath it. She reached her hand up and touched it's underbelly, cocking her head to one side and frowning in disappointment. A feeling of discomfort hit her, like she was wearing a pricey sweater that was too small. She soon realized that the longer she held her hand to the ship, the tighter the sweater felt and the more prickly it became to the skin. She removed her hand and the discomfort stopped. She walked under the behemoth starship for nearly twenty minutes, passing under the width of it, until she came upon the second orbed starship.
As she strolled under this one, its golden underside glowed much brighter than the previous one. When she reached up and touched it, a zap of energy streaked down her arm and she immediately withdrew her hand. Then the starship's power turned on. It started humming a soft purr. She reached her hand up to feel the underbelly again, but then let out a cry of pain and dropped to the ground, clutching her throbbing hand. It felt like a bolt of lightning had shot through her palm, all the way to her shoulder.
“You beast!” She glared up at the craft. Then she drew a deep breath, calming herself. She closed her eyes and listened to the silence of the cavern, but there was something wrong...what was it?
The humming had ceased. Am I the ignition switch for this giant ship?
The Veil Rising Page 22
