The two women drew away from the others that were grouped about the memorial site of Captain Ronclar.
“What’d you want to talk about?” Madilay queried.
Shawna sighed before speaking. “I want to tell you something important. I know you are planning to go to the lake today, but I need you to work. I’m cancelling your pass. The reason for my decision is that–”
“Why do you do this?!” Madilay was not pleased. “You knew I was going to the lake with Conyen. You just don’t want us to be together. Why are pretending to still be my mother?!”
Before Shawna could respond to the outburst, Madilay spun and left.
The director watched her hurry past the ensign, his face perplexed at her quick departure.
The director just watched her storm off.
Shawna knew she was unhappy. She would give her time to calm down before she approached her again.
A lot was going on since the death of Captain Ronclar, let alone Madilay wanting to branch out on her own as a grown woman.
Shawna knew what she had to do to settle the issue and give Madilay what she wanted.
∞∞∞
Birds chirped and flew over the rolling fields of blue flax flowers.
The dance of morning and the breaking of the day had begun in the basin near the Erudition camp.
Waning dark blues from twilight parted for lighter colors that were pushed over the mountains by the round golden ruler who holds court over the land.
The sun’s rays touched the tops of the flowers before reaching the strong green conifers in the distance.
The young Madilay sat with her legs crossed in the open field.
Her hands rested on her outstretched knees as the light morning breeze moved her long black hair.
She rested in peace among the surrounding beauty of nature. The Earth was returning to her original splendor.
A smile joined Madilay’s face as she drew in a breath of the pristine, fresh air.
The voices of nature were interrupted by a mechanical humming.
Madilay eyes opened opened her eyes with a sigh.
The humming intensified, subsided, then vanished just as soon as it had begun.
“I was beginning to wonder how long it would take before you found me,” Madilay said without taking her eyes off the wisps of clouds treading across the blue sky.
Director Bowlan dismounted her hover-unit, setting foot in the tall wildflowers. “Not long, given our internal transmitters.”
“The leash is never short enough, is it?”
“Come now, Madilay, it’s for all of our protection here.”
“Protection? You mean like what happened to Captain Ronclar?”
“Do we need to start the day like this? I know you’re upset.”
“How’d you guess?”
Shawna approached her. “I know it was supposed to be your day off.”
Madilay bolted upright from her supine position.
She turned and glared at the director. “You knew I was going down to the pond with Conyen. You just don’t want me to have any personal time.”
Shawna placed her hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “That’s not true.”
Madilay brushed her hand off, stood up, and walked a few steps away. “You’re not my mother.”
“We’ve already spoke about this, Madilay.”
Madilay turned away. “Why don’t you trust me?”
“I trust you.”
“No, you don’t. If you did, you would allow me to do things on my own instead of always standing over my shoulder… like you’re doing now.”
“I’m not standing over your shoulder.”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
“Yes, because I wanted to let you know that I am giving you the northern sector. The atmospheric monitoring stations are yours. You’re in charge with getting them online, Madilay.”
Madilay turned back around, an astonished expression on her face.
The director smiled at her daughter’s confusion. “I pulled you from your day off to give you the position. I wanted to show you that I trust you. I’m sorry if I took you away from the cute boy.”
“That’s okay. He can wait. I’m…I’m sorry I lashed out, Shawna. I was just–”
“I know. You don’t have to say it.
Shawna walked up to Madilay and placed her hands on her shoulders. “Whatever you may say about me, I chose to be your mother, Madilay. You are my daughter.”
They embraced.
The young girl had tears in her eyes.
Shawna kissed her forehead. “Come. You can take the hover unit north to set up the trans-relay. Okay?”
Madilay smiled, wiping her eyes. “I can do that.”
“Good. I’ll take the main controller and connect the transfer tower here. It should take you about an hour to complete your connection, so I’ll meet you back here in an hour and a half. Sound good?”
“Yes. Sounds great.”
“Now get going. The controller is in the compartment there and, when we get finished, there might be time left to go enjoy the lake,” Shawna said as she pointed at the hover unit.
Madilay beamed.
She went over and mounted the hover unit and turned it on.
“Thanks for trusting me.”
“No need. Now get going. I’ll see you when you get back.”
Madilay engaged the unit and zoomed off over the violet, flowing fields.
∞∞∞
Director Shawna Bowlan stood there with a grin.
She knew she could never replace Madilay’s mother, but raising Madily as her mother wished was well within her ability.
A little push and some guidance. Some freedom of her own.
That’s what Madilay needed.
Shawna’s mind turned to her task at hand.
She needed to get the last grid of atmospheric relays up and running.
The director headed for the first tower at the edge of the valley.
It would take her longer to walk there than it would to complete the upload and connections necessary to link with Madilay’s towers.
She could use the exercise anyway, she thought.
The scenery was beautiful.
Her mind whirled at how much progress had been made on the ecosystem since the launch of the Atmospheric Circulation Earth Stabilization.
They had launched a year before in the hopes that this mission would get passed by the Assembly.
The five hundred units were designed to rejuvenate an area by stabilizing it from the aftermath of the Kryth bio weapons used in the invasion of the Sol System.
They would descend into Earth’s atmosphere, landing in a ten-kilometer radius marked-off for restoration.
Processing particulates around the clock, the units created a filtering barrier from the airborne bacteria in the wind that came through the valley floor, altering their course around the rehabilitation zone.
TheACES did its job well.
The recovered area bloomed and flourished, pushing beyond the barrier, letting nature in the valley do the rest.
Shawna stopped before the tower to pick a large colorful flower.
She inhaled its sweet aroma.
Shawna could stay here.
Her life’s work was finally coming to fruition before her.
Her eyes were drawn off her dreams for a moment and onto a tree that lay across part of an access lift alongside the tower.
She needed that lift to get to the top and open the main panel.
She approached and started to wrench at the trunk.
It was wedged on the vertical track.
It was a smaller tree, so she didn’t have trouble snapping and clearing the foliage.
She stepped up onto the lift and activated the magnetic drive.
Crossing her fingers, she hoped it still worked.
The lift hummed and shimmied.
There was a small twig stuck in the track.
She shook the lif
t side to side to free it.
The twig snapped and the lift began moving up the tower structure.
Removing her pack, Shawna began to take out the module she would need to attach to the main control near the top.
Movement caught her eyes.
She gasped.
Down below, near the tree line, was a pack of Bassor wolves.
The large alpha from the mountain complex was with them.
She could tell because he had half an ear, just as before. Lost in a fight, she presumed.
Their eyes met.
She knew they didn’t mean her harm now. It was the commotion from the tree and lift that had drawn their attention.
How amazing were these animals? They were able to continue their guard after all these years to the complex and surrounding areas.
It was like having your own personal Reaver Regiment.
Shawna laughed at the thought.
She watched them head out into the violet fields of flowers, all ten of them.
Her eyes squinted in the sunlight that was breaking over the tree tops.
Shawna lost sight of the wolves.
She turned her focus back to her goal, and to Maliday.
She had to trust her.
That’s what she wanted. Shawna had brought her this far in life and now was she capable of being on her own.
Shawna was just glad Madilay had come along on the trip.
This was a lifelong dream and now they were both here, on the planet of their ancestors, helping it recover together.
Madilay was becoming a strong, independent woman just as her mother, and Shawna’s friend, had wished.
That was all Shawna had ever wanted.
Data Cell 30
A metal boot tapped on a deck floor, echoing its staccato throughout the bridge on the Cerothnak.
Sontar Jal sat in his command chair slumped, his chin resting on his hand.
His restless stare was focused far beyond the viewing window to his front.
The eyes of the general danced back and forth, searching for something, but finding nothing other than the black-and-white planet his ship orbited.
The boot continued drumming until an ensign called forth from a console station.
“Commander, we have the Visikothen coming into the system.”
The announcement perked Sontar’s attention.
He stood.
“Open coms,” Sontar Jal ordered.
“Open, sir.”
A screen above the bow window flashed. The image of General Poth Kar appeared.
“I am here,” Poth Kar announced. “Please do not waste my time with this rendezvous, Sontar Jal. I am tasked with much and do not have time for fanciful subterfuge, my brother.”
Sontar Jal grinned. “Were you pleased with the last Chamber Lore convention?”
Poth Kar looked on with suspicion. “You know that not to be the case.”
“Of course,” Sontar Jal chuckled. “That is why I ask. Lintorth Sar made you a fool, bringing up your warrior’s incompetence at the conference and your lack of leadership in front of the Si Lord, or do I have to remind your recent memory?”
Poth Kar seethed at Sontar Jal’s words. “What is your point, General Sontar Jal?”
“Is Turlon Ti with you?” Sontar Jal asked.
“He is,” Poth Kar answered just as another figure entered the viewing screen next to him.
“Get to your purpose, Sontar Jal,” General Turlon Ti stated.
“My point, yes,” Sontar Jal said, moving towards the monitor. “You see, brothers, I too was slighted in front of the Si Lord’s presence by our favored general.”
Turlon Ti laughed. “When you use Comondons, what can one expect?”
General Poth Kar chuckled at the insult.
“This is what I speak of,” Sontar Jal stated. “He uses our missteps against us to garner favor. She grants him power to protect the Domain and he brushes off your grand plans of returning pride to our people; of defeating the Humans in battle.”
“But he used the Gashnee threat as leverage,” Poth Kar interjected.
Sontar smirked. “Of course he did. He uses unsubstantiated facts to drive his motives of saving his dishonored name. Lintorth Sar’s trickery knows no bounds. He has no loyalty. He cannot be trusted.”
Turlon Ti spoke up, “And what if the Gashnee threat he mentions is true?”
Sontar Jal sighed. “This is what I speak of. There is no evidence of any Gashnee incursion. His lackey assistant, Voskal Lat, made up the encounter with the wormhole and the Humans to again seek favor with the Si Lord.”
“Enough!” shouted Poth Kar. “Tell us your plan to attack the Humans.”
Sontar Jal’s smirk grew to a broad smile, his eyes glinting with malice. “Oh, I will do better than that, brother. I shall show you.”
∞∞∞
The black-and-white planet was a global war of two forces fighting over control of the surface.
Black obsidian rock was hurled skyward from the volcanic activity deep below. Despite these spews of ash and fire, the white mountains and plateau flats were covered in an eternal blizzard as the atmosphere fought the planet’s core magma.
Each would fight against the other, changing the topography of the planet’s surface by the hour.
From orbit, the black stripes of its peaks would shift with the howling winds, altering the surface in an undulating dance of climate chaos.
The planet was too far from its host star to battle off the bitter cold of unyielding lashing storms, and its core was too active for the ice to settle too long. It was always in a deadlock of shifting dynamisms.
Heat from the planet’s molten core evaporated the surface’s ice which would then freeze again as it rose into the sky, starting the vicious cycle all over again.
The battle between the two elements raged on as the Kryth dropship entered its frozen realm.
It moved down through the atmosphere, adjacent to a black-lined mountain ridge.
The craft dropped in between a massive crevasse with towering snow dunes on either side of black rocky ridges.
Winds howled down the pass, swaying the ship as it loomed near the side of a large mountain face.
The fierce storm ravaged the snow drifts and banks, casting them into a maelstrom of torrential gusts, washing the air in airborne crystal shards.
The ice daggers shattered against the ship, pockmarking the hull with impacts of frozen fragments.
The black cliffside gave way through the whitewash of snow.
A towering metal blast door was encased along the front of the mountain. Its height rose four hundred meters with its width at two hundred meters.
As the Kryth vessel moved towards the massive door, its middle parted open, the sides sliding into the rock face.
The ship entered the opening, leaving the stinging wind and clashing elements behind.
The ship traversed an immense horizontal shaft, leading its way to the center as the doors closed behind it.
Light markers turned on as the ship approached, illuminating the tunnel before it and highlighting the glistening ice particles of frost that bathed the structure.
Ten large turrets along the walls tracked the ship’s movement as it passed.
The cavern ahead was awash with light when the craft landed with a clank upon the crystalized cold metal surface.
A ramp lowered from underneath the hull.
The three Kryth generals departed their transport.
Each was covered in wintry weather gear from head to toe. The long, great coat covered all major body parts.
Their exhaled breath condensed within the freezing chamber.
“I forgot how cold the vaults are,” Turlon Ti stated.
Sontar couldn’t hold back the opportunity to respond to the statement. “Not as cold as Lintorth’s insults against your pride, General Ti. But, cold enough.”
“Get on with it, Sontar Jal,” Poth Kar seethed, the general growing impati
ent with his host. “You brought us here to restore pride to the Domain.” Poth Kar approached Sontar Jal. “Do you have something for us, general, or have you wasted our time with your delusions of sitting on the Red Throne?”
The question hung in the frigid air for a moment, frozen as the two opposite generals awaited Sontar’s retort.
Sontar grinned. “Follow.”
The group headed off the platform towards another massive door. It was half the size of the one their ship had entered.
It was still large enough to dwarf the three Kryth.
Each of the generals parted ways. Two went to each end of the door while Sontar stayed in the middle.
On the door, about waist-high, was a black plate in front of each general.
As soon as they moved their hands towards the plate, it slid open.
They placed both hands in, palms first and fingers spread.
A bright light filled the small voids within the door.
The light, or substance, made its way out of the hand scanners along each arm, over the shoulders, and down their bodies, encompassing their entire frames.
It lasted but a moment before retreating along its path and vanishing back within the door.
The large metal entrance began to come alive, whining with a ratcheting sound.
The generals removed their hands and waited before the door began to move up into the mountain.
They made their way in, illuminating another passageway as they traversed its length.
As the generals advanced, they were aware of eyes watching them in the shadows.
They did not turn to look at the darkened aisles off to their sides, for each of the Lore Sentries would meet their gaze.
The metal beasts protected the most valued assets of the Domain, including these armory vaults.
The Kryth came to one last door at the end of the hall. They began the same ritual to gain entry as they had before.
The metal door opened then closed behind as they entered pitch blackness.
When the door thudded to the floor, sealing them in, a great vaulted chamber opened in lights before them.
The generals looked around.
“They added to it since I was here last,” Turlon Ti commented.
“They always add to it,” Sontar Jal followed. “Awaiting that great battle with the Gashnee for when they return.”
Annals of the Keepers - Rage Page 19
