Okay, focus. Even throwing it as hard as I could, it couldn’t have gone far. It was about at the apple tree when it left my hands. I’m going to have to search in a pattern since I don’t have the advantage of a bird’s eye view.
Looking up I try to figure out where the tree is, but it all looks the same from the bottom up. I begin by starting at the base of my plateau and search for potentially familiar landmarks. Seeing a group of pools to my left, I think they could be ones I saw from above. Moving along toward my starting point and I keep my eyes peeled for any gleam of metal.
Hours pass as I search in a pattern starting at the base of the plateau, taking me out several hundred yards and then doubling back a few feet away. The sun drags across the sky and there’s no sign of my heirloom.
Perhaps it dropped into a pool and that’s why I can’t find it.
Coming to the edge of one near me I look in and try to find a gleam but the depths are obscured as it becomes dark in the valley. Looking up I expect to see a cloud but instead a dark circle begins to envelop the sky. It’s black on the underside and I’m unable to see beyond it.
Despite its massive size and the fact it’s moving swiftly through the sky, not a sound is heard from it beyond the strong wind now coursing between the rocky columns towering above me.
While I’m entranced by the darkness, out of the corner of my eye I notice a number of the enormous creatures have begun to scatter. A stronger gust of wind kicks up dirt and leaves into my face. I throw my arm over my face to shield against the debris. The wind dies down. Able to open my eyes again the sky is dark for probably several miles across and the object is till high above. Only far away, past several towers of rock can light be seen again.
Standing in near complete darkness I am reminded of the despair collective as it took over the white void.
Could this be the despair before the void?
But before I can think any further along those lines, a multitude of bright white lights beam down from the underbelly of darkness and one falls directly on me.
Squinting and holding my hand over my eyes I look up and try to understand what’s happening. Long dark shadows descend within the beams of light. A whirring noise fills the air. I realize I’m in danger.
A shadow appears in the light column I’m in, causing it to look like an eclipse within an eclipse. I jump out of the way just in time to not be crushed. The ground is pummeled with a number of large objects. The ground quivers. Explosions of dirt, plants and water fly up everywhere.
When I recover, I recognize the objects: numerous metallic cylinders with their foreign symbols. All around me as far as the dark circle covers, the cylinders collide with the ground.
Strangely though the lights, and the cylinders, are only being sent to the bottom of the valley; there are still a number a dark voids in the sky over the top of the plateaus.
That would make sense, I guess, based on what we had seen before. They were scattered strategically. So I’m witnessing their placement? But who is sending them?
The cylinders begin to light up as I had seen before and their doorways open up. A familiar white light beams out and I realize if they’re open, it means something is coming out. Running to a nearby tree I hide myself as best I can.
My curiosity takes hold and I peer around the trunk to wait and watch for what comes out. The beams of light disappear from up above and the dark circle moves farther up into the sky. Light from the sun begins flooding back in as the dark mass becomes just a black disc as big as the sun.
I really hope the girls stay inside…Who am I kidding? They’re outside looking down and watching. Maybe I don’t always seek out trouble. There’s no way I could have known this would happen only a short time after coming down here.
With my only defense currently being my shockwaves, I wait to see what emerges and to assess any threat. Two different types of beings emerge, both bipedal.
The first type is tall, somewhat blocky and muscular, wearing a very strange type of gold colored armor that tightly hugs the being’s body, and black gloves. Its oval, lengthwise-elongated head is covered with a helmet. A darkened pane masks its face entirely but I assume they can see through it. They appear to have no weapons; but that doesn’t say much. The palms of their hands appear to be about the size of my forearm. Being hit with a closed fist would likely result in broken bones.
The other humanoid creatures are much smaller, at least half the size of the obvious guard-beings, and wear no armor. They do, however, wear a strange band-like device that wraps around their head with a large yellow lens covering one of its four large eyes. Their complexion is pale white; their bodies are skinny and appear frail; their heads are disproportionate and, like their larger counterpart, it elongates backward from their bodies. Only a few are dressed in very sharp, shiny, flowing attire that matches the color of their bald skin. In their hands they carry some sort of thin, white tablet that reminds me of Emma’s PayPad.
More of the smaller beings appear than the larger ones. They begin to spread out, observing and appearing to write on their tablets. The guards pace. The small ones take samples of foliage, water, and I presume air, in clear containers.
As a smaller one nears the tree I’m hugging. I duck behind a fern to avoid detection. I try to find a place I can escape to, but I’m surrounded. As I focus on not being identified by the one taking a sample of the tree I am hiding behind, I hear another one shout in a strange language. One of the smaller ones has discovered me from behind.
I guess it’s adventure time.
A couple of the bigger ones bellow in their language and start toward me, heavy arms swaying at their sides. I jump from fern’s and walk backwards toward my column of rock. They start to circle me, the larger ones extending their right arms outward. Unsure of what I should do, I prepare to defend myself, arms out in front of me.
Annihilate them! They are threatening you!
No! I won’t attack them first.
Several of the smaller ones converse and seem to examine me from afar, appearing puzzled. They speak rapidly. One of the smaller ones tries to step toward me, but is stopped by one of the guards dropping his hand and holding it back. To the dismay of the guard, the smaller one pushes the guard’s hand aside and steps forward toward me.
Do it! Kill the monsters!
Rather than sending a shockwave at them as Tiberius’s consciousness suggests, I look behind me, throw my arm back and unleash a small burst. Dust plumes upward from the shockwave impact. The guard pushes the small one back and readies to attack me. I step back a few more steps, but run into the steep incline of rock. The smaller one reasserts itself barking furiously at the guard.
Turning its attention to me, it nears again, putting both arms out to the side. I’m unsure if I should take it as a gesture to indicate it has no ill will. I keep one hand firmly raised, pointed at it. It moves its arms in a soft manner and lowers them all the way to its sides. I’m not sure if it wants me to copy.
It turns back to one of its smaller companions, speaks rapidly, and then returns its gaze to me. Because of its four eyes, I don’t know where to focus, and so my eyes dart from one to the next. The one it spoke to disappears while we stand there locked in a stalemate. When it returns it hands something small to the one addressing me.
Turning its head, it shows me a small black item stuck in its almost non-existent ear. It shows me what’s grasped in its long fingers and it’s the same. A small, black sphere. It demonstrates by pointing to its ear and then to mine. With its hand open, palm up, it takes a few steps forward cautiously toward a rock in between us and sets the black sphere down.
I wait for the being to retreat back to the group and then slowly move to pick it up. The guards shuffle nervously and stand at the ready with their meaty hands ready to grab me. Without taking my eyes off of them, or lowering my hand, I pick up the object and bring it into my vision. It’s round and smooth like a polished pebble.
The one who set it d
own waves its hands at me and points at its ear. I do as instructed and slowly slip it in. It’s soft and puts no unnecessary pressure on the ridges. It squeals, causing me pain. My hand instinctively goes up to my ear, but before I can rip it out the noise dies down.
“Prekoto vantose,” it lets forth what sounds like a simple command while putting its hand to its throat, but I don’t understand.
“What is this?”
It taps its throat. “This.” I understand a word in my language in a masculine sounding voice, overlapping its original language.
“What just happened?” I ask.
He urges me to keep talking by keeping one hand on its skinny neck and waving its other hand in a circle.
“All you did was copy one of my words.”
“Copy. All. You. Words.”
“Is that how you learn? You learn more just by me speaking?” I tilt my head a little.
“Speaking. More. More words.”
“Should I just spout out a random assortment of words for you?”
He nods quickly and I know he understands me.
“Yes. No. Dirt. Water. Air. Tree. Sky. What are you?”
“Wait, I think we have it now. Yes, yes, we do. Hello, can you understand me?” he replies with his original voice overlaid by the translation.
I’m astonished as it appears to now be able to fluently communicate. “I can. You’re going to have to tell me how you did that.”
“Simple. Through your speech patterns, sentence structure, and syntaxes the Trauna in your ear accessed your brain activity. We were able to ascertain enough information. It seems we already have a version of your language on file and our system is now overlaying the translation.”
“‘Trauna’ didn’t translate. Is it the name of the device, or something we don’t have a word for?”
“It is the device.”
“What was ‘prekoto vantose’?”
“Loosely translated; I need you to speak. What are you doing here? We were not aware your species had acquired the ability to travel the stars.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you sure this trauna thing is working?”
“You are from Earth are you not?” He squints all four eyes, and the word ‘Earth’ comes out in my language with no translation needed.
“The word ‘earth’ is used in my language to describe the ground or dirt, but I’ve never heard of a place with that name. What are you doing here?” I shift my weight and lower my hand a little.
“No. I suppose not. Black eyes. Different from Earth.” I start to interrupt him to explain my eyes, but he doesn’t give me the opportunity. “This is supposed to be a wildlife refuge planet. It should not be inhabited by sentient beings. If you are not from Earth, where are you from?”
“This is the world in which I belong. What are you?”
“We are Vraditi. Or was that not what you meant? Let me restate. We are ecologists, transplanetary migration specialists.”
My mind reels.
The idea of different bipedal, non-human creatures is still fairly new. But now encountering ones who can speak and have technology far beyond what my species has accomplished, I don’t know what to think.
“I’m not sure what that means.”
“We move species across planets to further their survivability and development.”
I mumble to myself, “I thought I’d seen everything but now I’m dealing with life beyond this planet too?” The being overhears me.
“You were unaware there is life beyond your planet?”
“Yes. Until now, I don’t think anyone on the planet thought about it.”
“There are more of you?” He tilts his head to the side.
Leery, I keep silent about my companions for the moment. “Let’s just say, yes…and no.”
“Scan shows four additional Human life forms nearby.” It moves its finger on the pad it carries. Looking back at its brethren, then returning his stare to my direction, he shows no facial expression. “We are confused. Why is it yes, and no?”
“Stay away from them!” I threaten him with my open palm.
The guards starts to restrain me but the one I’ve been speaking with yells out.
“Stay!” He looks around and they become still again. There is nothing in his facial expression to indicate malice toward me, but I’m angered at the thought of these beings confronting the women.
Eve could probably handle a few, but who knows how many of these things there are.
“Please. We intend no harm. We are just seeking knowledge. If there are four others, why would your answer be ‘no’?”
I grind my teeth, unsure of just how much to divulge. Their demeanor is calm, and their guards’ movements are calculated. They are threatening because they’re not my species, technologically advanced, and far more intelligent. The harm in answering with little detail seems minimal.
“I had hoped to conceal the existence of my family, but it’s not the reason I said no. There will be more of my kind, in the future.”
“Explain.” He cocks his head.
“The five of us are out of our original times. We’ve seen the future of this world which we call Novaum.”
“Log. Link planet name ‘Novaum’ to ‘reknos tavol four’.” He speaks out loud, but not to me. His attention is returned to me. “You have mastered time displacement?”
“No. We travel randomly.”
“We must know more.” He waves for me to come over. “Please, let us share information.”
I hesitate. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“You do not. Consider, if we wanted we could extract all information you possess without consent. However, we are a peaceful species. We would ask that you share instead and will not take more than you give,” he states and waves off the other members of his species.
For a moment they hesitate, but he commands them in their language and it doesn’t translate. They disperse, returning to their duties while I am left with the one I’ve been speaking with. My apprehension eases, if only slightly. I remain guarded and hope they are as he says.
“Sharing? How about we start with introductions. My name is Rain.”
“Rain? Named after the precipitation that falls from the sky. Uokos. Interesting. My name is Quva.” He brings his hands up to shoulder height, elbows bent, palms toward his body.
I copy him. “Is this a form of greeting?”
“Negative.” Quva puts his hands down. “Certain gestures are reserved for those with rank in our society. This particular position indicates ‘Mission Second Command’ as a rank and is used in formal greeting. Outsiders to our culture are not assigned rank and therefore there is no need to salute.”
“Understood.” I drop my hands. “Standing here is awkward.”
“Come, I shall prepare a better space for us to talk.”
He turns and begins to walk swiftly away from me, only looking back for a moment to make sure I follow.
I jog to I catch up to his lengthy strides, but I walk a few feet off to his left. Quva looks at me expectantly, but even at this angle I can tell he’s focusing on two locations at once when his head shifts a little back and forth. It’s strange and I don’t know if he’s truly paying attention to me.
“Please, tell me how you travel through time.” He focuses all four eyes on me, yet still adeptly dodges obstacles.
“I will keep it short, for simplicity sake. A woman had an innate ability to travel through time at will. Something went wrong and now a vortex takes us to a certain location at a random time–”
“What kind of ‘innate ability’?” Quva interrupts me. “Is it the same as what you did to the rocks?”
“I’ve witnessed different types of abilities. Mine is not the same as Evalyn’s. It’s like channeling extra energy from within to make things happen around us.”
“Do you mean alkos?”
“That word didn’t translate.”
“Strange.” He seems genuine
ly perplexed and we stop for a moment. “Can you move things with your mind, just by thinking about them?”
“No. And I haven’t seen anyone that can.”
“I would like another demonstration. I am interested in taking some readings.” He lifts up his white pad and taps on it a few times.
Seeing no harm in demonstrating my ability to defend myself if he isn’t being honest, I stop and turn to the rocks where none of his species are working. I hold a hand up and build a shockwave so massive when it hits the ground a few hundred yards away, it sends an explosion of dirt and rock spraying outward from the impact point. Quva jumps back, startled. I turn back and smile.
No doubt the girls are watching and making wild assumptions right now. Eve is probably going insane, thinking I’m down here fighting.
“This is astounding! You would make a fascinating subject to study further, if you would be willing to undergo some stress tests.”
“I’m not sure I like how that sounds.” I scowl.
“I assure you, no harm will come to you. Under observation, we’ve never seen your species, or any cousins to it, manifest anything like this without the aid of technological advancements. If you are not from Earth, we must assume you have similar origins, and that is an extraordinary discovery and research opportunity we would like not to miss.
“We would invite you to be a guest aboard our tearikan. Our star-ship. There we would ask you to exert your power while we take more accurate measurements and readings, as well as a biological and neurological tests for our catalogue of species.” Quva points to the black disc in the sky, but keeps his eyes focused on me.
“If I were to agree to something like that, there would be terms. My companions are off limits; do not involve them. If you try to kidnap or harm me, I won’t hesitate to rip your ship in half.” I’m firm when I speak, cautious to keep their interactions friendly.
“You are still hesitant. This is understandable. We can continue to talk down here to familiarize ourselves with one another until you are comfortable.” Quva holds up a hand and turns away from me. “Allow me a few moments and then we can continue.”
R.E.solve (Rain Experience Book 2) Page 33
