«Ooh, I'm sorry» he replied promptly, «I'll try to be kinder, so maybe you'll purr!»
«Ahahahah» a laugh broke out on the bridge from Selidar and the strange copilot, who had been listening to the conversation. Kalberham looked at them in amazement and the two tried to hold back. After all he was still the captain!
«Marco, stop it!» Patrik shouted to his friend before the bickering started again. «Listening to this man is perhaps the only thing that can bring us home, so shut up!»
«He's not a man...» Marco answered with a veil of sarcasm, «but all right ... let's do as you say». He pressed his back against the seat and folded his arms.
«Then, let's get to the point» said young Jones, turning his word to Kalberham again. «What do you want from me?»
«See Patrik, after the force of Falaia, and with the balance always poised, something has changed in our galaxy. Planets like Solyar or the Earth itself, from where you come, quintuplicated their populations in these two hundred years, increasing well-being and knowledge as never before, while planets that were once populated and full of life, like Orena 3 and Melai of the arkassian system, have suffered a strong demographic decrease.
«For this reason the Arkassians want to try again to force the balance while we Solaryans think that the Flower should be left in peace, since only the Code has the power to decide our destiny».
«The Code?» Asked Patrik.
«Yes, the Code».
Kalberham looked at the boy trying to find the right words.
«You know ... not everyone becomes a Guardian, the wag warriors, it’s the Flower that decides. He chooses, without anyone knowing how, some forms of life present in the twenty-one planets and modifies the internal structure more or less deeply. Send the Code. The Code is a gift that makes the chosen ones extraordinary beings, capable of incredible things. You, Patrik, you're one of those».
«What?!» said Patrik, smiling and quite incredulous. «Look, I don’t know how to do anything extraordinary, so I think you've made a mistake, and a pretty big one too».
«No, my dear» interrupted Kalberham before he could continue speaking.
«At the age of three you were taken from us and a limiter was placed in your cerebral cortex. We had to protect your identity from the Arkassians and make you go unnoticed by the Terrans. Now it has been removed, and that little episode before with the book is proof of it.
«If you were not an extraordinary being, I assure you that with that "thing" in your brain, you wouldn’t be able to do even the simplest things; talk, walk or move normally».
Kalberham smiled, touched a few commands and inside the Bridge some beings took shape.
«You were so small when you came in right here, inside the Olympia».
Some holograms projected a scene many years ago, Patrik recognized himself as a child.
«My disappearance for a day...» thought Patrik aloud, as if rapt by that distant memory. «Grandma always told me that. Who are the other people?» He asked, looking at the scene.
«King Karmora, ruler of Solyar, and the little princess Alannah who, as you see, that day didn’t stop jumping around you, poking you with her tail to make you smile».
«The one behind is me!» Said the dog approaching the scene. «As you see, I was slightly better looking than now».
«Well, I wouldn’t say …» Marco replied, amused by the scene that was projected in front of his eyes. «You're a little bit too blue for my taste!»
«An idiotic and faded Terrestrial» Selidar said promptly.
Patrik got up and started walking into the room. He began to think like an investigator trying to gather all the pieces of a puzzle.
Now everything was clear.
The dreams, the feelings and the most awkward episodes of his life now made sense. He felt that incredible story.
He rubbed his hands with a confused expression.
«What do you want me to do?»
«The difference in views between us and the Arkassians has led to a war that has been going on for many years. Patrik, in the whole galaxy there is still no Guardian who has the Code strong enough to align the Flower in the right way without forcing it. Yet at the end of the fifth cycle, which is now, the prophecy engraved on the Wall of Markan speaks of a chosen one of great strength, as never before».
«Kalberham, you're confusing the boy» Selidar said to him and climbed in a chair opposite the two. «You know very well it may not be him. Tell him the rest, go on...»
He nodded his head and continued talking.
«To know if you are the chosen one, you will have to become a Guardian and, to do so, you will have to kill a Kentauro before he kills you!»
*
General Greymar saw the ship disappear from the monitors, carried away by a flash of light.
He didn’t accept failures.
«Trace the trail of Olympia immediately!» He ordered, without hesitation.
He got up from the command post to the helmsman, took the metal cylinder from his belt and positioned himself behind him.
«With a little luck you'll be reborn Arkassian» he said, as the cylinder took shape around the poor man's neck, who was now still and terrified.
The general closed his eyes, raising his head, as if in ecstasy, and with a dry movement killed the soldier of the planet Premi, an Arkassian colony. The poor man ended his life slumped on the commands of the chancellor's personal vessel.
As if nothing had happened, the deputy Darnar, a pure Arkassian, turned to him saying «General, they will surely be headed to Kentaura. If we avoided tracking them we could arrive beforehand and catch them by surprise».
The bloody scythe held by the general once again turned into liquid metal, made several turns around the latter's forearm and returned to being a solid cylinder in his hands. He opened his eyes, looking at the large central monitor, then turned to his deputy doubtfully.
«I don’t trust that Solaryan, he's too smart to do something so predictable. We continue to track them without losing them this time, I want continuous and precise reports. It is essential to get our hands on that Earthly one».
Other soldiers carried away the helmsman's body while a substitute took his place at the controls.
«Wake detected, activating tracking, Chancellor!» Said the new helmsman fumbling with the two monitors in front of him.
«Report sir!» Said the communication soldier and Darnar approached the monitor. «General, it seems that in Solyar they heard about our attack and King Karmora is sailing to the aid of Olympia».
«Ahahaha ...idiots!» Greymar said, amused, to his deputy.
«They will never arrive in time, we'll see them after the party ends».
«Yes, sir!» Darnar answered smiling.
«Report sir!» The communications soldier said again.
«What's still there?!»
«A call sir, from Arkass. It's the gohtarma, Chancellor!» The soldier said in a trembling voice, turning towards the general.
Greymar stood up.
«On the monitor!» He ordered as he knelt with his head bowed.
The six arkassian Guardians, seated in a semicircle around an oval table, looked towards the viewer which was projecting the general kneeling.
Behind them, four huge red drapes, adorned with the same signs on the robe of Greymar, descended from the ceiling to the ground. They were the background to the altar above which a large black and gold colored chair was placed. And in the chair, the gohtarma himself.
Leaning on the arm of the chair with his elbow, the old Arkassian was dressed in a dark, wide tunic. The strange green being clinging to his back, biting his neck, looked like a parasite feeding off its victim slowly.
«My friend!» He said hoarsely, raising his vitreous, almost absent gaze.
«My lord» said Greymar, rising to his feet, showing the metal cylinder that became a spiral similar to the galaxy, as a sign of respect.
Mendicar, one of the six seated, stood up and as a persona
l adviser of the gohtarma stood next to him. He also showed the supreme arkassian lord his galactic spiral as a sign of respect and turned to the monitor.
«Greymar» he said, smirking a smile pleased with the general's failure, «the terrestrial boy managed to escape despite your advantage and the superiority of firepower!»
«It's just a matter of time and he will be mine!» The Chancellor replied, holding back his anger and clutching his siel, which had returned to being a metal cylinder, firmly in his hand.
«As long as the good Kalberham doesn’t make you fall into another trap» Mendicar said, trying to prick him. «I wonder, sir, if we have done well to send Greymar. The rivalry he has with the solaryan Guardian is well known, and the lack of clarity in accomplishing the mission could lead to failure».
«Very soon you will taste my siel, dear Mendicar» replied the general, trying to remain calm. «I don’t allow anyone such a lack of respect, and certainly not you!»
«Threatening will not help you, Greymar. We all care about the success of the mission. I wonder how much you care!» The advisor shouted again, pointing his finger at the monitor.
The green creature, pulling its mouth from the gohtarma's neck, hissed nervously.
«My lord...» Mendicar said, lowering his head and taking a step back. Greymar did the same light years away.
The gohtarma got up from the chair slowly.
He made his siel stretch to the ground and used it like a stick to help him walk. Then with his left hand he stroked the head of that strange being on his shoulders.
«Come» he whispered, and the mouth began to bite his neck, as firm as a vampire's.
«You will let the terrestrial boy pass by» the gohtarma said quietly, as if he hadn’t heard the discussion before.
«What?!» Greymar was amazed, raising his head.
«A solaryan survived the Kentauros. One of us survived the Kentauros, the young Lokkar. You will let the Terrestrial pass and we will understand who of the three is the chosen one» he said walking down the stairs above which his throne was placed.
«The boy will die, sir» the general said firmly.
«This is probable, my faithful friend» replied the old Arkassian, raising his head and looking at an unspecified point on the ceiling «but the Code is unpredictable. I have to know where he's going. As soon as the Terran dies, the truce will no longer have any raison d'être and the neutral zone will disappear. You will kill the young Noliah, the Solaryan who survived the Kentauros».
«It will be done» said Greymar.
The transmission ended and the general turned to go back to sit at the command post.
«Counterorder helmsman» he said sternly to the soldier in front of him.
«We're heading for Kentaura» and a few moments later a flash of light made the ship disappear from its position, just outside the Earth's solar system.
8
Alannah stepped out of the infirmary on board, heading for one of the Imperial ship's rooms. She didn’t want to see anyone and thought she would not talk to her father for a long time.
This made her a little sad, but he had to learn how to treat her like an adult. Everyone had to learn this! She too was sorry for thuni, but being lectured for a bunch of dead wolves, no way! Moreover, not just any wolves, but those who had tried to bury her a little earlier; it was something she didn’t understand.
As if that were not enough, her shoulder still hurt, aching from the deep scratches of those beasts.
She tried to move across the corridor when, on the other side, she saw Hiylos walking towards her. He began to signal her with his arm. Of all the people she wanted to see, that curator who always stood in her way was the last.
«Princess Alannah, we meet again!» He said reproachfully. «I prayed over and over again your father to transfer your lodgings to one of the towers of the castle. In this way I would be able to keep an eye on you with the help of the royal guards».
Alannah rolled her eyes, trying to find the patience to listen.
«But nothing!» Hiylos continued. «He keeps trusting you. I will not accept jokes of this kind anymore, princess. I warn you, among my duties I don’t think that being a hound is mentioned».
«I'm so sorry Hiylos» she said with a tender expression and big, innocent eyes, «I just went out for a walk and then, well ... I think I got lost».
«Princess, I hope you don’t think I believe that in the least?! I don’t believe that making fun of me will save you from the certain punishment your father has in store for you. I personally asked that it be exemplary».
Alannah didn’t even let him finish the sentence, that she had already ignored. She moved in the direction of her room, even if the poor man kept screaming like crazy.
«And to think that mine was an honorable career» he continued, raising his imperious voice to the princess. «I was a royal advisor for seventeen years and now I find myself nursing an uneducated girl».
«Apparently you were not very good as a counsellor» she replied smiling, just before turning into another corridor, leaving him in anger, with only the final part of her tail visible as she disappeared around the corner.
*
Patrik sat down, hoping he had not understood what Kalberham had said a moment before.
To clarify all his doubts there was Marco who, looking at the face of his friend in disbelief, undid his seatbelt, tired of being in the game of these strange beings.
«How would you say "kill a kenta-thing before he kills you"?!» He asked. «If you’re thinking about getting my friend to fight in some arena like you do with roosters, well, you're wrong!» He continued without allowing anyone else to speak.
«And then what happens, eh?! Is there anyone who collects bets? I tell you Jones, this story of the chosen one stank from the beginning!»
Kalberham stared at Marco, narrowing his cat's pupils and bowing his head, as if to study an unusual being.
«You are a dangerous race!» He said, turning to Patrik's friend in a decidedly suspicious tone.
«Whaaat?!» Marco blurted incredulously. «You want to let my friend fight in a game to death with some kind of being, and WE are a dangerous race?!»
At this point his endurance was at the limit.
«You really don’t understand, do you?» Kalberham said. «Being chosen for the transportation of the Code is an honor that belongs to the few in the whole galaxy, Patrik will have a good chance of making it».
«Still this story of the chosen one?!» Marco said, smiling incredulously, spreading his arms.
He looked at Patrik, who watched the two of them astonished, as if the discussion did not concern him personally.
«But why are you not selected to visit the Playboy villa or a trip to the Maldives? All of this is absurd» and he turned in the direction of the central monitor to observe the infinite space in front of the ship.
Marco had always wanted to go into space, and who wouldn’t have, but not like this! To risk losing his friend millions of light years from home had not been his first thought that morning.
He had to get him out of that situation, and quickly.
«Listen» he said, turning to Kalberham and Selidar, intent on listening «you have to take us home. At this point our families will be worried, not to mention the turmoil that you and your friends have brought to our planet».
Patrik looked at Marco like he was shooting a gun.
His mother.
In the midst of all that confusion he had forgotten how his mother could be frightened and how the police, or some government agency, was interrogating her.
He and Marco had disappeared, the dog and his room would be completely empty.
«He's right» he said, «Mom could be dead with fear, I can’t let them do anything to her».
A hoarse voice rose from the other side of the bridge. «Nadine is a strong woman, you will see that nothing will happen to her».
The huge copilot, who until then had been silent, stood up, at least two meters
tall, and headed for Patrik.
The latter looked at him with an air of wonder and suspicion at the same time.
«What do you know about my mother?» He asked.
«First of all, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Tadiero, of the planet Portirya».
In addition to being very tall, his body was reminiscent of a wrestler’s. The long, straight hair, like an Indian chief of the Old West, was dark and open at the forehead. The complexion was reddish-brown and the features very similar to the terrestrials, even if the crushed nose had some strange horizontal striations along the cartilage.
He wore suede trousers and black boots with round toes, a gilet that was of the same fabric as the trousers and a black necklace. His chest was bare and quite hairy. The belt was full of strange contraptions, but the one that hung to his right side was surely a weapon.
In presenting himself, he bowed and lowered his head, showing a kindness totally in contrast with his rough, ungraceful appearance.
«It is an honor for me to meet the son of my friend David Jones, I have not had the pleasure of meeting your mother, but she is certainly a woman of great character. David described her to me like that!»
Patrik's blood froze at the sound of those words.
Who was this beast who said he knew his father? What did he have to do with all this? He had visited his grave several times in Chicago with his grandmother, even though the body was lost at sea. What did he mean?
Even Marco was speechless.
He knew about Patrik's father, but only a little. His friend didn’t like talking about it and, not to hurt him, he had never asked too much.
Patrik looked incredulously at Kalberham, the dog and again Tadiero, who had spoken those words.
«How do you know my father? He died lost at sea many years ago. What does it mean? I don’t understand...» he asked almost in shock and with tears in his eyes.
«Well, boy...» Tadiero answered, trying to find the most suitable words so as not to upset him even more. «You see, actually ... he's not technically dead».
A sudden weight in his stomach blocked Patrik's breath, who could barely stay on his feet. He felt a great force growing inside him, uncontrollable. His head began to spin, and to resist he clenched his fists, which, together with his arms, were literally becoming incandescent.
Patrik Jones and the Code of the Universe Page 6
