The others ran as the soldiers opened fire. Seare’s body radiated with a golden energy. His light spread, filling the corridor. When the laser fire stuck his field, the blasts dissipated harmlessly. Changing to hand weapons, the Nukari charged him. Energy collected in Seare’s hands, then shot toward the invaders. The pulse seared through those struck, but there were too many. The scene blurred as the soldiers overpowered the D’mar and beat him unconscious.
A medical room came into focus. Katen looked about, curious at why certain places were blurry, while others were vivid and detailed.
Seare was covered, loosely draped by a cloth, and strapped to a chair. Tubes and wires were pushed deep into his skin. Though bound, he struggled to break free. Terror filled his eyes when a tall, brooding man in a lab coat approached with a twisted smile.
“Ah, you’re awake. Good. It will help make sure we get a pure sample.”
The scientist pressed a switch, activating a chorus of machines around the room. The tubes began to pump fluids into Seare as others sucked fluids out. His body seized in pain as his handsome face became emaciated. A sickly yellowish glow radiated from his body.
The scientist rubbed his hands as if excited. He reached over and connected another wire to Seare’s chest. Seare’s body began to lurch as the glow was drained into the wire. As the light faded, so did the color in Seare’s body. The spark of life extinguished in the D’mar’s eyes.
Abruptly, the space around the mindwalkers became a storm of crackling energy. There was an odd distortion around the fringes, as if they were moving. Ahead was an opening of light, and beyond it a shimmering mass of red.
The crackling energy washed over the red gel and was quickly absorbed. Everything took on a blood-red tint. Above them was a massive glass dome, with a gleeful humanoid face stretched across it.
“That’s the ‘father’ person we saw before,” Fia’ra said.
The man jittered with excitement as the lump of material began to move and grow. Tiny appendages stretched up from the blob. A distinct dragon-like head emerged.
“This is Decreta,” Fio’tro said.
“They used Seare’s essence to create him,” Fia’ra said.
“Then that entity we saw before—the one on the island …”
“Is Seare, or his essence,” Fia’ra finished.
A portal opened next to the three. Peering through, they saw the bridge of light leading back to the floating island. As they passed through, Seare stood at the edge of the island, waiting.
“Seare,” Fia’ra said with reverence.
Seare bowed slightly as the light-bridge disappeared and the island returned to the sky. The fog rolled across the ground, once more reclaiming the barren landscape. They passed over a wide chasm as they headed back to the original mindscape.
“We need to know about the Nukari operations,” Katen said.
Seare stretched out his hands. The land began to reconfigure below. Entire sections of the mindscape began shifting and fading into the distance, as new pieces drew near. Even the mountains and rivers shuffled into a new configuration. The only object that remained was the giant temple in the distance.
While the land settled, the floating island descended. A dot of a town, surrounded by forest, grew below. Drawing closer, they noticed simple metallic structures and inhabitants scurrying about. None seemed aware of their approach.
The island stopped yards above the ground and the light-bridge appeared. The three headed down it, seeing engrams and fragments of many kinds. Some denizens were mere outlines, though with distinct faces. One blurry form strolled by carrying an ornate and glowing sword. Another passed by as strands of dancing exotic beads, with no distinct bodily features.
The buildings held the same varied detail. Some appeared as metal boxes embossed with strange symbols; others were sculpted from wood and stone; still others were ghostly and translucent. Disembodied sounds ran up and down the streets.
“Look at that one—there,” Fio’tro said.
In the distance was an exotic creature covered in shimmering blue scales, its upper half appearing as a praying mantis, its lower body an overgrown salamander. Unlike the other denizens, this one was sharply detailed.
“Nothing else seems to care we’re here. But that does,” Fio’tro said.
“It feels out of place. Too perfect,” Fia’ra said wearily.
“A walker like us?”
Fia’ra shook her head. “It has no organic presence, yet it feels foreign to this mind.”
“Then we avoid it,” Katen blurted as he headed in the opposite direction. He checked back, ensuring it didn’t follow. With the blue creature comfortably out of view, Katen led them to one of the large metal structures. Exotic symbols of lines, dots, and swirls were etched around the perimeter, but stopped at the entrance.
They carefully opened the door, and found a dark void filled with stars inside. Entering, their feet were supported by an invisible floor. In the distance they saw Decreta flying in space, flanked by two other, similar beasts.
“His beast unit,” Katen said.
The fliers looped back as a massive armada came into view.
“The Nukari have a new fleet?” Fio’tro said, face twisted in disgust.
Katen nodded.
The walkers took note of the command the beast trio had with spaceflight abilities. Having seen enough, Katen motioned, and the three left the way they came. As they returned to the street, Fia’ra gasped. The blue creature stood a few buildings away. They hurried down the street into another structure, where they found multiple rooms inside. Each room took them to vastly different worlds—each world swarming with Nukari soldiers and transports looting alien cities and herding hostages.
“They’ve been busy,” Fio’tro said.
Following the central hallway, they came to a massive room. Inside floated an engram from Decreta’s first mission without his beast unit. He didn’t know anyone, and was only befriended by two Nukari soldiers. Katen looked on curiously as the Nukari reviewed details of their mission to relocate aliens to a safer world. It was eerily familiar.
The woman with the short orange locks and unusual facial piercings, Kajlit’ga, directed the new group. As they returned, a familiar commotion filled the air. Decreta arrived to see his friend being torn apart by the aliens they were there to help. It was the same as the memory in the maze: except in the maze, people didn’t kill his friend there; scaly creatures did.
They saw Decreta cradle the tattered remains of his friend, saw his face sour, his body shake violently. He howled, causing the aliens around him to cower. A red glow formed around Decreta’s body as hatred filled his eyes. In a flash of light, energy rippled from him, incinerating everything around him. Only his friend’s remains were safe in his arms.
Kajlit’ga appeared at the top of the ridge. Decreta looked with guilt to his master, then collapsed over his friend in grief. She smiled evilly. Beside them, a portal opened.
“A tangential engram?” Fia’ra said.
Tangential? The beast’s mind was impressively complex, including linkages to related memories. Intrigued, the mindwalkers entered the portal and found themselves in a dark alley. There, Decreta talked to a man shrouded in the shadows. Decreta suddenly lurched back in surprise. “Atri!”
The man quickly stifled his exuberance.
“They cannot find me,” Atri said. Katen recognized the man from earlier in the mindwalk, the soldier that had been torn to bits by the scaly creatures.
“I thought you were dead!”
“I was.” He showed Decreta his metallic limbs and eyepiece. “The medics were able to revive what was left of me, and put me into stasis.”
“Where did those come from?” Decreta motioned to the metal appendages.
“When they shipped me back home, the doctors said I wouldn’t make it. But before they pulled the plug, one of them contacted a Terconian colleague who replaced what I lost.”
“I’m glad!” Decr
eta said.
Atri abruptly changed the topic. “Decreta, you are in danger.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Can’t you see how you’re being manipulated by that witch? By Kajlit’ga?”
“What do you mean?”
“That attack where I almost died—where I did die! She sent you on patrol, knowing the second you left, the aliens would revolt. You were the one thing they feared.”
The beast looked on, confused.
“She wanted you to hate them, to not see them as people. Think of what you did to them after I went down, Decreta.”
“How would you know that?”
“Footage is used as propaganda, to keep worlds in line. She doesn’t care about you at all. When she’s done with you, you’ll be thrown away just like I was.”
Atri cringed at Decreta’s expression.
“You must listen to me. Don’t let her turn you into a brainless killing machine. That’s not what Degnit’na wanted for any of you. See Kajlit’ga for what she is.”
Katen wondered who Degnit’na was.
“Don’t tell me what Degnit’na wanted,” Decreta said. “We weren’t good enough for him, remember? That’s why Father left us.”
Katen’s mind whirled, taking this in. Father? The one Decreta called “Father,” the old man they saw in the creature’s memories earlier in the walk, was known as Degnit’na?
“He didn’t leave you at all. Kajlit’ga, his superior, had him removed. She had other plans for you—what she’s done is proof!”
Atri paused as Decreta’s words took hold. “Is that what you were told? That he left you?”
“She told us he left for another assignment.”
“Decreta, he was tortured and left for dead. He’s …”
In the distance, heavy boots were stomping about.
“They can’t find me,” Atri said. “I have to go.”
“Who can’t?” Decreta said, confused.
“I’m sure she knows I’m alive, and close to you. She couldn’t afford it if you and I ever met.”
The stomping grew closer.
“I’ll see you again,” Atri said, and ran into the dark as black-clad Nukari soldiers appeared and began to question Decreta. Conflicted on what to say, he simply shook his head. The soldiers continued in the direction Atri had gone.
“I never saw him again,” Decreta’s voice echoed around the walkers.
As the scene froze, they retraced their steps and exited the structure. This time the blue creature was waiting one building down from them.
“It’s close,” Fia’ra whispered, concerned.
“Move,” Katen said, pushing them out of the way. They snaked around numerous structures, putting distance between them and the blue creature. Believing they’d given it the slip, they attempted to talk to some of the denizens. Some ignored the group; others gave chatty introductions about themselves. A few greeted them like friends, returning friendly everyday banter.
An ornate building of twisted metal and shape-shifting features drew their attention. Upon entering they discovered the many rooms served as portals to different worlds, each swarming with workers. The engrams appeared to show various Nukari colonies and resource-gathering operations.
In one of the mining operations, they observed a high-ranking soldier barking orders for Decreta and his beast team to find the saboteur in the facility. Taking part in the trek, they followed as Decreta investigated the situation, interviewing workers. At the end of the deepest tunnel, a man was setting explosives. He put up little fight against the power of the Nukari beasts.
“There’s internal resistance. That’s good to know,” Fia’ra said.
As they left the mine and entered another room, they found themselves in a briefing session, top-secret information to transport a Nurealian prisoner called Anrik displayed in the air. Nine Nukari beasts were dispatched to move him to a more secure location. When they departed, Decreta’s group began their patrol. Katen recognized the location.
“Ah, that station … where we first encountered the Nukari beasts.”
“Nothing here helps us locate their operations,” Fia’ra said.
As Katen turned to leave, a ship appeared in the distance. He stopped and watched a few more moments. Humans surrounded by silver auras emerged from the ship and attacked it. Outmaneuvering the Nukari beasts, they darted around the defenses and drilled into the station. In moments, the facility exploded. Katen watched, intrigued. He remembered the battle at Fowl 359 well. It was also the battle where Decreta was captured. “Let’s go.”
Exiting, they saw the blue creature just across from the doorway, glaring angrily.
“Next time, the blue beast might be on us as we come out,” Fia’ra said, unnerved.
“Back to the island,” Katen said.
While they moved, the blue creature followed. They ran faster, darting down side streets and around denizens. The blue creature soon fell behind, unable to keep up. As the last of the three stepped onto the floating island, the light-bridge began to dissolve behind them. Fia’ra gasped. Katen noticed the blue creature madly jittering where, moments before, the bridge touched the ground. The island returned to the sky.
“That was close,” Fia’ra said.
Ignoring her comment, Katen turned to Seare. “I want to know everything about the Nukari beast warriors. Where they are, how they’re made, who’s in control: everything.”
Seare stretched his hands over the mindscape underneath them. Again, like a puzzle, the ground reconfigured. The island floated downward, toward caves in a mountainside. While they walked along the bridge of light, darkness began to surround them. Images of quasars and galaxies appeared all around. The stars began to twinkle as the darkness solidified and ground disappeared. The cave entrance before them became a hatch affixed to a massive hull.
They opened the hatch and climbed inside. On the wall hung a more ornate version of the Nukari emblem. Next to it floated a holographic floor plan. A tiny dot showed their current position.
A small group of what appeared to be scientists appeared and greeted them. “Welcome back,” one said. “Everyone is waiting, please go directly to the debriefing room.”
The holographic map changed perspectives; now it showed multiple floors, along with a yellow dot for their destination and green line showing the required path. A soft blue light appeared and began to dance along the wall.
Fia’ra whispered to Katen, “Is Decreta directing us, or Seare?”
“Seare,” Katen said, as he waved her off and started down the corridor. The light sphere kept pace just ahead of them, following the green path shown in the map.
Fia’ra stifled a cry halfway through an intersection, then pushed the others quickly across. Once they were a safe distance ahead, she quietly said, “A blue creature was down the other way.”
“Here?” Fio’tro looked over his shoulder.
Disinterested, Katen continued.
They entered an elevator and noticed that the signs and controls were blurred, impossible to understand.
Only one of the buttons was clear, and that one was illuminated with the same light as the sphere they were following. Katen selected the only option available. In moments, the doors reopened and the light sphere happily floated down the corridor. While they proceeded, Katen and Fio’tro tried to open a number of doors they passed. But there was nothing to open; it was as if each door was a painting on the wall.
A figure approached. The man’s lower body looked like two blurry sticks, while the ancient lines on his face stretched into a playful grin. As he passed, he turned and whispered, “Remember, it’s Degnit’na’s birthday tomorrow. Don’t forget!”
The man vanished. Katen recalled Decreta’s engram of the man called Atri, which discussed a man called Degnit’na. Decreta seemed to revile the man for abandoning him.
Light flooded into the corridor from an open door a few meters ahead. They cautiously made their way there, then
peeked inside. Katen saw a host of machines along with large glass cylinders placed along the entire length of one wall. Each vessel held a fully grown husk of a creature. Stacked on the tables were smaller cylinders with beastly embryos of various sizes and shapes.
“What is this?” Fia’ra said.
The man Decreta had called Father appeared like a ghost, walking between machines. A clump of matter floated under a glass dome in the device before him. He turned and greeted the group.
“Decreta, you’re just in time. Welcome to the new birthing center. I have something very special to show you.”
Katen noticed the name “Degnit’na” on the man’s lab coat. They watched as the man threw a switch, sending electric bolts popping and crackling along the edges of the dome before shooting into the red matter. Degnit’na turned to a nearby console and reviewed streams of data.
“Soon … soon. We’re almost there,” Degnit’na said.
The little red blob began to quiver, then roll about.
“Yes! Yes!” Degnit’na said, exuberant. He turned to the three. “Do you understand, Decreta? This is the beginning of a new beast unit—your brother … or sister. You began like this too.”
The old man paused and examined the new life forming. “Similarly, at least. I followed our more ancient texts for you. But I’m afraid those techniques can never again be repeated. There is something very special inside you, Decreta. Something that makes you more special than others of your generation.”
“Seare,” Fio’tro said.
Fia’ra interrupted. “If they can create beasts this easily, there could be …”
“Endless armies of them,” Katen said, and the small light sphere appeared and headed back into the corridor. The three followed, slowing only when the light danced wildly around an oversized door just ahead. As they approached, it opened automatically.
Inside, a wall of glass divided the room in half. One side had a high counter and stools; the other looked like something from a gymnasium. Stark white ceilings surrounded a padded floor. Curved, alien-like symbols covered the entire length of the far wall. The Nukari and D’mar emblems, along with the pattern embossed on the temple in Decreta’s mind, were at the display’s center. Fio’tro pointed out other familiar shapes from the mindscape town. “What could this be?”
D'mok Revival: The Nukari Invasion Anthology Page 98
