‘Is that it?’ Gulco said, looking bemused.
‘As I said, Gulco, they were expecting us.’
Kalrea rotated the Aurora and then slowly closed on a large tower which extended into space from the station. There was a slight jolt as the ship came into contact.
‘We’re docked,’ Kalrea reported. ‘Time for me to access their systems.’
Zoren waited patiently.
‘I hope our people are here,’ Gulco said.
‘This is too easy, Gulco. I don’t like this,’ Zoren commented.
‘Zoren’s right, Gulco. It was too easy. Your people are not here and there are no records of where they’ve been taken.’
‘That’s it then!’ Zoren said. ‘We’ll never find them now.’
‘Looks like you’ve received an invite, Gulco,’ Kalrea said. ‘Lady Sathodee is onboard the space station. She wants to meet you.’
‘But, once I’m over there, they’ll capture me,’ Gulco said.
I wish Kalrea had her drone here, Zoren thought and then said, ‘Kalrea, is that the Lady Sathodee who tried to buy one of my people from the Polnozoo, before enlisting the services of those mercenaries to take all of us?’
‘Yes, that’s her.’
‘Kalrea, without you we’re defenceless,’ Zoren said nervously. ‘Gulco can’t put his life in danger.’
‘I agree. That’s why you must go.’
‘Eh?’
‘You have the telementor. With that, I can protect you,’ Kalrea said.
‘Why don’t I give it to him then? He can wear it.’
‘I chose you as my pilot. I don’t just give it to anyone, you know!’
‘But you won’t be with me, so how will you know when I’m in danger?’
‘That’s going to be a bit of a problem. For a Qinant I’d know by reading their mind, with you we’ll have to rely solely on the telementor. It detects fright, so if you’re frightened, then it will automatically activate to create the shield.’
‘Great! Then it’s going to be on all the time. I’m already scared, Kalrea.’
‘I’ll try to keep an eye on you from the security cameras.’
‘That’s fine, but what if there are none where I am?’ Zoren replied, and then thought, I’m not sure I want to go.
‘Then only get frightened, when you are!’ Kalrea added.
‘That’s easy for you to say,’ he said and then thought, I suppose I have no choice.
‘A Xangol representative of Lady Sathodee will meet you at the docking port in ten minutes,’ Kalrea said.
‘Ten minutes! That’s not much time. Can we try out the telementor?’
‘I’d step back, Gulco,’ Kalrea said. ‘I could do without any accidents.’
Kalrea disabled her interface with the telementor. It instantly turned white and a halo of light surrounded Zoren.
‘See! I’m shitting myself.’
‘Calm down, Zoren. Please!’ Kalrea said. ‘You can’t go over there looking like a light.’
‘And kill anyone who wants to shake your hand,’ Gulco added.
‘Thanks for the reassuring comment, Gulco!’ Zoren replied cheerfully.
‘This is hopeless! I’m going to have to change the setting on the telementor,’ Kalrea said.
The telementor returned to black and the halo of light disappeared.
‘It’s working. What did you do?’ Zoren asked.
‘Turned it off!’ Kalrea replied.
‘Oh!’
‘I’m going to have to do something that’s not recommended. Ok, the telementor is now in manual. I’ve never had to enable this mode before. Press the face to activate and deactivate it, but don’t turn it on if someone’s touching you.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you’ll kill them, that’s why! There’s a good reason why I don’t use that mode, it’s far too easy to kill a friend without realising what you’re doing.’
Zoren tried it. The halo of light appeared when he pressed the face and disappeared when he pressed it a second time.
Ok, that’s better! Zoren thought.
‘They won’t want to harm you Zoren, remember you’re valuable,’ Kalrea said.
‘So what do you think she wants then?’
‘I’m sure you’ll soon find out,’ and then she added, ‘It’s time for you to leave.’
Zoren felt very nervous. His hearts were pounding as he stepped into the Pojin lift.
‘Be careful, Zoren,’ Gulco said.
‘Be careful! Right,’ he replied raising his hand in acknowledgement.
When the Pojin lift door opened, Zoren was greeted by an old grey-haired woman who was dressed in a drab frock.
‘My Lady wants me to escort you to her room,’ she said calmly.
‘Z… Zoren,’ he stuttered. ‘My name’s Zoren.’
She’ll get to know I’m nervous if I don’t relax. Zoren took a deep breath. I wonder if she’s a Xangol. She looks very old.
‘This way,’ the old woman gestured with her shaky twig-like hand.
He was lead along a dimly lit corridor. As they reached a junction, he glanced back to the docking port in the distance. His rational mind was telling him to stop and go back, but his hearts wanted to find Sabri and were urging him to continue.
They were now joined by two male Xangols, who said nothing and marched just behind them. Zoren could not help but to occasionally glance back at them; they made him feel like a prisoner being escorted to his cell. After three minutes of meandering through the network of corridors, which seemed much longer to Zoren, they arrived at Lady Sathodee’s room.
Zoren’s hearts raced, as the old woman knocked on the door and it slid open. He was agog as he gazed down a long narrow room. The walls, floor and arched ceiling of the room were completely transparent except for a light metallic frame. He felt very uneasy as he dawdled in. Through the transparent floor below him, he could see large sections of the space station and in the distance was the rear corner of the Aurora. Trafth dominated the view above and to the left of him, and the intense light from a nearby star was mellowed by the slight tint in the transparent material.
Sitting behind a crystal desk, at the far end of the room, was an elegantly dressed young woman. As soon as Zoren caught sight of her, he got struck by her beauty. Her long blond hair glinted in the star-light streaming in and her young complexion lit up the room. She was wearing a long thick coat and the pattern on its surface was constantly changing, with yellows, reds and purples forming small spirals and wavy lines, like it was alive and reacting to what was happening around it.
The old woman approached her and whispered in her ear.
That coat looks impressive. I wonder if that’s Lady Sathodee. She’s beautiful! Zoren thought.
The coat was very distracting, and he kept glancing at it. His eyes widened as he realised that the surface of the coat was see-through and beneath it were hundreds of colourful insects moving around. He felt a shiver run down his spine.
Not something I’d want to wear, he thought.
‘Please, take a seat, Zoren,’ she said, pointing to a crystal chair that matched the desk. ‘You’re very young. I was expecting someone older, one of your seniors.’
I would have preferred that as well, he thought as he sat down, and then said, ‘Oh… Well, I was also expecting someone older.’
The woman smiled. ‘I’m older than I look, Zoren. Nice name by the way. You can call me Lady Sathodee.’
‘Where are my people?’ Zoren asked without thinking.
‘Well, that’s straight to the point,’ Lady Sathodee remarked. She turned to the old woman. ‘You can go,’ she said, then glancing at the two men she added, ‘You too.’
They all left the room, leaving Zoren and Lady Sathodee alone.
‘I know my people are not on this space station,’ Zoren added.
‘Oh, you know they’re not here. Well, well, we do underestimate your new allies. Have they been accessing our computer systems aga
in? Didn’t find anything though, did they?’
Zoren shook his head slowly.
‘Yes, we know they can do that, so we made sure there was nothing to help them this time. Tell me more about these allies of yours and in particular this Kalrea.’
‘Why would I want to do that?’ Zoren replied.
The woman got up and ambled around the desk to Zoren. Feeling venerable, he placed his hand over the telementor ready to activate it.
‘Don’t worry, Zoren. I know that thing on your wrist has unusual powers. It can protect you, but I’m immortal, so let’s be careful, hay!’ She placed her hand gently on his shoulder. ‘See, I just want to talk to you, that’s all.’
‘I’m sure you didn’t ask me here, just to talk. I may be young, but I’m definitely not stupid. What do you want?’
Zoren watched her for a moment as she perched herself on the edge of the desk in front of him.
‘I’m going to offer you a deal. I want Kalrea’s powers,’ she said. ‘Give me Kalrea, and we’ll free ten of your people.’
‘You have thirty-three of my people.’
‘Well, I had thirty-three. I’m sorry, Zoren, but only twenty-one are still alive and I need eleven to fulfil my commitment to my clients.’
‘What?’ he said, before thinking, she’s killed twelve of them!
Zoren was speechless. He felt a desperate need to do something and wanted to get up and put his hands around the Lady Sathodee’s neck, to squeeze the life from her.
‘What do you mean, only twenty-one are alive now?’ Zoren said in disbelief.
‘Three more were going to be used today, but I’ve stopped it,’ she said. ‘I can do that you know. I can also tell them to continue.’ She smiled arrogantly at Zoren. ‘What’s your wife’s name, Zoren?’ she said, noticing the band around his right wrist, which indicated he was married.
Zoren gulped. ‘Sabri, her... her name’s Sabri.’
Lady Sathodee leant across to a small spherical crystal on the table. She picked it up and pressed its surface where a list of names was then displayed. Zoren tried to see, but the writing was far too small.
‘Are, yes, here she is?’ Lady Sathodee nodded her head. ‘Well that was lucky!’
‘What do you mean?’ Zoren was now on the edge of his seat.
‘She was in the three that were going to be used today.’
Zoren felt a lump at the back of this throat, which felt dry, and his hearts missed a beat. ‘Please, I can’t give you Kalrea,’ he said in dread.
‘That’s a real pity. Your wife’s very beautiful.’
Zoren felt under great pressure, and all he could think of now was Sabri in her red evening dress. I can’t give her Kalrea. What do I do? But Sabri, she’ll die if I don’t agree.
Lady Sathodee continued, ‘I bet you must really love Sabri. What about Kalrea? She’s not even one of you, she’s a stranger. Are you really going to protect her instead of your wife?’
He could see that Lady Sathodee was enjoying seeing him under stress.
‘Just think, Zoren. If you don’t agree, you’ll never see Sabri again.’
‘Ok! Ok… I’ll… I’ll see what I can do.’
‘Good,’ Lady Sathodee said, placing the sphere back on the desk. ‘So tell me, how many of her race are onboard the Aurora now.’
What do I tell her?
‘Er… there are twelve of them.’
‘Interesting!’
She was staring directly into his eyes. He kept glancing away from her.
‘But that’s not true, is it?’ Lady Sathodee said.
‘I told you there are twelve of them.’
‘So, why are you alone? Why isn’t one of them with you now? Strange that!’
Damn, she knows! She must know I’m lying.
‘I’ll tell you what I think,’ Lady Sathodee said. ‘I think there is only Kalrea. I’m right aren’t I?’
Zoren was trying to look relaxed.
‘You’re not a very good liar. I’ve had six hundred years of meeting people and observing their behaviours. I know when someone’s lying you know.’
I must keep calm and not react.
‘There is only Kalrea. Am I right?’
Zoren was about to make up a story, when with a raised voice she ordered, ‘Tell me the truth or your wife may suffer as a consequence.’
He nodded slowly. ‘Yes.’
‘According to Hifmo, Kalrea is light-years away from here. She took one of your people back to Onliv. He says the Ringal intercepted her transport, but she managed to kill the crew of the Ringal without even firing a single shot. Now that’s impressive. She’s a woman after my own heart. She seems to have no devices on her, yet she’s able to hack so easily into our computers. How does she do that?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ he replied. ‘Why would she tell me?’
‘Erm… There’s some truth in that statement. Have you thought that Kalrea could be using you? Maybe she wants to be in competition with me. I have a list of clients who are in need of your people. I’m sure she has too. That ship of hers must have cost a lot of money. All that technology doesn’t come cheap you know.’
‘She’s not in it for the money,’ Zoren replied.
‘Can you be so sure? That ship was on the Polnozoo. Bit of a coincidence that, wasn’t it?’
‘No, I don’t believe you. Your mercenaries would have taken me as well, had I not been trapped. She helped me. If what you say is true, she’d have taken us long before that.’
‘Erm… Tell me more about this ship of hers, the Aurora. It’s the fastest I’ve seen and most certainly is not from anywhere around here.’
‘Look, I’m not going to tell you anything else.’
‘You want to see your wife again, don’t you, Zoren.’
‘Of course!’
‘Then tell me about the bloody ship!’ she shouted at him. ‘I’m not going to ask you again. How did it get here? Either your people can fly it, which I think is extremely unlikely, or her technology allows it to fly itself.’
Zoren felt like a child being told off by his mother and wanted to get away from her.
I can’t tell her what Kalrea really is. Kalrea would never trust me again.
‘It flies itself. It... It has kind of an auto-pilot. Look, I’ve really no idea how it works.’
‘I want you to take me onboard.’
‘No, I can’t!’ Zoren said almost immediately.
‘That was very definite no.’
Damn, why did I not think!
‘So what’s going to prevent me from walking onboard now? Kalrea’s not there.’
Think! Quick!
‘Er... This device,’ he said, showing the telementor on his wrist to her. ‘Kalrea said I needed to wear it to access the ship. So without one you wouldn’t be allowed onboard.’
That’s not bad. It’s almost the truth, he thought and then said,
‘Kalrea hasn’t told us much about the ship. We’re only allowed in the living area.’
‘No, you know a lot more than you’re telling me. But once Kalrea is dead, then I’m sure I’ll be able to find out.’
‘How are you going to kill her?’
‘Now that would be for me to know and you to help with. So do we have a deal, ten of your people for Kalrea?’
I have no choice.
‘What… do you want me to do?’
‘Hardly anything! There’s an island on the planet below us, called Weigo. I want you to tell Kalrea that I want to meet her there. Tell her I want to negotiate an end to all this. She will know that’s the only way of finding your people. I’m sure she will be her usual self, just like me.’ Lady Sathodee smiled to herself. ‘Hifmo says that Kalrea is young, but I don’t believe that for a moment. How old is she?’
‘I… I don’t know.’
Lady Sathodee stood up and moved slowly behind him. She bent down to talk into his ear. ‘Tell me or the deal’s off,’ she said softly.
Zoren could not
tell her that Kalrea was one thousand, six hundred years old because she would ask more questions, but he also realised that if he made out she was only nineteen, then this too would raise suspicion, so thinking quickly he replied,
‘Kalrea’s about fifty years old.’
‘Really! But she looks so much younger. Maybe she’s also immortal,’ Lady Sathodee said, now looking a little concerned. ‘Is she, Zoren?’
‘No. She told me that her race ages very slowly,’ he said lying. ‘She could live to be over six hundred years old.’
‘Good! Then she can die.’
‘If I do this, then how do I know my people will be set free?’ Zoren asked her.
‘I give you my word.’
I don’t believe her for a moment. Once Kalrea’s out of the way she doesn’t need to keep her promise and will want all of us. But I have to go along with it.
‘I… I want to see my wife,’ Zoren said uneasily.
‘When Kalrea is on the island, then I will let you see your wife. You can go now.’ She hurried back around her desk and sat down. She was now studying the sphere.
Zoren sat there for a moment. I suppose that’s it then. He got nervously up.
‘When do you want to meet her?’ he asked.
Lady Sathodee peeked up at him. ‘I’ll be there when she arrives. Are you still here?’
Just as he was about to leave, she call out to him, ‘Oh, by the way, tell her also that Hifmo is very upset with her. Blowing his ship up was a bit unkind. Hifmo spent an hour in space. He said it was like being in an ice bifmo.’
She laughed.
‘He’s on his way here now and should arrive before Kalrea. I think he’s looking forward to meeting her in person again.’
Chapter Twenty-Four
Zoren trudged onto the bridge of the Aurora with his head bowed. Gulco rushed over to him, but was wary of the telementor.
‘Kalrea, is he safe?’ Gulco commented. ‘I wouldn’t want to be incinerated if he accidently pressed the face of that telementor.’
‘Yes, Gulco, I’ve disabled it as soon as he arrived back on the Aurora.’
‘You look terrible. Are you all right?’ Gulco asked Zoren, placing his only hand reassuringly on Zoren’s shoulder.
‘No, I… I need to sit down.’
Zoren went straight to a console seat.
Aurora Saga 2 Immortality for Life Page 21
