by Justin Sloan
“This is so stupid!” Valerie shouted, cracking up before she could say anything else. After a pirouette of her own she added, “And I can’t believe it’s working!”
“Believe it, girl. I might not be as educated as you are, but I’ve got ideas.”
“Or you’re insane.”
“Both might indeed apply,” Robin countered with a laugh.
After the next jump Valerie landed in a roll, coming up right on the other side of a sand snake, then twisted as another jumped between her and the last.
“I think they’re catching on,” Valerie said.
“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Robin countered. “We’re almost there!”
Sure enough, between their vampire speed and losing themselves in the excitement of the moment, they’d nearly crossed the whole area. Now the vehicle was clearly in sight, but the driver had noticed them too, and was retreating to the hills beyond, toward what they could now see was a small cave.
“Come here!” Valerie shouted, charging after him.
However, she forgot about the crazy moves, and three sand snakes picked up her trail and converged on her. One leaped and she tried to dodge, but it slammed into her. Only a baby, this one was about her size, but its teeth tried to tear into her body armor as the other two went for her.
Robin was on her then, the two rolling and the first sand snake with them, then Valerie got ahold of it and slung it back toward the others. The cave was just ahead, so they both sprang up and sprinted for it, not bothering to look back.
When they heard the clanking of their metal boots on rock a wave of relief came over them, but they still dove into the cave just in case. Valerie’s eyes scanned the small area for the figure they hoped would be Lolack. A green light shone first, then they heard some sort of alien plasma gun charging, and out he stepped. There was no question—this was Admiral Lolack. He was tall; an orange-skinned Lavkin like the others here, but aged and battle-hardened, as evidenced by the look in his eyes.
“You have until I pull the trigger to tell me who you are and what you’re doing here,” he said, stepping forward so they could see him better.
“We’re in need of the Lost Fleet,” Valerie said.
“The Lost…” He chuckled. “You do realize it had a name before it was the Lost Fleet, right? I think what you mean is you’re looking for Lolack’s Fleet. Well, you’ve found Lolack—that’s me. But as you can see, I have no fleet.”
“And if we told you we not only know where your fleet is—or a good portion of it—but that your galaxy needs you?”
“I’m done with all that. I’m a simple farmer now.”
Valerie frowned, glancing around as if she had missed something. “A farmer?”
“The sand snakes, yes.” He blushed. “I’ve been doing research, and it turns out their droppings are quite fertile. They can be used for growing food… Other plants too. They’ll change this whole planet.”
“You’re kidding,” Robin protested. “You don’t want to help save the universe because you’re busy harvesting snake shit?”
He scowled at her. “What could be so dangerous out there anyhow? You two can handle it, I’m sure. You managed to survive down here, and to find me.”
“There’s an AI called Aranaught,” Valerie started, watching as his face contorted at that pronouncement. “Not only is she after the fleet, she means to take on the whole galaxy, and then the universe.”
“Some imagination you kids have,” Lolack growled. “And I’m supposed to believe all this? We disbanded the fleet, okay? I gave all that up.”
“Arlay is with us. She says she knows you.”
His scowl instantly faded at that name, and he lowered his gun. “Arlay? She’s here?”
“Not far away, actually. With the ship. She wasn’t sure if you’d remember—”
“Of course I do.” He holstered the gun, then nodded firmly. “Take me to her. Now.”
Valerie and Robin glanced at each other, pleased with how that went, but then remembered the danger outside.
“And the snakes?” Valerie asked.
Lolack grinned and turned to the vehicle he had driven on the way in. When he kicked it the machine turned on, sputtering and vibrating and emitting an eerie red glow from the bottom.
“The vibrations make the snakes think I’m one of them,” he said proudly. “Best way to ride around out there and enjoy their beauty.”
“Oh, God,” Robin protested. “You’re as crazy as Val.”
He laughed. “We’ll see about that. But if Arlay isn’t really with you and this is all a trick, I can be very nasty.”
“It’s not a trick,” Valerie said. “And we’re very aware of your reputation. That’s why we’re here, remember?”
He humphed, then slid into the driver’s seat and waited while Valerie and Robin arranged themselves in the back. In a way it felt like a floating stage, or like a chariot without wheels or a horse.
“Ready?” Lolack asked. “Point me in the right direction and we’ll be there in no time. This baby really moves.”
They said they were, and he maneuvered the machine back out of the cave and into the field of sand snakes. Before there had been a few, but now they were everywhere, jumping through the sky and wriggling along the ground. How Robin couldn’t see the beauty in them was beyond Valerie.
Lolack glanced back and Valerie pointed, so he pushed the machine in the direction indicated, tearing past the alien reptiles. They were finally on their way back to the Grandeur.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
A cool wind blew across the water, chilling Kalan’s skin as he made his way along the metal walkways between the various ships and the island.
He and Wearl were exploring, hoping to walk the entire length of the walkways. It had occurred to him that he hadn’t spent much time anywhere except Flamebird and the island in his time on Rewot. When the Wandarby came he didn’t want to be caught in a chase and have no idea where he was going, so they walked.
As they did, Kalan found his mind going to the Shimmers and their culture. Despite spending his first eighteen years among them, he really didn’t know that much about how they lived. “Tell me about the Shimmers, Wearl.”
She made a strange humming noise he took to be pensive. “What do you want to know?”
“Anything. What do you beings do when you’re not guarding prisoners on SEDE or fighting for Valerie’s Elites? What’s your home planet like? Do you have sports? Religion? Holidays?”
“I’ll answer that last one first,” she said. “Our most important holiday is Urggle’s Day.” She made a strange gurgling sound as she said it.
“I’m sorry, ‘Urggle’s Day?’”
She chuckled. “Close enough. Urggle’s Day takes place in the darkest time of the year, a time when we only have light for about hour a day, but we spend the rest of the year preparing for it. Each Shimmer is expected to bring a gift of great worth. For some, that means they save money all year so they can buy a piece of jewelry or an electronic device for the holiday. Others spend all year creating something. They may build something with their own two hands, or pay an artist to create something. What matters is that the person sees the gift as having great value.”
“And then you give that to someone?” Kalan guessed. “Your parent, maybe?”
“Not exactly. On the evening of Urggle’s Day, all the Shimmers come to the center of town and sing Urggle’s Day songs and tell tales of Urggle’s heroics. Then we find a stranger, someone we’ve never seen before, and present them with our gift. It is meant to remind us that the sacrifices we make for Shimmers we’ve never met are just as important as the ones we make for our families.”
They reached another ship, Havertt’s Son, and turned left onto another metal walkway.
“Wow, Wearl. That’s actually really sweet. I guess Shimmers have a soft side after all.”
“Perhaps we do,” she admitted.
“Who was Urggle, anyway?”
Wea
rl sounded even more excited when she spoke again. “Oh, she’s much more than just the basis for the holiday. Her most famous deed is the bloodletting of Gavun, of course. She and her army dismembered an entire city in a single afternoon. Remarkable stuff!”
“Er, yeah, remarkable,” Kalan said, shaking his head. That sounded more like the Shimmers he was familiar with. “One more question. What exactly do you look like?”
He felt a bit awkward asking the question, especially after having traveled with her for nearly two months now. It felt like something he should have asked long ago.
“Hmm, it’s difficult to put into words,” she answered. “Technically things look like how you perceive them with your eyes, so I guess I look like nothing. At least to the eyes of most beings in the galaxy. There is a way you could see me, though.”
He tilted his head. “Really? Like the way you reprogrammed my translation chip to be able to hear you?”
“Sort of. This procedure would be a little more invasive. I’d have to pluck out your eyes and replace them with specially-programmed cybernetic ones. I figured we should at least discuss it before I took that step.”
Kalan’s eyes widened. “I think I’ll pass on that one for now.”
“I thought as much.” She sighed. “There is one other way to see me though. With your hands.”
He considered that for a moment. In their time together he’d brushed against Wearl plenty of times, but he’d never really touched her, at least not purposely.
“All right.” He stopped walking and turned to face her.
Something warm grabbed his hand and raised it.
And then his fingers brushed against skin. It was soft, but oddly ridged. He moved his hand a little and realized he was touching her face. He felt her ridged cheeks. The hard ridge of her nose. Soft lips. His fingers lingered over those for a moment.
Wearl tensed suddenly. “What is that? Behind you.”
Kalan pulled his hand away and turned. A figure had climbed out of the water and onto the walkway. “What the hell?”
He marched toward the figure, who had his back to him.
“Hey,” Kalan called. “What are you doing?”
The being turned, and Kalan was surprised to see it was Commander Larence.
Larence seemed positively shocked to see Kalan and gave him a long look, as if appraising him for the first time.
“I didn’t expect to see you out here,” Kalan said. “Why were you in the water?”
Larence grinned sheepishly. “Don’t tell anyone, but I fell in. My mind was elsewhere, and I slipped. Tumbled over the railing.”
“That’s a lie,” Wearl growled, “and a lame one, too.”
Kalan agreed with her assessment, but since Larence couldn’t hear Wearl he decided to play it cool a little longer. He had a theory he wanted to check. “Oh wow, that’s crazy. I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Me too,” Larence chuckled. “I’m more embarrassed than anything. Like I said, I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t spread it around.”
“Of course not,” Kalan agreed. His eyes fixed on a single strand of the man’s hair, and then he saw it: the hair flickered. Kalan resisted the urge to grab the commander by the throat. “That was some boat ride we went on earlier. I can’t believe we didn’t capsize.”
Larence laughed nervously. “Same here. That was crazy.”
Kalan smiled. “Here’s the thing, ‘Larence…’ We didn’t go on a boat ride earlier. I know you’re a Pallicon.”
The false commander shook his head. “That’s not true. Where would you even get an idea like that?”
“I’ve heard that if you inflict enough pain on a Pallicon, it reverts to its true form. Your kind can’t help it—it’s like a reflex or something. Shall we put the theory to the test?”
The creature glared at him for a moment, then shifted to his Pallicon form.
Kalan grabbed his arm. “How many more of you are down here?”
“Hundreds,” he said defiantly. “We’ve infiltrated your entire fleet.”
“He’s alone,” Wearl observed. “If he weren’t, he’d be trying to protect his friends by saying he was alone.”
“I agree with that assessment,” Kalan said.
The Pallicon blinked hard. “Who are you talking to?”
Kalan ignored the question. “Come with me. I’m going to introduce you to the leaders of this squadron, and we’re going to have a little chat.”
***
The enemy Pallicon sat in a chair, surrounded by Mej, Lien, and Kalan. They hadn’t tied him down, and they didn’t need to. Mej and Lien could be intimidating presences when they wanted to be, and right now they definitely did.
“Let’s start with something simple,” Mej ordered, her voice cold. “Tell us your name.”
The Pallicon said nothing.
Mej kept her eyes fixed on him. “Kalan, would you mind removing one of his fingers?”
“Irem,” the Pallicon said quickly. “My name is Irem.”
“See, that wasn’t so difficult,” Mej said with a smile. “The form you took… Where did you see it?”
It was a good question. In order to copy Commander Larence’s form so accurately, the Pallicon would have needed to see him up close.
“Footage from one of our transports during the most recent attack. A camera caught him on top of a ship, fighting our troops. He looked important.”
That must have been when Kalan had been down on the observation deck helping Jilla prepare to infiltrate the Wandarby cult, Kalan realized.
Still, it had been a stupid move on Irem’s part. The beauty of the Lavkins’ way of life was that they were so close to everyone around them, it would be almost impossible for a Pallicon to replace one of their people without being noticed.
“Why did you come?” Mej asked.
The Pallicon nodded toward Kalan. “He dragged me here.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Lien growled. “You know what she means.”
Irem hesitated, so Kalan leaned forward and started inspecting his fingers as if selecting one to remove.
The Pallicon pulled his fingers away and nodded toward Kalan. “I was sent to validate his existence.”
Mej and Kalan exchanged a glance. That didn’t make much sense.
“Why?” Mej asked. “Your people saw him during the attack, did they not?”
Irem’s lips tightened into a thin line.
“Fingers,” Kalan said in a sing-song voice.
“The local temple saw him,” Irem said, “but I work for the High Priest.”
“You’re going to have to explain that,” Lien ordered.
Irem sighed and looked at them like they were idiots. “The Wandarby Church of Truth is divided into temples. Each temple has a warship and a squadron of fighters and each reports to the High Priest, the ultimate authority among the Wandarby. Your local temple became fixated on the Lavkins, and the idea that you were hiding Bandians in your midst. The rest of us were skeptical, so when they contacted the High Priest to report they’d seen one of you and request the military support of the whole church, he didn’t believe them. He sent me to check the rumor out.”
Kalan thought about that for a moment. If the majority of the Wandarby cult didn’t believe he was here, they could use that to their advantage. Perhaps they could find a way to convince this High Priest that the local temple was crazy.
“Let me ask you something,” Kalan said to the Pallicon. “Why do you hate Bandians so much? Did my grandmother trip your grandmother going down the stairs or something?”
Irem let out a humorless laugh. “As if you didn’t know.”
“Humor me,” Kalan ordered.
“Fine.” Irem leaned forward, glaring at Kalan. “The sacred texts tell of a time when the universe was young. All peoples lived in peace back then. The Pallicons. The Skulla. Countless others. Even the Lavkins. We all helped one another, and sought to advance our societies. Space travel was new then, and we freel
y shared our scientific discoveries. We believed that a win for one species was a win for all. Then we discovered a new planet—the home of the Bandians.”
Kalan tilted his head at that. Was there really such a planet? Was it possible there were still Bandians living there today?
Irem continued, warming up to his story now. “At first the Bandians seemed friendly enough. They weren’t as advanced, of course, and they were as dim-witted then as they are today, but they were skilled at hiding their evil intentions. There was one female among the Pallicon who had a vision. Her name was Wandarb, and she saw the truth: the Bandians were destined to smother all light in the universe. At first everyone thought she was crazy, but her words soon proved prophetic.”
“That so?” Kalan asked. “Funny, it seems like there’s still light in the universe to me.”
Irem frowned. “For now. Thanks to the few who are brave enough to defend it.”
“Like you?”
The Pallicon didn’t answer. Instead, he went back to his tale. “The Bandians were eager to learn, despite their natural stupidity. It turned out they were as determined as they were dumb. They worked hard to grasp the concepts behind spaceship design, and studied the sciences better races had brought to their world until they had mastered them. When they had learned all they could, they killed every alien being on their planet. From there they spread out, and their intentions became clear. They wished to be the only species left, at which time they would even kill themselves. They wish to see all life in the universe snuffed out permanently.”
Kalan chuckled. “Tell me something, Irem… If the Bandians are so big and evil, why are there so few of us left?”
Irem smiled in response to that. “Because of the bravery of the followers of Wandarb. We’ve given up everything to see your kind die, and soon you will join your dead kin.”
Mej leaned forward. “So now the High Priest wants confirmation. Once that happens, he’ll call in the other Wandarby temples and their warships?”
“You misunderstand,” Irem said with a grin. “The temples have already gathered. They are in orbit above Rewot now. When the High Priest has confirmation, he will order the attack. And, having seen your little setup here on the water, I feel comfortable saying it will not be a long battle. You will be crushed until all that’s left is the dust of your bones. Your only chance is to hand over the Bandian and beg for mercy.”
