Kahnu (The Guardians of Tomorrow Book 1)

by Yves LF Giraud

  “We never found out what happened to Silargh and his passengers. Now, the ship’s Zarfha can finally tell us.”

  These were the events that had followed the difficult landing of the ship; a story that even Jorh and his companions had never been able to see until now. They knew Silargh’s ship had never made it back to Mars, but what had happened to him and his people had only been speculations. The Kahnu’s telepathic abilities could be used across vast distances, but not from one planet to another.

  The valley of giants

  The valley was silent. The sun was almost gone by now, and the evening sky was slowly laying its soft blanket of dusk over the quiet landscape. As the last crimson rays of sunlight filtering through the mountain tops were slowly fading, the quiet sounds of the jungle below were making their entrance, one by one, on the stage of another beautiful cretaceous night. Coastal winds still had enough energy to make their song heard among the trees and bushes, and here and there, strange sounds could now be heard. A few chirps, up a giant tree at the foot of a hill to the right; a big splash in a lake to the west. Gliding above a cliff to the east, a few enigmatic looking birds, several times the size of the largest condors ever recorded in modern human history, were screaming their prowling “quacks.” The rummage of animals passing through bushes down below, would randomly stop, and then start again. An occasional roar from a Rapetosaurus reverberated in the distance.

  Nearby, two Masiakasaurus were scoping the area. Their eyes scrutinizing the grounds, searching for food, they were making loud snorting sounds. Walking swiftly through the bushes with agility, they were soon focusing their attention on the mayhem ahead. They had been drawn to the place when, a few hours earlier, they had witnessed a giant fire ball zooming across the sky, followed by a devastating thundering crash. Now, in the calm of the early evening, animals were starting to show themselves, curious and drawn by others. If anything, they were seeking a potential meal. At the bottom of the hill, a wide path had been forced through the jungle. Trees and vegetation had been crushed and ripped out of the ground in a long straight line that revealed a tortured landscape full of debris. The path left by the scraping and dragging of the huge alien ship, when it had force-landed, was obvious. The terrain was bare in places, accentuated by deep parallel trenches, dug through rocks and earth, over several kilometers. Smoke and fumes, still rising from fires burning here and there, could be seen all along the mowed corridor the ship had carved. The entire scene was attesting to the violence of the crash. At the end of the giant runway, a gigantic white mass, unrecognizable and definitely not of this world, rested, partially buried at an uncomfortable angle, its front-end stuck in the ground under a pile of rocks, dirt, and vegetation. The vessel was leaning on its right side, and its back was rising above the floor of the landscape substantially. Purple gases were escaping from beneath the wreck. Even five hours after the event, the heat emanating from the spacecraft was still preventing animals from venturing too close.

  Slowly making passes above the wreckage, a young Pterosaur, intrigued by the oddity, was attempting to land on top of the strange structure, when a side panel suddenly moved, releasing a column of smoke with a loud whooshing sound, sending the animal back in the sky, its large wings flopping away as he screamed a treacherous “croaaak”, and disappeared in the night. Inside the Aruk cockpit, Silargh was trying to get his bearings. At first disoriented through the haze of colors and shadows moving about, he started to regain his vision. Bathed in purple light, the confusion of crackling noises, passengers shuffling around, and occasional vibrations, made him realize where he was. He was in the ship, alive and seemingly uninjured. He was still secured to his seat thanks to the magnetic harness in the back of his suit. The purple hue of the walls around him told Silargh the atmospheric controls inside the ship had not been compromised by the rough landing. Any malfunctioning of the life support systems, or any hull breach, would have caused the ship's internal walls to turn to green. As long as they stayed purple, they were safe; at least as far as that was concerned.

  He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but he knew it had been a while. He could hear some of the passengers’ thoughts and feelings. A few were already moving about the ship. Most were scared, disoriented, and worried about their own situation. He needed to assess the damages to the vessel, and everyone's state of health. He knew Tehe had not returned to her seat before the crash. He attempted to locate her.

  "Tehe? Tehe? Are you OK? Where are you?"

  But Tehe did not respond. Still a bit disoriented, he got up and began looking for her. He soon could sense that most of the passengers with him in the cockpit, ten or so, were OK. A few were still coming out of their groggy state, but no one appeared physically injured. He moved on into the belly of the vessel. Those still in their own quarters, seemed to have fared the best. He checked the Time-Frost room before reaching the cargo bay. She was nowhere to be found. He finally got to the infirmary. He instantly knew something was wrong. Someone was badly hurt. He entered the room to find Tehe lying on top of Berhis' body, clutching to him, her face buried in his chest, moaning.

  Lishieru noticed Silargh the moment he entered the room.

  “He was thrown out against a wall when we first decelerated so violently, right before landing. He was trying to secure two containers in the cargo bay...”

  Tehe suddenly felt his presence in the room and got up from Berhis' body. She turned and looked at Silargh with such anger and despair, that for a moment, he feared what she might do. But she just kept looking at him with rage until she exploded.

  “It's all your fault! Why did you have to do that? He would still be alive if it wasn't for you! You killed him! He was...” her emotions turned from anger to hate and then, as the tears started rolling down her face again, she turned back and collapsed by Berhis, sobbing. She was holding her face in her hands, looking at the love of her life. He was gone. And in truth, she knew it wasn't Silargh's fault.

  “I'm sorry, Tehe... I am so sorry... I had no choice. I had to stop the ship before it crashed, or we would all have died... I am truly sorry...” There was nothing else he could say. He was genuinely distraught as well. Berhis was his friend. He could feel her pain, and it only added to his own. Tehe knew he had done the only thing he could have to save them. They would all have perished without Silargh’s quick maneuver. She just wanted Berhis to still be alive with all her heart... She wanted it so much… But she knew blaming Silargh wouldn't bring him back. As she slowly started to calm down, and eventually managed to hold back the tears, Silargh repeated “I am sorry.”

  She looked up at him and mustered to say, “I know,” with crushing sadness in her eyes, “I know...”

  #

  By the time Silargh was back in the cockpit and opened the ship's window to take a look at their situation, the night had turned pitch black. And apart from a weak moon crescent, dimly lighting general shapes around the ship, the outside surroundings did not look very inviting. Scanning the immediate area, Silargh noticed the bare earth and dirt in the small crater left by the ship. A thick perimeter of trees and vegetation were also surrounding them, all alien things he had never witnessed in person, or touched, and only seen in the Zarfha books of the Grand Hallis library. Up above, the thin slice of moon visible was much smaller than he had expected. His home world counted three large satellites of comparable size, but orbiting closer to Kahnu, they appeared noticeably larger. Straight ahead in the distance rose a majestic mountain. Its peak was covered in a white layer of ice, clearly visible in the pale moon light. Silargh’s attention was suddenly diverted by a moving shadow in the night sky. Hovering in uneven circles far above the ship, the flying creature the crash had attracted earlier was now keeping its distance, screaming an occasional croak. Down below, a few small rodents and other creatures could barely be discerned, rummaging about in the vegetation. Already feeling bold enough to approach within a few meters of the ship, a larger predator let out a loud growl that wo
uld have scared a good number of spectators.

  Suddenly, Silargh noticed movement in the trees ahead. An even larger creature appeared from behind the thick vegetation, immediately followed by another. Although of a relatively small size compared to a Kahnu, those were not beings to tangle with, and Silargh already knew some species inhabiting this planet to be very aggressive. The two creatures were definitely on that list. He did not know it but Silargh was staring at two Masiakasaurus, fierce carnivores from Earth’s Jurassic period.

  “What are they?” asked a young Kahnu girl who had just entered the messy room.

  “Dahhize! How are you, child? Were you hurt at all during landing?” he asked, surprised to see her out of her room.

  “No, I'm OK. Thanks. But what is that?” she asked, pointing at the two predators outside.

  “I don't remember their names, but I remember learning about them in training class. They are very dangerous. They hunt in packs of two or more.”

  “I think they look cute,” she said smiling.

  “They may look small and cute, but they can kill you. Don't forget that,” he replied with a firm voice.

  Unexpectedly, a massive dark figure crossed in front of the large window and rushed towards the two Masiakasaurus. Fleeing for his life, one of them sprinted back into the thick vegetation a few meters away, but the other wasn't so lucky. Taken by surprise, the animal reacted too late, and the giant’s jaws came down swiftly, and grabbed its back in a clenching bite. The large Majungasaurus, measuring a good twenty-five meters in length, lifted the doomed Masiakasaurus up in the air and, crushing several of its ribs in the process, and shook the animal furiously from side to side. The small raptor screamed loudly for a few seconds, before the massive jaws finally crushed its spine, killing it instantly. The proud predator then turned around and calmly walked away, the limp body of its next meal hanging off the sides of its lower jaw.

  Both Silargh and Dahhize kept silent for a moment, staring at the window, in shock. They were not used to such a graphic display of violence. In fact, most life forms on Kahnu were non-predatory. It was hard for them to watch what they had just witnessed. The Kahnus were a peaceful people who fed on different forms of algae, found in abundance in their big ocean, and so did most animals on their planets. Only a very few did, but even those were rarely witnessed. But what they had just witnessed was truly shocking and mortifying to both of them. Dahhize's smile was gone, and Silargh realized the precarious reality of their situation, having crash landed several thousand kilometers from their intended destination.

  “Why did the gravitation generator raise the outside weight of the ship so drastically on our descent? Only a few of us can control the Zarfha engine...” Silargh was thinking out loud, and the young girl was listening attentively.

  “You think someone is responsible for the crash?” she asked.

  “I'm not sure. But I intend to find out...”

  Inside the crushed ship in the Madagascar cave, Jorh had waved at the Zarfha and the scene around everyone changed quickly to show Silargh seated in front of the clear window. The new view now showed the landscape in a bright sunny day.

  “Silargh, we are at the cave. Everything is ready,” informed him a telepathic voice.

  “OK, great! On our way,” he replied.

  Turning to his crew, he announced preparations for the maneuver. They had been working on restoring main power to the ship for the past few days now. Most of the ship’s systems were functional. But the Mahkiar matrix controlling the Zarfha engine was unusable. The other major damage the ship had suffered was a hull breach near the nose of the vessel; an impossible repair without more Kehoas, a substance only found on their home world. That meant they were stuck on Kahjuna for good. There would be no way for them to get the light they had come for, and they would not be able to rendezvous with Jorh and the others on Kesra. All they could do now was to do their best to survive and adapt to the harsh environment of Kahjuna, their new home. Although the ship could no longer travel through the vacuum of space due to the damage its shell had sustained, flying in Earth's atmosphere would have been no problem, had the gravitation engine not been damaged. The ship was now flyable solely on limited power and going to the blue planet’s South Pole, their original destination, was no longer an option. The power left in the Zarfha would have to be preserved if they intended to survive.

  Silargh, seated in the center of the group, raised his arm and gestured the necessary commands to the hovering orb. Soon, the ship was lifting itself off the ground, in the mix of debris and earth falling off its surface, with trees and rocks crashing loudly to the ground behind the alien vessel. Wild animals watched the large foreign object rise slowly above the tree canopy from a distance. The spectacle was the center of attention for the next several minutes, as the ship made its way quietly to the large opening that had just been artificially created in the mountain’s face. Maneuvering the vessel through the dark passage, Silargh eventually brought the ship down to its final resting place. Meanwhile, the gigantic entrance gap was already being resealed by the crew using several Zarfhas to levitate the giant boulders back in place.

  The next few weeks would prove to be difficult, to say the least. The breathable atmosphere on Earth was not that different from the one on their home planet. And although Kahnu's gravity was about one and a half time that of Earth's, both worlds could have been considered compatible for both species. But without the Flex-pod source of power, making their present location a safe and sustainable home was greatly jeopardized. The real challenge for them now was to survive in the foreign and harsh environment outside. In fact, the castaways would have had a better chance, if they had landed on Earth during one of the planet’s many ice ages. They would have felt right at home when Earth's temperatures were substantially closer to that of their world, and wild life would have been much less threatening a few million years later. But their present was now, the end of the Jurassic era, and wanted or not, they were here to stay.

  For the next few months, the planetary castaways would work diligently at resolving their gravitation engine issues while trying to survive the treacherous wilderness around them, but in vain. Eventually, one by one, they would succumb, either from animal attacks or for some, from sickness contracted on the alien planet. Earth’s numerous viruses had no equal on their planet, an ice world devoid of such pests. The Kahnu immune system did not stand a chance. But that story, Jorh and his companion felt was unwarranted to show to the human group. Instead, they opted to move forward with the rest of their findings.

  From Ape to Man

  The three-dimensional projection took them back inside Silargh’s abandoned ship and the five explorers that had visited it earlier.

  “Jorh said this was the lab,” whispered Dedrick to Vera, when the images got to a room filled with odd looking containers and rows of storage compartments half open or broken. It was obvious the damage had been caused by something else than an earthquake. Not something necessarily more powerful, but of an intelligent doing. Some of the items in the room had most definitely been hung by someone. Countless lines of an unrecognizable material were connecting several pillars and tall objects as if deliberately placed in an intricate order. An intelligent design meant to display something important, or maybe a message. At least, for a moment the idea lingered in Sabrina’s mind until Mahhzee corrected her.

  “Actually, we can tell you what those are. The cargo inside the ship was transporting a large sample of our planet’s living library; several dozen species, at least those that could survive the transfer. Along with them, what your people called DNA strands were also gathered in the hope to save what could be. We didn’t know where we would eventually relocate, but Jashi-Da, the moon you call Europa, was our preferred choice. We had, until then, kept from interfering with the evolution of any planet in Alhis-Ta, your solar system. Your planet and ours were not the only ones harboring life. So did Jashi-Da. At the time, the life forms on the small icy moon
were still quite primitive, but several large marine creatures, as well as countless small ones, thrived in its iced ocean. When it was certain we had to abandon Kahnu, Garnak, our loyal Keeper, had made sure the two ships had on board everything that could be saved. Kahnu’s rare eco-system had to be preserved at all cost. Each ship had a large cargo, covering not only our culture’s knowledge but also, and most importantly, life; living representatives of our world. Our DNA was also kept safely on the ship’s labs. Let me show you something.”

  Mahhzee turned again her attention to the sphere, and with a quick hand gesture, brought another view of the lab. The place was the same but appeared much less messy. The lines were gone and most of the machines, large container columns and display cases seemed fairly intact. The place looked old, obviously abandoned, and covered in dust, but most instruments and containers appeared well organized and orderly laid.

  “That’s obviously not what I filmed…” thought Dedrick.

  The difference in quality was incomparable. The three-dimensional world they were now in seemed so real, it was hard to believe they were in an artificial projection. The space changed seamlessly to a view of the outside of the cavern, where countless creatures were slowly making their way to the cave, through the same fissure the four visitors had used earlier to reach the cavern. They were so great in number, that a traffic jam was taking place at the crevice’s entrance. Something was attracting the animals by hordes. Several species, including some large birds, had also chosen to enter the passage. Following their progression, they were soon at the cave, where the strangest gathering was taking place. More tortoises than any human had ever seen before in one place were blanketing the ground of the cave, along with countless rodents. Several dozen large saber-tooth cats were grouped to the far left, forming walking circles within circles, pacing behind one another, as if engaged in an elaborate ritual. To the right, along the far wall of the cavern, over fifty giant hyaenas were resting on the floor, all posed like sphinxes, facing the damaged vessel, surprisingly uninterested in the other preys around them. Above, circling slowly the ceiling of the cave, a myriad of birds, some as small as canaries, others larger than eagles, were flying orderly in countless circles and directions around the perimeter of the space. On any other day, an absolute carnage would have taken place in such a situation. Yet, for some unknown reason, the various species were at peace with each other. The predators and the preys, as if gathered in some sanctuary where the laws of nature did not apply, a common ground where some invisible force was countering the natural impulse of their wild instinct, were cohabiting effortlessly.