The Syndicate's Journey

by Nicholas Bogucki

  “Yeah, uh... how would you get them there?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “Hmm...” J’uhleesa pondered on that question. He moved his left foot up and down and made an awful noise with his claws that hit the rocks. “I’m not sure. How did you get here?”

  “We flew here on a Drakdel.” Major General Reingle replied.

  “That’s exactly what I’ll do then too!” J’uhleesa smiled widely, which almost looked sinister, looking. “Or maybe not. I need to be the leader of here, first.”

  “Here? As in Snakardekus?” Major General Reingle asked.

  “Is that what you say this place is? Snakardekus?”

  “Yes, we do.” Major General Reingle asked, “Can we help you?”

  Major General Solbrig moved close to Major General Reingle and whispered, “Hey, uh...we’re not here for that. We’re here for one thing only, and that is to scan and take samples of Snakardekus and leave. We don’t want to get tied up into an intergalactic civil war now.”

  Major General Reingle tried to convince him. “Hey, if they need help, we should help them. We could learn a thing or two if we do. Who knows all that we could learn if we helped him with it?”

  “Who knows what we could have learned if we didn’t help him with it.” Major General Solbrig replied. “Look, I understand, I really do, but we shouldn’t get sucked up into this. It’s not our business.”

  J’uhleesa walked closer and placed each claw on their shoulders and spoke. “M’leezenah is our enemy. For years, ever since Snakardekus has been created, our planet has at war against other Snargde. The wars are passed on from generation to generation. This time there are only two leaders. M’leezenah and myself. A lot of Snargde here wants to stay out of the war, but all Snargde knows that whoever becomes the leader will rule over all Snargde, and they will have to listen and obey. I am destined to be the one true Snargde to rule over all Snargde. M’leezenah does not know what she wants.”

  J’uhleesa removed his claws from their shoulders and turned around and walked a few feet away. “You see, I have been gifted. We have something that will help us win this war, and she does not have it.”

  “Oh? What is it?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “I’ll show you.” J’uhleesa walked to where he once was lying down, and the Snargde moved out of his way. In a moment, he got down on all fours and ran towards the area and ran back to them, holding a blue square in his palms and showed it to the Major Generals.

  “This right here is how we will win the war,” J’uhleesa cheerfully spoke.

  “What is it?” Major General Reingle asked.

  “I call it the Azurad. I found this in another cave a few days ago...but it looked different. It was wet like.”

  Major General Reingle turned to look at Major General Solbrig then looked back at J’uhleesa. He continued speaking.

  “This is how we turned the color that we are. All of us are now blue. We weren’t like this before.”

  “Wow. That is amazing.” Major General Reingle asked. “Did it do anything else to you?”

  “Well, I did not think so at first, but I found out that it cools our bodies from the sun.”

  “Are you serious?” Major General Solbrig inquired. “That is astonishing! You don’t feel the heat of the sun at all?”

  “Nope. we don’t feel the heat from it at all.”

  Major General Solbrig looked at Major General Reingle and nodded. Major General Reingle slowly moved his hand and opened his INH and scanned the object without them noticing.

  “How will this help you from M’leezenah?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “I’m not entirely sure just yet, but I know it is useful. This is the redemption we have been looking for! I have never seen anything like it before...have you?”

  The Major Generals shook their heads. “Nope, not at all.” Major General Reingle replied.

  “I have done some studies on it, and it changes forms from the sun. I have been successful in keeping it in one form.” J’uhlessa admitted.

  “What do you mean by that?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “Well, when we found it, it was slippery and wet. It was actually inside of a cave here making an awful noise.” J’uhleesa explained. “We were able to cover all of us in it and still have more left. Look around you. Every Snargde here is the same color.”

  Major Generals Reingle and Solbrig hadn’t noticed the color of the Snargde before until now. They turned their heads and looked upon the Snargde on their four legs looking right back at them. Their skin color was exactly like how J’uhleesa’s was.

  “What exactly are you planning on doing with the Azurad, now?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “Well... we are trying to figure out when to safely attack M’leezenah and her followers.”

  “Oh? When will you be ready?” Major General Reingle asked.

  “Well, we wanted something to give us an advantage, and I think the Azurad is just that.”

  “What do you plan on doing with it?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “I do not know yet.” J’uhleesa looked down at the Azurad then looked at the Major Generals. “What do you think about it?” He held out his hands. “Go ahead. See what you can figure out.”

  “A-are, you sure?”

  “I’ll grab it.” Major General Solbrig reached out with his left arm and held it.

  “What do you think?” J’uhleesa asked.

  “Hm.” Major General Solbrig squeezed the Azurad, and it did not budge. “Hm. Strange.” He held it and rotated his hand upside down and let the Azurad hang from his fingertips. “Have you dropped it yet?”

  “No, I have not,” J’uhleesa admitted.

  Major General Solbrig let go of the Azurad and dropped it on the rocky ground, and it bounced once, twice, and then instantly stopped bouncing. J’uhleesa watched intently as Major General Solbrig bent down and picked it up. “You said it changes in the heat? What exactly does it do?”

  “It turns into liquid.”

  “Hm.” He moved his hand, holding the Azurad to Major General Reingle. “What do you think?”

  “I’m not entirely sure. J’uhleesa, have you used it near a fire?”

  “Fire? What is that?”

  “Well... it is hot as the sun but close by.” Major General Reingle tried to explain. “I-I don’t know how else to explain it.”

  “Well, I wonder if we can start a fire?”

  “How, Solbrig?”

  Major General Solbrig looked at him, then moved his arm and pressed the button underneath his shoulder, and his forearm compartment opened. He grabbed an HPD from his arm and closed it.

  “I thought you said you didn’t know where the guns went?” Major General Reingle asked, annoyed.

  “I’ll talk to you later about this...for now, let’s see something. J’uhleesa would you stand back?”

  J’uhleesa nodded and took a few steps backward, and he hissed something in a foreign language that the Major Generals could not decipher.

  “Okay, so this gun right here is a High-Frequency Pulse-Gun Disintegrator, and this can do a lot of things, but I wonder if I can somehow shoot at the Azurad and change its form.”

  “What will happen to it?” asked J’uhleesa.

  “I do not know.” Major General “I am hoping something happens.”

  “Uh...are you sure that’s a good idea, Solbrig?”

  “No, I’m not sure, but we won’t know unless we find out.”

  J’uhleesa nodded and spoke. “Go on.”

  Major General Solbrig turned to his left and spoke, “Stand back, Reingle.” They moved back, and he bent down and placed the Azurad on the ground, and then he stood up and aimed the HPD at the Azurad and fired at it. The HPD emitted a ray of flashing light at the Azurad. The light was intense that the Snargde closed their eyes and moved their heads. Major Generals Reingle and Solbrig were able to look at it and watched the Azurad suck up the blast and stayed in its place unharmed. The
light was gone, and everything was like it was just before.

  “Anything happen to it?” asked J’uhleesa.

  “Well, when I shot the gun at it...the Azuard seemed to suck it up... I-I don’t know why that is.”

  “I don’t know, Solbrig.. the HPD should have disintegrated it...”

  “I thought the same."

  “What now?” asked J’uhlessa. “Did it set fire to it?”

  “Well, no J’uhleesa, not at all...”

  “Why did you do it then?” J’uhleesa asked, defensively.

  “I thought it would do something...you asked me to do my own tests.”

  J’uhleesa stepped forward and picked it up and held it in his hands. “It is warm.”

  “Warm? I thought you couldn’t feel the heat with the Azurad?” Major General Reingle asked.

  “I guess I can now...” J’uhleesa asked. “Why?”

  “Maybe the Azurad absorbed the energy?” Major General Reingle asked.

  “That could be possible.” Major General Solbrig agreed. “Harnessing the energy somehow?”

  “Yeah, maybe. It could be the reason why it is warm.”

  “Wait one second, J’uhleesa, don’t squeeze it!” Major General Solbrig shouted. “The energy will be released!”

  “You think so?” asked J’uhleesa. “Is that bad?”

  “Well, it could be.” Major General Reingle replied. “If you do squeeze it, point it away from us.”

  “What do you mean?” J’uhleesa asked.

  “Well, if the Azurad is holding that energy from the HPD… we think if you were to squeeze it, the blast would release and hit something.” Major General Solbrig explained.

  “Oh? Should I try it out?” he asked.

  “Aim it away from us, though!” Major General Reingle exclaimed.

  “Alright.” J’uhleesa held the Azurad in his claws and hissed something incomprehensible again, and the Snargde moved away from the direction he was facing. J’uhleesa held the Azurad in both hands and aimed at the wall. He then squeezed it in his palms, and a blast of light beamed out from the cube at the wall and rocks tumbled down and shot everywhere. An opening appeared, and a faint blue light flickered on the other side.

  “So, it actually worked...” Major General Reingle uttered.

  “It appears to be so.” Major General Solbrig nodded.

  “What is that?” J’uhleesa pointed at the light across from them.

  “No clue.”

  “Should we see what it is?” Major General Reingle asked.

  “Yes. Follow me.” J’uhleesa spoke, and the Major Generals followed him, and the Snargde followed closely behind. They walked to the opening and noticed that the light was glistening. Major General Reingle walked closer to Major General Solbrig and spoke.

  “Solbrig..that looks like a lot of Azurad.”

  He nodded in agreement. “It does, you’re right. What do you think, J’uhleesa?”

  “There is a lot of Azurad here. Why is there no sound?” J’uhleesa asked and looked around the area filled with Azurad. “There is enough to supply our need here.”

  “Sound?” asked Major General Reingle.

  “Yes. When we found this Azuard inside of the wall, it had a horrible noise. This does not.”

  “Hm. Maybe it was making a sound, but when the beam of light hit the wall, the sound stopped, maybe?” Major General Reingle

  “I don’t know. It did not happen like this before.”

  “How did the sound stop before?” asked Major General Solbrig

  “I cannot recall. I know when I touched it, the sound stopped slowly, but this is odd.”

  “Maybe there are different types of it?” asked Major General Solbrig

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” Major General Reingle admitted. “Depending on how thick that wall was could be an insulator of sound, Solbrig.”

  “That could be true.” J’uhleesa agreed. “Doesn’t convince me, but you were right before about the Azurad, so maybe you are right now.”

  He looked behind and saw the Snargde on all fours with their heads down. “My fellow Snargde! These two, Solbrig and Reingle, have helped us. They are to be regarded as allies.” The Major Generals smiled at the Snargde as J’uhleesa spoke.

  “Glad we can help!” Major General Reingle cheered.

  Major General Solbrig looked at the Azurad then at J’uhleesa. “Do you think we could take some of this back with us?”

  “I don’t see why I couldn’t let you have a little bit of it…after all, there is a lot here.” J’uhleesa stopped talking and was in deep thought as he gazed into the Azurad. The Azuard made his eyes shimmer. The Major Generals were quiet and awaiting him to finish his sentence. “Do you think you can use your thing on this?”

  “The HPD? What for?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “I want to move it out of here.”

  “Well, it isn’t solid like your Azurad, there in your hand.” Major General Reingle noted.

  “We need to move it, to make it solid!” shouted J’uhleesa. “That is how I was able to make the Azurad like this.”

  “How do you propose we do that?” Major General Reingle asked.

  “It would take a long time for my Snargde to carry it out,” J’uhleesa stated.

  “Well, I do have an idea; we could use the Azuard to blow up these walls.” Major General Solbrig mentioned.

  J’uhleesa moved his hands together and back and forth, then he moved them upwards and said, “Boom.”

  “That would take too long, Solbrig, and what if it caves in on us?”

  “What if we were to shoot at the Azuard here?” Major General Solbrig continued, “What if we were to shoot at it multiple times…maybe it would blow up, causing the cave to collapse on itself?”

  “That might work, sure. What do you think, J’uhleesa?”

  J’uhleesa’s smile turned into a wide grin as he peered into the Azuard, listening to them plan, and he nodded. “Yes. Do that.”

  Major General Solbrig looked down at the HPD still in his hand then looked at the Azuard. He moved his right hand to his left shoulder and pressed the button to open his forearm compartment. He then moved his left arm to Major General Reingle and nodded to him as he reached in and grabbed the HPD from his arm, then Major General Solbrig closed it.

  “There’s only one way to find out.” Major General Solbrig stated.

  “Oh, really?’

  “We are going to shoot at this and make it explode like the Azuard in your hand.” Major General Solbrig continued, “That is if you still want that…”

  “Absolutely!” J’uhleesa smiled widely, “We need more Azuard!”

  “What’s the plan, Solbrig?”

  “Well... I would recommend that all of you leave the cave.”

  “Why? I’m sure we can help somehow.” J’uhleesa asked.

  “I’m not sure that you can.” Major General Solbrig spoke.

  “There must be a way to help...This cave is going to explode.”

  “Yes.” Major General Reingle looked at Major General Solbrig. “Yes, it is, and we probably won’t make it out in time.”

  “Nonsense. I will get two Snargde to help you out. You can climb on the Snargde’s backs and escape.”

  “That...may work after all.” Major General Solbrig agreed. “But what are we going to do after it is blown up?”

  “I guess we will have to figure it out then,” J’uhleesa stated. “I’m ready to see it.”

  “Are you sure?” Major General Reingle stammered. “There’s no turning back when we start.”

  “I am sure,” J’uhleesa agreed and turned around and pointed at two Snargde. “Come here and help them escape this cave.”

  “We appreciate it, but we had a hard time coming here by crawling through the cave and all... how are we supposed to get out while on their backs?” Major General Solbrig spoke.

  “We’ll take care of that. Just make the Azuard go explodes.” J’uhleesa smiled at them. “We’l
l meet you outside the cave and watch it together.”

  “Okay, if that’s what you want...” Major General Solbrig remarked.

  “See you soon, then.”

  J’uhleesa yelled something unintelligible. His tongue moved a lot outside of his mouth and looked as if it vibrated. He then got on all fours while holding the Azuard in his mouth and ran out of the area as fast as he could. The Snargde followed after him except for the two Snargde that were selected to be their rides. It was just the four of them standing in front of the Azuard.