by C H Gideon
She also hoped it would come soon.
“My master will strike you down if my brother does not,” she threatened. “He will not allow such indignities to go unpunished.”
San Roche raised a curious eyebrow at her statement.
“Your master?” Geroux prodded, hoping to get more information.
“Phraim-‘Eh will bring his vengeance down upon you,” she said. “I know who you are, and my master will reward me greatly for bringing you to him.”
Hearing the female implicate herself in the schemes of Phraim-‘Eh and his cult so openly made Geroux sick.
That meant that the aliens down there in the church were working for Phraim-‘Eh, too. Asya and Ka’nak were in serious trouble.
Geroux swallowed hard at the thought.
She turned away from Aht Gow and stared at the console in front of her. Her fingers danced across the keypad as she widened her scans of the area, looking for something—anything—to steer her in the right direction.
She didn’t find a clue, but she did find something else.
Geroux groaned as the scanners picked up the same type of signal emanating from the church as had been streaming from the estate where she found Aht Gow.
“Damn it,” she muttered.
Distracted by the thought of confronting the enemy who’d captured Asya and Ka’nak, Geroux hadn’t thought to look for a signal beamed into space. She’d believed the one Aht Gow had sent to be a one-time thing, her reaching out to her contacts, these strange aliens; she hadn’t expected to find the same thing here.
But there it was.
She leaned closer to the screen to examine the data flowing across it and, while she couldn’t interpret the information being sent spaceward, it was clear it was some kind of communication beam, just like the other beam had been.
This one, however, didn’t have the same urgency as the other. It seemed more stationary, continuous rather than the short burst of the message Aht Gow had sent to her people.
It also appeared to be emanating from the mountain as opposed to the church. Or rather, from within the mountain, but there was some sort of interference that kept her from pinpointing its source exactly.
“What is this place?” she asked Aht Gow.
“It is the temple to our god, Phraim-‘Eh,” she snarled. “A sacred place of worship, where those of us who believe mingle with others of similar bent.”
“Bent?” Geroux asked. “More like twisted and snapped.”
“Make fun as you will, heathen, but Phraim-‘Eh will have his revenge, and you will regret such heresy.”
“I regret a lot of things,” Geroux told her. “The first of which is not letting San Roche here gag you.”
“Jora’nal and the Voice of Phraim-‘Eh will hunt you down and teach you the error of your ways,” Aht Gow threatened. “My lord will know of what you have done, and they will come for you.”
Geroux had heard enough.
She hopped up and went over to the emperor’s sister, tearing a strip from the female’s shawl. Then she wound the piece up and wrapped it around her head, effectively gagging Aht Gow.
The emperor’s sister chewed and gnawed at the makeshift gag, trying to dislodge it, but it kept her complaints to a minimum.
She went on growling and threatening, but Geroux couldn’t make out what she was saying, and that was good enough.
“What are we going to do?” San Roche asked.
Geroux still wasn’t sure. She thought to blast the alien ship, but given the readings from the scanners, she couldn’t be sure that the Pod had the power to take it out before it returned fire.
She didn’t know if the Pod could withstand an attack either, since opening fire would reveal their location to the enemy.
She also couldn’t be sure that the aliens wouldn’t hurt Asya and Ka’nak in response to whatever she did.
Geroux stared at the church, letting her mind run through the problem in search of a conclusion that didn’t put them all at risk.
She didn’t have time to find one before the enemy forced her hand.
“Someone’s coming out of the church,” San Roche reported, pointing at the viewscreen.
Geroux hissed and followed his finger.
Asya and Ka’nak marched out of the stone building. Behind them, the cultist stomped and the aliens floated, all of them joining the group of five who had lingered outside.
“That’s a lot of bad guys,” Geroux muttered under her breath.
As badly as she didn’t want to face off with eight of the enemy, they had forced her hand by leaving the church. The group was headed toward the alien ship, and if they reached it, there would be nothing Geroux could do to rescue her friends.
“Damn it,” she growled, grabbing the emperor’s sister and hauling her to her feet.
The Muultu snarled and frothed, but Geroux couldn’t understand a word.
“Drop me off here, then get back into the air to provide cover,” Geroux ordered. “I want you to be ready to shoot these guys down. Whatever happens, don’t let them get into that ship, understand?”
San Roche grunted. “I’ll do my best,” he said as he dropped the Pod behind a nearby rise and let Geroux and her prisoner out, unseen by the enemy.
Not more than a few seconds later, the hatch closed and the cloaked Pod disappeared from view again. A waft of air washed over her, and Geroux started off around the hill, knowing that San Roche had moved the Pod into place as she’d ordered.
Geroux drew a deep breath and triggered her personal cloaking device, extending it to envelop Aht Gow.
Effectively invisible now, Geroux hurried around the rise, dragging the emperor’s sister along with her. Although she hadn’t wanted to, she felt it best to give the appearance of being threatening, so she pulled her pistol out and pressed it to the female’s side.
It wasn’t much of a threat while she was cloaked, but she wanted to get used to the idea of holding a hostage at gunpoint. She needed to look comfortable once she uncloaked if she was going to pressure the cultists and their alien allies into complying.
As she stepped into the path of the enemy and her captive friends, she contemplated remaining cloaked and risking an attack on them, hoping the element of surprise would overcome the deficit in her fighting ability.
She never got the chance to try.
The aliens stopped abruptly when she arrived.
“There is another here,” the first of the alien energy forms stated, an electrical tendril twitching in her direction.
There was a sudden wash of energy, and Geroux’s system reported that her cloak had failed.
She cursed when she realized she was now visible to everyone. Aht Gow took in a breath of the harsh, unfiltered air of Muultar and started to cough.
The cultists raised their weapons and pointed them at her, the yawning mouths of their barrels staring her down.
She swallowed hard and let out a threatening growl as she jabbed the gun into Aht Gow’s ribs harder. “Lower your weapons or the emperor’s sister gets it.”
Asya’s eyes went wide at seeing her, and the captain gave her a ‘what the hell” look. Geroux shrugged. She went to activate the mental link to explain, but Asya rushed forward and stood between her and the cultists and alien.
“Don’t shoot, Geroux,” Asya told her, pulling the emperor’s sister out of her hands before anything could happen to her. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
Geroux sighed as the cultists lowered their weapons and came to stand around her, the aliens hovering.
“No shit?”
“No shit,” Asya assured.
“That’s good,” Geroux told her. “I didn’t have anything planned after this part anyway.”
Reynolds no longer stood upon the bridge of the Reynolds. The acrid stink of smoke and burnt electronics assailed his nose, and he glanced about to take stock of his situation.
I can’t be aboard their superdreadnought since we killed that one, he thoug
ht, confusion gripping him. And it’s on the other side of the system.
That in and of itself was amazing.
The aliens had transported them directly to this ship in the blink of an eye.
Reynolds hadn’t figured out their method of interacting with the world yet, but it was clear they operated on a level above any other species he had ever encountered.
That sent a metaphorical chill down his android spine.
“How do you do that?” he asked.
If he could get his hands on the technology to transport himself and the crew through space with a thought, there would be so much he could accomplish in his mission.
The ability to bring the dead back to life would be a nice trick, too.
“As you have your secrets, so do we,” Xyxl stated, and though Reynolds couldn’t see it, he was sure the alien was smiling.
Reynolds sighed and glanced around the ship, hoping to learn all he could about the alien creatures and their technology. “I thought we destroyed this ship.”
“That superdreadnought, alas, was destroyed. This one was behind it at some distance, unobserved by your sensors. It weathered some damage thanks to the cone of destruction from whatever you call that weapon of yours. We’ve never seen its equal.”
“We call it, ‘Eat Shit and Die,’ or ESD for short.” Saying it out loud in calm company made it sound less profound.
“Quaint, but one cannot argue its effectiveness,” the alien allowed.
Dozens more of the creatures roamed the bridge, seemingly without direction. Nothing made sense aboard the craft. Where Reynolds would normally see controls and the various stations that made up most starships, there were no identifiable instruments or controls.
Everything was…alien.
“You call yourselves Gulg?” Reynolds asked, tired of thinking of the creatures as “aliens.”
“The closest translation of our name in your language would be ‘the Gulg,’” Xyxl answered.
“And in your language?”
Xyxl emitted a grating, high-pitch shriek that hurt even his android ears before his systems adjusted to the aural assault that went on for several long seconds.
The Gulg seemed to shrug once it was done. “We find it easier to simply let the translation devices of those species we cross fill in a substitute for our name since it often doesn’t translate well.”
“I’m noticing,” Reynolds complained, shaking his head to make the lingering noise go away.
He stopped as soon as he realized he was doing it.
Too much time spent around the crew, he thought. I’m starting to take on their damn twitchy habits.
Xyxl stared at Reynolds for a moment, then his energies shifted and he took on the general form of a humanoid, similar in appearance to Reynolds’ android body. The alien had a face and features Reynolds could now identify, although the flesh of the Gulg was still transparent, its electrical impulses storming through its differently shaped body much the same as it had the other shape.
“That’s…interesting,” Reynolds muttered.
“We also find it easier to mimic the form of the species we are relating to in order to make ourselves more familiar,” Xyxl said. “Does it help?”
“It’s disconcerting, to be honest,” Reynolds answered, “but whatever works for you. Humans are what I know best, but I’m not programmed to be negatively impacted by any difference in appearance.”
Xyxl nodded, and although Reynolds appreciated the familiar response, he knew better than to let himself be lulled into a more accepting state by it.
No matter what the Gulg looked like, they were still alien, and could easily be attempting to manipulate him with their familiarity.
“So, can I ask why you brought me here?” Reynolds asked, deciding it was best to get down to business. “My crew will be wondering where I am.”
“Our ships will lead them here,” Xyxl told him. “Until then, we believed it optimal that we speak with you alone since you were the sole representative of the human Federation.”
“My crew can be trusted,” he answered.
“Perhaps, but it is our understanding that human commanders prefer to be given their intelligence privately, allowing them to disburse it as necessary among their crew.”
“That’s true,” Reynolds replied, “but humans also find it to be an act of war to kidnap their superiors and transport them across the system into strange spacecraft.”
The Gulg paused as if he hadn’t thought of that.
“As I said earlier, there is much we have to learn about one another,” Xyxl said, chuckling.
“Well, how about we get down to it, then?” Reynolds pressed.
He had a feeling the crew would be worried about him, and he was afraid they’d do something stupid in an effort to get him back before things could be explained when they arrived.
“You said you thought we were Kurtherians when you attacked us,” Reynolds went on. “Why was that?”
“Well, not Kurtherians per se, but more their descendants,” Xyxl said.
“I’m not sure I understand,” Reynolds admitted.
“My people have been at war with the Kurtherians for several millennia, but we long ago chased them from our space,” the Gulg explained. “Or so we believed. As it turned out, we only succeeded in scattering them across the universe, causing them to dig in elsewhere to continue their expansion.”
“So, we have you to blame for them stumbling across Earth?” Reynolds snarled.
The alien shook its head. “No, that was not our doing. They happened upon you on their own. It had nothing to do with our efforts, although I don’t imagine that’s satisfying to know.”
Reynolds agreed that it wasn’t.
“So, these descendants?” He let the question hang, unsure what he was even asking.
“Those are the beings you encountered upon Muultar,” Xyxl went on.
“You’re saying Phraim-‘Eh and the others, the cultists, are not true Kurtherians?” Reynolds asked.
The alien shook its head. “No, they are not directly descended from the Kurtherians, but more that they have adopted their philosophy and attitudes, taking over where the Kurtherians left off and spreading their chaos across this galaxy.”
Reynolds didn’t know how to feel about that.
His mission had been to track and kill Kurtherians, and now he was being told that the assholes he’d believed to be Kurtherians really weren’t, yet they kind of were.
“Phraim-‘Eh and his people can be considered the next generation of the Kurtherian threat,” Xyxl told him as if he’d been reading his mind. “They have been equipped by the Kurtherians and made to believe in their mission, so they are just as much the enemy of humanity as the Kurtherians who came before.”
“Well, that makes me feel better. Sort of,” Reynolds said. “What do you know of Phraim-‘Eh?”
“He is a self-styled god who uses his powers to wage war across the universe,” the Gulg answered. “As one of the few of the new generation who have actually had contact with the Kurtherians, he believes it is his mission to wipe out and destroy those who choose the side of the Federation.”
“That explains his hard-on for me then,” Reynolds grumbled.
“I don’t understand your colloquialism, but I believe I understand the intent behind it,” Xyxl said. “We, too, have a hard-on for Phraim-‘Eh.”
Reynolds chuckled. “Probably best that you never say that again, just for future reference,” he told the alien. “But if I understand you correctly, you’re here to take out Phraim-‘Eh and his people, too?”
“We are,” Xyxl stated, “which is why we have infiltrated the cult on Muultar.”
“Wait! You have people on the planet right now?” Reynolds asked. “In the cult?”
Xyxl nodded. “We do indeed. We have infiltrated them at the highest ranks.”
“Oh…shit,” Reynolds mumbled. “I need to reach out to my people on Muultar before something bad happens
.”
Chapter Thirteen
Asya removed the gag from Aht Gow’s mouth and had started to untie her hands when the alien asked, “Why is she here?” it asked.
Asya paused, glancing over her shoulder at the alien, then back at the emperor’s sister. The female’s eyes nearly glowed with her fury, and she glared at the cultist who had given her the computer at the estate earlier.
“You…you…betrayer!” she shrieked. Despite being bound, Aht Gow tried her best to leap forward and attack the cultist. “I’ll kill you, Kul Hu. You have betrayed our lord!”
“I’m guessing she’s not one of your people?” Asya asked, realizing what was happening.
The cultist, Kul Hu, had the decency to look almost ashamed. He wouldn’t meet Aht Gow’s eyes.
“She is not, I’m afraid,” the cultist answered. “She is one of the true disciples of Phraim-‘Eh on this world; one of his most recent adherents.”
“Which means she didn’t know you had infiltrated them.” Asya sighed.
“She did not,” the alien confirmed. “At least, she didn’t until a moment ago.”
Asya groaned. “And here I was thinking we’d resolved all our problems.”
Geroux raised her hand as if she were in school. “Uh, I’m very confused. Care to explain what’s going on? I came here to swap hostages—the emperor’s sister for you. Now I have no idea what’s going on.”
“I’m not sure I do anymore either,” Asya admitted, returning the gag to Aht Gow’s mouth while the female snarled and hissed. “I don’t think we want to discuss it in front of her, though,” Asya said, gesturing to the emperor’s sister. “Let’s bring San Roche and the Pod down here and stuff her inside for now.”
Geroux groaned and started to argue, but Asya waved her off.
She gestured to the aliens. “Don’t worry, these guys can see the Pod the same way they saw you when you showed up,” Asya told her. “The only people who couldn’t see it were these guys.” She motioned to the fake cultists, who turned out to be husks of dead Muultu possessed by the energy of the alien beings to keep them from decaying, Asya explained.