Grumbles came from the expedition team, and Charles averted his eyes. He couldn’t look at them, knowing that some, if not all, would be dead by the end of the day.
The Origin chamber was huge, with smooth orange walls. The archaeologists surmised that at one time in history the room was used as a meeting hall, a place for the forces against Uklavar to meet and plan the war. There wasn’t a lot of places to hide besides some alcoves, and small inner chambers, not big enough to hide everyone.
Charles heard Hyta Winter clear her throat behind him, and he turned toward her. She sat in her wheelchair. Her frail eyes locked on his. Charles wished he could do something for her, but if he even tried to show her special treatment, she would slap him upside the head.
“Our one hope is Origin,” Hyta said.
“You heard it when we asked for it to stop Uklavar from escaping,” Charles said. “He won’t interfere, only record events.”
“Do you have a better idea?” Hyta asked. “Maybe it’s in the way you present yourself. Let Origin know we will die without his help.”
Charles rubbed his hands on his pants. Hyta stared at him, waiting for him to do something. She was right and even though he didn’t think it would do any good, he said, “You are Origin?”
I AM ORIGIN>
“You have been monitoring what is happening?” Charles asked.
MY FUNCTION IS TO OBSERVE AND RECORD> Origin replied.
“Then you know we will be under attack before too long, by creatures sent by Uklavar?”
Origin didn’t reply.
“We need your help.”
I AM TO OBSERVE AND RECORD, NEVER TO INTERFERE>
“You are Origin,” Hyta said.
I AM ORIGIN>
“Then you realize Uklavar isn’t coming merely for us, but to take control of your systems. He needs to know where his army is, and he’ll rip it from your memory core after we are all dead.”
ANY ATTEMPT WOULD BE FRUITLESS. MY SYSTEMS ARE IMPREGNABLE. NO ONE HAS EVER ATTEMPTED SUCH AN ACTION.>
“Can you take that chance?” Charles asked.
Someone in the expedition team released a gruesome scream. More confused shouts followed.
“Professor Long...!” a team member shouted from the entrance of the chamber. “There’s a hoard of creatures dropping from the sky. I can’t... can’t even describe what they look like...!”
Charles and Hyta shared a worried glance.
“Time’s up,” Hyta said.
“Alright... everyone in. Everyone in the chamber,” Charles shouted. “Help me get this door closed.”
“You are Origin,” Hyta asked.
I AM ORIGIN>
“Origin listen to me. If we die here, that’s one thing. But if your systems are compromised, you would have failed your primary function. Uklavar will do whatever it will take to get that information from you.”
“And even if he can’t,” Charles spoke up. “He will render you incapable of carrying out your prime directive.”
“Surely you have protocols that ensure your survival,” Hyta said.
Charles rejoined Hyta, agitated and with time running out he said, “Your creators activated you to record and maintain a history of the universe. If you are destroyed or altered in anyway, then you would have failed in that goal. You would have failed the universe.”
Origin didn’t reply.
Charles stared down on Hyta. “Now what?”
“Professor, Professor Long.”
Charles wheeled around to find a nervous, white-faced intern staring at him. “What is it?” he inquired.
Charles was led to where they had buried Azalum, the woman who awoke with Uklavar and was the horned beast’s jailer. She was part of an ancient race called the Cosmea and used the remainder of her power to battle Uklavar but failed in the attempt.
The Cosmea were spiritual leaders, teachers and protectors. When Uklavar rose to power it was Azalum who faced him alone after the rest of her kind sacrificed themselves to grant her enough power to face the creature.
Shortly after waking from her hibernated state, Azalum confronted Uklavar, but in her weakened condition, she was unable to prevent his arising. Her final resting place, a humble grave marked with a smooth stone had been reopened... from the inside, the soil blasted outward and her body, gone.
“We found it like this, Professor, after... after.”
Charles turned to the young team member, his eyes shimmered with worry, and discontent. “You found the grave after?”
The young man cleared his throat, and said, “After Azalum’s staff...” he swallowed and shoved an index finger toward the ceiling. “The staff shot from the ground like a rocket and went... out there.”
Charles followed the boys extended finger with a tilt of his head. A section of the ceiling had been blown away, where the staff had apparently gone. Charles scratched the back of his neck. What the hell...? “How did it...” he paused. If there was one thing Charles was sure of, the time for rational reasoning had gone when Uklavar escaped from his tomb.
Bashing at the chamber door drew Charles’ attention back to the main room. Whatever happened to Azalum’s body would make itself known sooner or later.
“Charles come quickly!” Hyta called. “The doors are caving – the creatures are coming.”
Charles looked at the frightened intern, said, “Find a place to hide. Keep quiet and you might make it through the day...”
Panic stricken like granite; the young man stared at Charles unmoving.
Charles grabbed the intern, shoved him and yelled, “Didn’t you hear what I said. RUN!”
Charles found the chamber door buckling when he returned to Hyta’s side. The snarls and high-pitched squeals of the banshee tore through the Origin chamber like something out of a nightmare. Their earsplitting squalls ripped behind the eyes – their relentless shrills scrambled the brain and made it hard to think.
“You are Origin?” Charles asked.
I AM ORIGIN>
“You have to stop them, or all will be lost and Uklavar wins.”
I AM FORBIDDEN TO INTERFERE, ONLY RECORD THE EVENTS OF THE UNIVERSE. I AM ORIGIN>
“It’s useless,” Hyta said. “There’s nothing we can do Charles.”
“I refuse to believe that,” Charles exclaimed.
Adding weight to his words, Charles said, “Origin, listen to me. From what we know of Uklavar, he will enslave and imprison what life remains in the universe. He destroyed everyone else in the war... in the defining war – the war you told us about. If all life is destroyed or enslaved, what will be left for you to record? Answer me that.”
LIFE RENEWS, LIFE SUSTAINS... I AM NOT PRIVY TO ITS EVOLUTION, I AM ORIGIN>
“You are Origin, and you are flawed,” Charles said turning to Hyta.
“It was worth a try,” Hyta said.
Charles eyed the chamber door. It was at the point of caving. The wall around its base crumbled and the metal of the door had turned super-white-hot. “I should have tried harder,” Charles said.
“You are Origin.” A familiar voice called out.
I AM ORIGIN> the super-computer replied.
Charles’ brow furrowed and he spun around to find his protégé Jonna Grace there. He pushed back the exultation and questioned, “Jonna?”
Jonna Grace brandished Azalum’s staff. She held it outright, its tip pulsated with a radiant blue light. She wore a long flowing white robe, its hood pulled over her head obscuring part of her face – her light chocolate hair flowed outside the cover. Striking the staff to the floor, she said, “I am Jonna of Cosmea. The wisdom of the ages resides in me. I am what has been, and I am, what will be. The power of my brethren sustains me. You are Origin?”
I AM ORIGIN>
“Your existence is in jeopardy – the knowledge of the ages at risk. You must protect yourself, and by doing so save those in attendance. You are Origin.”
I AM ORIGIN>
Jonna came forward, the staff clu
tched in both her hands; she held it away from her body and said in a commanding voice, “Then self-preservation is your goal. Do not evade your responsibility.”
The door to the chamber exploded inward and tumbled to the floor, the snarling beasts raged at its threshold. Like locust they ripped and tore their way into the Origin chamber – snarling, spewing and foaming at the mouth. Their rage unparalleled, their anger unchecked.
“Everyone...! Everyone to the base of Origin...!” Jonna commanded.
Charles snagged Hyta’s wheelchair in his fists and spun her around to find Da’Mira Tannador. Before Charles could ask what was going on, he stopped in mid-sentence, swallowed back his words and rolled Hyta to safety. The look on Da’Mira’s face said, ‘I’ll tell you everything – But now is not the time.’
At the base of the Origin computer, Charles grabbed Da’Mira by the arm and pulled her close to the old woman. “Stay with Hyta,” he said.
Da’Mira grabbed Charles’ arm and held tight. “You don’t have to go,” she said in distress.
Charles looked out among his panicked expedition members, and the unstoppable monsters raging toward them. He regarded Da’Mira and laid his hand on hers. Without words, she let go of his arm. He wanted to reach for her face, to touch her but pushed himself away, not looking back.
The shrieks of the uncontrollable creatures echoed throughout the chamber – they exuded a putrid stench reminiscent of rotting corpses. One of the gargoyle beasts loomed over several retreating archeologists, but before Charles could reach them, Colin McGregor appeared, splinter rifle in hand. He stood between the creature and the team members. He discharged the weapon, but the blasts had little effect against the advancing creature. Continuous blasts kept it at bay, pushing back and back, giving Charles time to move in and usher the frightened people to the safety of Origin.
“I can’t kill these fucking things!” Colin exclaimed. His splinter rifle fused and smoldered to a stop. He turned the weapon around and used it as a cudgel, striking this way and that – but the herculin animal tore the rifle from his hand and leapt forward.
Colin lost his footing and stumbled backward into Charles’ waiting arms. He shoved the Highlander forward, back to his feet. Both unprepared to meet their fate as the creature reared back its clawed hand to strike, to be met by the unyielding energy focused from Jonna’s magical staff.
The beast roared in indignation. It tore forward, but the exuding light cut into the beast like a sword into flesh. It shielded its face crying out, but Jonna moved forward, the power from her staff intensifying until the wild animal melted into a bubbling pool of flesh on the floor.
“Quickly, move closer to Origin!” Jonna exclaimed.
A winged insectoid dove from above, its shrieks tearing through the air, acid spewing from its mouth, its sights set on Jonna. The newly born necromancer allowed the winged beast to get just close enough before she caught the creature in a forcefield bubble, the beast tethered by a strand of energy as she tugged it along like a balloon.
“You are Origin?” Jonna asked.
I AM ORIGIN>
“You are the accumulated knowledge of the ages, you must survive, you must protect yourself. You are Origin.”
I AM ORIGIN>
A torrent of super condensed heat exploded from the center of Origin and cascaded outward. The insect creatures scrambled for the chamber door – their cries of despair ubiquitous but their desire for escape diminished once the energy force ripped through them. The wave sliced them up like discarded meat. Their death cries silenced, their writhing bodies jerking, the stench indescribable. The only insectoid to survive remained concealed in a forcefield at the end of Jonna’s staff.
For a long moment, the chamber was quiet with only the labored breaths of the expedition team filling the room. Charles scanned the downtrodden faces of his team. Without taking count, they all looked present. He didn’t want to think about casualties, he wasn’t prepared to confront the loss of friends and colleagues.
“Hyta...”
“I’m alright Charles,” Hyta replied.
Charles reached out for Da’Mira who touched him and moved into his arms. He drew a calming breath. For the moment everyone was safe. He grimaced, as he eyed the remaining insectoid creature, the chances of the peace continuing were slim.
The Planet Kepler 369, aka the Planet Shin’nor’ee
The Origin Chamber
October 11, 2442 – Earth time
Colin McGregor supervised the cleanup of the dead insectoid creatures. Instructing those under his supervision to make sure the remains were burned. He surmised burning what was left of the creatures was better than taking a chance they’d come back to life, though Charles Long told him that was unlikely, Colin replied, “So is a ten-foot-tall horned creature, yet we both know how that ended.”
The members of the expedition team remained in disarray. Shock had set in, and Colin understood their plight. These aren’t warriors, he told himself. They didn’t know what battle, despair and death were about in these circumstances. It will take time for them to realize, they will have to become fighters, if they are to survive.
Nine members of the expedition team were killed in the creature’s attack. Colin took it on himself to bury the fallen. Others in the group didn’t seem mentally prepared to conduct such a task. With each grave dug, with each body covered, Colin found the task more and more disheartening. He thought of his sister with each scoop of dirt tossed on the dead, wondering if she was alright, and hoping he wouldn’t have to morn her in the coming days.
With the last of the bodies buried, and the beasts burned, Colin turned his attention to the remaining creature from the attack. As long as it survived, the dead could not rest. Time to deal with that beasty.
The origin chamber was in disarray. Blood stained the floor, and the disgusting odor of the dead creatures still hung on the air.
The team members were trying their best to carry on with their work, though a lot of them weren’t really trying. Some were just sitting on the floor, the look of defeat burned in their eyes. Colin worried that, if this is mankind’s last hope, we are doomed before we begin.
Colin found the remaining creature still incased in a forcefield, though it was secured, it wasn’t guarded. Jonna, Da’Mira and Charles stood nearby but that didn’t deter Colin from speaking his mind. “Time to finish with the killing,” he said. “This beast's fowl stench turns my stomach.”
“We can’t kill it,” Charles said stepping between the creature and Colin.
“Sure we can. Just give me a few minutes and none of you will have to get blood on your hands,” Colin said.
Da’Mira joined Charles, and said, “You don’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand what we need to do. What I don’t understand is why you’re protecting it?” Colin said indignant.
Jonna came forward. She was different now. Though still young in appearance, her eyes told a different story. Darker and wiser, there was definitely a change in her. “We need to keep this creature alive for the time being,” she said. “Right now, trapped in my energy field, I am allowing the beast to believe it has successfully completed its mission, and that Origin was destroyed in the attempt. It has mentally relayed that information to Uklavar. If he believes Requiem has been destroyed and Origin is out of his reach, he won’t send anything else here to try again.”
“What makes you so damn confident?” Colin asked. “Yesterday you were a little girl trying to impress us with your scientific skill. Today, you’re what? A wizard?”
“Necromancer,” Jonna schooled Colin.
“I don’t understand,” Colin replied.
“I have to admit,” Charles said. “I don’t really know what’s going on either.”
Da’Mira nodded her confusion, too.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen to me,” Jonna confessed. “I wasn’t supposed to be gifted the millennial powers of the Cosmea. I wasn’t supposed to house their combined
knowledge of eight-thousand years. It was supposed to be you Da’Mira.”
“Me?”
“You are part of the bloodline. It was your ancestor who captained the COSMOS and was originally gifted the psychic powers of the first necromancer. The ship at the center of the planet...”
“Ship...?”
“Quiet, Charles,” Da’Mira said.
“COSMOS intended on bestowing the powers to you, Da’Mira. But when I was killed from the falling stalactite, it decided to gift them to me. I wasn’t supposed to die there, and it was the only way to save me.”
“You have Azalum’s memories?” Colin asked.
“Hers and many more. The memories I have, go far beyond recorded history. Only Origin’s knowledge surpasses mine. The ancient race, the Shon’mirah built Origin to scour the galaxy and record all things. The system continues to do so. Yet, Origin’s knowledge is limited to past events. He, like the rest of us are unaware of what’s to come.”
“Then we’ve won,” Colin said in triumph.
Charles’ brow furrowed, and he said, “How do you see that?”
“If Jonna has the power of the Cosmea, then she can fight Uklavar. It was the Cosmea who imprisoned him before, she can do it now.”
“If only that were true,” Jonna said defeated. “I might have their knowledge and power, but I am untrained. Fighting mindless insectoid creatures is one thing – and Origin did most of that. Fighting Uklavar is something altogether different.”
Colin grimaced and he said, “So we’re back to square one?”
“Maybe not,” Da’Mira said. “Right now, Uklavar thinks Origin is destroyed. That gives us the upper hand.”
“Maybe,” Colin said scratching his forehead. “But we still can’t fight him. He’s too powerful.”
“Yes,” Da’Mira said with a spark in her eyes. “But it gives us much needed time.”
“Time for what?” Charles asked.
“We’ve been here on this planet for months with the hope of finding a way to fight and defeat Uklavar. The discovery of the COSMOS at the center of the planet, and the renewal of the Cosmea, is a start. But we need more.”
Origin Equation Page 8
