Children of the Aris: Set in The Human Chronicles Universe

by T. R. Harris

  Adam looked at the tall, green-skinned alien. It was a good question.

  “What can we do?” he began. “It’s the same old story; J’nae believes the Luz will use the Formation to create more of their kind so they can take over the galaxy. Why would they want to do that?” Adam snorted. “Heaven only knows. But even if they got the Formation, it would take a long time for them to create a population big enough to do what they want. In the meantime, we know what’s happening to Panur. He’s dying. We need to get him back so his brain cells can be recovered from Summer. Both cases are serious; however, one is long-term and with potential to affect the entire galaxy, while the other is short-term and with no time to spare.”

  “There’s also the chance that the Luz could get the Formation even if we don’t turn it over to them to get Panur and Lila back,” Sherri pointed out. “In that case, we wouldn’t have two of the greatest minds in the galaxy working with us to stop them. On the other hand, we’d be simply giving the Luz the Formation. It’s a Catch-22 either way we look at it.”

  “Catch-22?” Tidus asked.

  “A dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions,” J’nae quoted. Being a six-hundred-year-old alien genius had its perks.

  “A perplexing situation, for sure,” Tidus said. “However, there has been no demand to date. We cannot offer a trade without opening a dialogue. I agree; this contact will come eventually. Merely having control of the mutants is not a substitute for the end goal of the Luz. Either that or they will make another attempt at acquiring the device directly, perhaps with a more violent assault on this facility.”

  “They would have to get here first,” Riyad stated. “We’ve alerted every Enforcer ship in the area to be on the lookout for the freighter. It would be virtually impossible for them to land on the planet without us knowing.” He looked at Summer/J’nae. “What else have you learned about the Luz? And how did we learn about them in the first place?”

  “From Lila and Panur,” J’nae said. “They were mentioned in the ancient Aris documents.” She looked at the odd cut out section at the other side of the room where a perfect sphere had been extracted, taking with it part of the ceiling and floor, along with the two most powerful beings in the galaxy. “I am just now beginning my research. I have found that Nunki, along with the leaders of the Luz—

  a trio of hybrid aliens called the Masters—did fight over possession of the Formation. Nunki was victorious and then used the device to seed the galaxy with primordial life. Further, the Masters were then placed in a form of quantum suspended animation for their crimes. This is all documented. Before the recent teleportation event, Panur and Lila reasoned the Luz were freed from this quantum prison by a confluence of Q-beams used in the Expansion Bank robberies. At the time, it seemed a surprising leap in reasoning. Since then, however, I have come to agree with their conclusion that this is the work of the three-billion-year-old Luz.”

  Adam pursed his lips. He was so over the term three-billion-years. First, there were the three-billion-year-old artifacts, then artificial worlds, then crazy service modules, insane Technicians, and now the Luz. He got it; they were old, literally older than dirt. But why do they insist on showing up in his time and ruining his day?

  “How much time do we have before Panur reaches the point of no return?” Riyad asked J’nae.

  “That is a concern,” she began. “Not only does he and Summer have to be in close proximity for the mind-meld to take place, but he also has to retain the ability to shapeshift. That takes energy. Although he may retain some cognitive functions, his body will reach a point where it cannot physically perform the mind-meld. And then there is the extraction itself. That will take time and even more energy. I do not understand the process completely to know how much control Panur has over the extraction, but I have to assume he will have some.”

  “So, how long?” Riyad repeated.

  J’nae hesitated before answering. Then she sighed. “Not more than eight days, and even that is a guess.”

  “Eight days!” Sherri exclaimed. “The damn Luz could be that far away from us already, so, even if we could give them the Formation for Panur, we still wouldn’t get to him in time.”

  “My guess is they’re still close by,” Adam said. “Four days ago, they were in orbit around Navarus. I don’t think they’ll go too far away from the Formation. They’re close; I can feel it.”

  Then a thought occurred to him, one that caused his stomach to tighten.

  “What if the Luz call us; can we even get into the vault to give them the Formation? And what form is it in? When I first found it, there was just a set of boxes with disks inside. Then Panur and Lila built a whole big device out of it.”

  “Maybe if we could turn off the Lerpiniere field, they could just teleport it out, like they tried the first time,” Monty said, speaking for the first time. He’d been listening to the discussion for the past four days, when all he was concerned about was his daughter, Summer. She still had an alien entity inside her, and if something happened to Panur, it would be like that until the day she died.

  “We have to be careful about that, Monty,” Adam said. “That’s our leverage over the Luz. We can’t let them get the Formation unless we get something in return.”

  “And now you’re saying if we can give it to them at all,” Mike Hannon said, joining the conversation. “Sounds like you’ve already made up your mind that that’s what we should do.”

  “What do you mean we?” Sherri asked the assassin. “Since when are you part of the team?” Adam could see the anger on her face, knowing that much of it stemmed from the fact that she once imagined a relationship with the handsome young man. Knowing now that he nearly started a galactic war between the Humans and the Juireans and then masterminded the whole Expansion Bank affair had shown her what kind of man he really was. But Adam knew Sherri. She was more upset with herself than with Hannon … because she was still attracted to him, maybe even more so now that she knew what a bad boy he was.

  Mike shrugged and gave her an alluring grin. The man knew how to work her. All the smile did was set Sherri’s jaw even tighter.

  Adam looked around at the dejected faces of his team.

  “Mike’s right. I don’t think we have a choice. We have to get Panur back, first and foremost. After that, we’ll deal with the consequences, whatever they may be. As Sherri said, I’d rather face the future with a healthy Panur than without him. J’nae, Riyad, Tidus, see if you can find access to the vault. And check on the Lerpiniere field. Can we even turn it off if we want to? You know our mutant friends will have the best security available; that’s why I think it may be a waste of time. But we have to try. Otherwise, Panur and Lila will have to let us know how to get to the Formation if the trade is to take place. And in that case, the Luz may decide to go for it themselves and screw the trade. So much of this is up in the air at the moment.

  “With only eight days to get Panur back, we don’t have time to sit around and wait for the phone to ring,” Sherri said. “We need to get proactive, start sending out some messages, see if anyone answers.”

  “That’s a good idea, although be careful letting the Luz know how important Panur and Lila are to the galaxy. We don’t want to give them any ideas.”

  “And I must assume they will contact you, Adam Cain,” Tidus said, “since for some reason, everyone seems to think you’re in charge.”

  “Believe me; I wish I weren’t.”

  “That makes two of us,” Sherri said softly before looking embarrassed. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I say that aloud?”

  “Humor, at a time like this?” Adam asked.

  “Humor? I was serious. I’m always serious.”

  CHAPTER 2

  “WHAT HAVE WE DONE?” Crin whispered from a corner of the freighter’s cargo hold. “We are scientists, not fighters.”

  “We have done nothing wrong,” Solon assured him. “All we have
done has been forced upon us.”

  “What of the robberies.”

  Solon shook his head. “That was a past indiscretion. I am speaking of recent events. We did not initiate what happened on Navarus, and neither did we cause this to happen.”

  He waved a hand toward the center of the room, where the two most powerful beings in the galaxy stood suspended in a field of shimmering blue held in place by quantum anchors. The fact that the creatures in the dirty yellow robes had manipulated the beam to produce such a restraint on the mutants demonstrated the incredible intellect of these newcomers, the beings that had materialized out of a quantum beam. Were they inhabitants from another reality, a quantum universe? Did whole civilizations exist on a plane that few could even imagine? The questions were many, the answers few.

  Although Crin was a scientist of some note on Gracilia, he felt humbled to be in the same room with these creatures. He was hoping his insecurity would show he was not a threat to them. Solon was another matter. He had a more devious mind. Leave it to him to do something foolish.

  “You must restrain your desire to act, Solon,” Crin warned. “We are interacting with forces we do not comprehend.”

  “I understand,” Solon snapped back. “All I was saying is that we cannot be held responsible for this. This is the doing of the quantum beings.”

  The two Gracilians were alone in the cargo hold with the mutants, staying as far from the shimmering field as possible. The three other creatures were in the pilothouse, placing the freighter on a large asteroid in the Dinis star system. The aliens had learned to fly the starship in a matter of minutes, no longer trusting the Gracilians to do so. They also learned star charts as fast and thoroughly as they had the Gracilian language.

  Crin was apprehensive about remaining this close to the Liave star system and the planet Navarus, home of the Enforcers. By now, alerts had gone out for every ship—Enforcer or not—to be on the lookout for them. It was wise to land somewhere and get out of the star lanes where gravity trails could be detected. But they were only nine light-years from Navarus, only a day away. And after both the abduction and the failed attempt to transport the Formation, Navarus would be the center of attention. Adam Cain would make sure of that.

  The Woken operation was supposed to pay the Gracilians a fortune in stolen credits, enough for them to settle anywhere in the galaxy and live like Juirean Elders for the rest of their lives. However, something went horribly wrong. And it all had to do with the traitorous Human Mike Hannon, as well as the ubiquitous presence of Adam Cain. The Gracilians had been suffering the effects of Adam Cain’s activities for many years, going once from being the most powerful race in the galaxy—however fleeting—to being the pariahs of the Dead Zone. The race was now quarantined on their homeworld and only able to travel by special permission.

  Crin and Solon—along with their late companions—had been fortunate to be off-planet, serving the needs of the MK Regional Director, Wolfgang Stimmel, at the time of the lockdown. They’d been recruited to accompany him to the ancient Aris Technician base to set up a device known as the Formation. That was how they knew of the machine, although what it did still escaped them.

  When the masterminds behind a series of Expansion Bank robberies—Vodenik and Kovach—needed more Gracilians to assist in their scheme, they called on the only group of Gracilian scientists not under quarantine, including Crin and Solon. At first, the pair considered it an honor, and one with the potential for a fabulous payoff. Looking now at the entrapped mutants, their calm and unblinking eyes watching the Gracilians with accusatory stares, they knew it was the worst of scenarios that had befallen them, and certainly not an honor.

  The female was beckoning to them. Her name was Lila Bol, an alien of mixed heritage, and although she was being held in place, she could still move her arms and legs.

  “Do we dare go near?” Crin asked. “You know of her.”

  “Everyone knows of her. But look at the other one, the creature known as Panur. If not for the force of the beam, he would be on the floor at the moment, unable to stand.”

  “And what if he dies while aboard the ship with us present?” Solon said. “Surely, we would not escape blameless.”

  “Then go, see what she wants,” Crin prodded, although making no moves himself. “I am sure she will ask to be freed. That we cannot do, even if we knew how.”

  Solon decided to risk it. Crin was wrong. If he had a chance to free the mutants, he would take a chance on them against the yellow-robed aliens. After all, they killed Pontus, and with no following remorse.

  He moved ever closer, alert to any approach by the quantum creatures.

  “What is your name,” the mutant Lila asked. Her tone was pleasant and without stress.

  “I am called Solon. Let me apologize. It was not us who initiated your capture. We are as much prisoners as you.”

  “That I realize. But Solon, look at Panur. You know who he is.”

  “Of course, as I know of you.”

  “He is not well.”

  “I thought you were both immortal. That is what we have been told.”

  “Even immortals have our weaknesses. Panur’s condition is only temporary, or it will be if he can be returned to Navarus soon. Can you help? Can you release us from these anchors?”

  Solon shook his head. “We have discussed this. We cannot; we do not know how.”

  “Of course, you do, Solon,” Lila said with a grin.

  “I do?”

  “Yes. Simply cut the power to the field generators. And if that is too complicated, cut the power to the ship. Not for long. I do not need much time. No harm will come to you during the brief power outage.”

  “I … I cannot. If the quantum creatures find out, they will kill me. They have already killed one of our companions.”

  “I will protect you. The engine room is in the next compartment. Go inside, cut the power and wait ten seconds. That will be enough time for me to be freed. After that, you know what I can do. All I need is to be released from this field.”

  Solon thought for a moment. It did seem like a simple plan. And ten seconds; not enough time for the aliens to move from the bridge to the engine room. For four days, the mutants had been prisoners aboard the freighter, and during that time, the quantum beings had not revealed their intentions. But with each passing hour, as the beings learned more about the starship's operations, Crin and Solon’s usefulness diminished exponentially. Even now, Solon wondered why the quantum beings kept them alive? All they were was a security risk.

  And that was about to be proven by the decision Solon just made. He would help the mutant; by his reasoning, he had no other choice.

  He nodded to Lila and then went back to Crin, outlining the plan.

  “The creatures will know; they can monitor all parts of the ship. They are probably already aware you were talking to the mutant.”

  “Then why leave us in the room together?” Solon asked. “Of course, we would converse. It would be unnatural if we didn’t. Now, I will move casually, as if going to the galley for food. I must pass the engine room to go forward. I will act before they realize what has happened.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then I trust that the mutant Lila can protect me. She once ruled the Expansion. She is a being of incredible power.”

  “Who allowed herself to be abducted—with our help.”

  “It was our equipment, nothing more. Now stop being so negative. This is our only chance of not ending up as did Pontus. I go now.”

  And he did, moving slowly away before heading for the forward compartment door and the spine corridor that ran the length of the ship. Altering his plan slightly, Solon went forward to the galley first, where he assembled double servings of food for both he and Crin. It was what would be expected if he were under surveillance. During the return trip, he would pass into the engine room and cut the power.

  The door was up ahead and on his left. Solon had been in the freighter’s
engine room dozens of times since coming aboard. He knew the opening sequence, and he ran it through his mind again and again until he boiled over with confidence. He knew where the master cutoff switch was and approximately how many running steps it would take to reach it. It could be done, and before anyone on the bridge could stop him.

  The moment came. Solon dropped the food, pulled up on the lever and then pushed, entering the engine room half-a-second later. Five steps would be all it would take to reach the power switch. He made one … before the ship suddenly lost gravity.

  His last running step was a powerful one. Unfortunately, when the internals went off, his muscles propelled him high into the room, where he bounced off the ceiling before grabbing a power duct to keep from banging against other components running along the overhead. He looked down, spying the power cut off switch. The quantum beings knew what he was doing. His only chance was to reach the panel and release the mutants. Anything else would result in his death.

  He shifted around in the zero gravity, lining up on the power panel, ready to push off with his legs. His muscles tensed, and he released the power conduit—just as the ship’s gravity returned.

  Solon’s fall was hastened by his shoving off from the ceiling, accelerating even faster before slamming into the metal decking below. It didn’t kill him, at least not right away. Instead, he broke his neck, back, left shoulder and left arm. Fractured ribs punctured his lungs, and blood poured from his gasping mouth as he fought for breath.

  A moment later, the flow of grimy yellow robes appeared in his rapidly fading vision. He couldn’t move his head, nor anything else for that matter. All he wished for now was a speedy end to his life.

  One of the robed creatures bent down.

  “Your courage is admirable, even your tact. We watched, speculating as to what you would do. But when you moved to the galley first, our respect for you grew. And now, because of that respect, I will end your life.”

  The flash of light came from the palm of the alien, from a source unseen. Solon only had a fraction of a second to notice the light before it was the last thing he ever saw.