by Mara Amberly
He scanned the environment for life signs, but the only ones he could find within range were tiny insects, and of course, himself. Realising that he’d exhausted his options, Eric put his scanner away and walked toward the settlement, to see if there was someone he could talk to.
It felt strange, being in a space suit in an area that appeared normal and habitable. Eric thought about taking off his helmet—after all, the readings suggested this place was real, but he couldn’t be sure there weren’t microbes or something else dangerous to him. After all, the Lethians had disappeared, seemingly without a trace. He wanted to get to the truth of what had happened to them first, if he could.
Eric was careful where he walked, not wanting to damage his space suit. Even if he didn’t need it here, he would need it to return to the vault and the Equinox on the other side. If he had to, he’d take it off before his oxygen ran out, but he wasn’t there yet.
Once he’d climbed the hill, he had a much better view of the settlement below. All the buildings were roughly square and seemed to have either been built with clay bricks or painted in earthy colours. Most interestingly, though, he saw beings in the settlement… and one of them noticed him.
They didn’t look Valteran; they were different to other humanoid races he recognised. Their skin had a pink hue, and while they had a common build, they also had scales reminiscent of snake skin along the sides of their faces and their forearms. They wore close fitting clothes that exposed their arms, and draped loosely like skirts, and those Eric saw wore their dark hair long and in different styles.
Eric waited to see how they would react. He could do little to defend himself or outrun them in a space suit, but it would take time for them to reach him, or for him to reach them. He heard one woman call out, and more of the aliens turned to look at him up on the hill. No one made any move to attack him, though he wasn’t sure what would happen. For the moment, though, he had no way of getting back without their help. He’d come this far, so he walked on, down a path cut into the hillside toward the settlement.
He held his hands up as he did so, to show that he wasn’t armed.
“I’m a friend, you don’t want to kill me,” Eric murmured to himself, as he walked the rest of the way down into the street.
It felt firm under Eric’s boots, even though it blended in so well with the surrounding ground that it looked indistinguishable from it. Now that he was closer to the buildings, he saw they were more decorative than they’d seemed at a distance. The entrances had intricate moulding in the shapes of trees and unfamiliar animals. Well, maybe they were familiar, but they weren’t images Eric could recognise.
He carefully reached for his scanner, and began scanning the people in the settlement. They registered as beings alright with no obvious contagions. As he glanced up at them, he saw that some people looked upset, and he saw one shout to another, though he couldn’t hear them well in his suit. He put the scanner away and raised his hands again.
“No, it’s alright,” he said, but they couldn’t properly hear him. He hesitated for a moment, then cut the oxygen flow and took off his helmet. The surrounding air was fresh, and it was a relief he could breathe here when he knew his oxygen reserves in his suit were dwindling.
“It’s okay. I came through the portal,” he said, unsure whether they could understand him at all. He tried to calm them down, and they seemed to settle once he’d taken his helmet off, and they had the chance to look at him properly. He wasn’t sure if they understood him, but they’d reacted to him talking.
A man turned to one of the women, speaking quickly; Eric didn’t recognise their language. Usually the limited implant he had translated alien languages, but it obviously didn’t know what to make of Lethian, if that’s who these people were.
“Can you understand my language?” Eric asked. “Is there someone I can talk to?”
He looked around at the people, and there was only momentary hesitation, before one woman beckoned to him to follow.
“Ja’lari siea’siea,” she said.
Unsure of what else to do, Eric followed her along the street in the hope she was taking him to someone who might help him.
It was strange, the mixture of low technology around them and the high technology he already knew they possessed. That’s if these were the same people, and they hadn’t just moved into a place once occupied by the Lethians. Something told him though that this was them or their descendants.
Eric was brought to a simple house, much like the others in the community. He was urged to enter it, so he cautiously did. Inside, the house looked quite comfortable. A bearded man stood by a table, alongside several younger women, who were probably his daughters. At least, they looked like the right age.
“Dro Joranu Aklea’tarin,” he said, with words unintelligible to Eric.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Eric replied with an apologetic expression. “Thank you for inviting me into your home though,” he said, gesturing around him.
The man indicated a chair at the table, and Eric sat down. As streamlined as his space suit was, it was still awkward and bulky; it took him a moment to get comfortable.
The bearded man left the room, and Eric waited, and soon after one girl followed him out. When he returned, he sat down beside Eric.
“Can you understand me now?” he asked.
“Yes, I can!” Eric exclaimed, relief obvious in his expression.
He knew it must have been some technology that these people had, to enable them to understand and speak his language.
“Why are you here?” the man asked. “Forgive me if that’s rude to ask outright, but you’re the first visitor we’ve had here in hundreds of years.”
“Firstly, are you the Lethian people?” Eric asked.
The man nodded simply, and the others in the room glanced at him, obviously not understanding their conversation.
“It was believed that your people died out around five thousand years ago.”
Eric hesitated, unsure of how to describe the vault without them drawing inappropriate conclusions about his reason for being there.
“Your books depicted a building or compound of archaeological significance that stored a record of your people. Some believed it was a vault, others thought it held artifacts of your race. We discovered it was in Draylach Space.”
“The Draylach!” the man exclaimed with distaste. “They were a constant source of trouble for our ancestors.”
Eric nodded. “The Draylach have made enemies of several of their neighbours. They didn’t seem interested in the place that brought me here; at least at the time we arrived. They have claimed a lot of space, and the location is well-protected and disguised. They might not even know it’s there.”
“Go on,” the man urged.
“I pressed the symbols on the door, and a panel was lowered behind me, blocking my way out. The crewman who was behind me was still outside. This place was on an asteroid with a field around the outside,” Eric said.
“If they deployed the field, the last of the guardians must have left.”
“We didn’t see any guardians. The room I came to only contained a portal,” Eric said. “When I passed through it, it brought me here.”
The man grinned at that. “That was supposed to have been far more difficult for anyone to reach or find. What is it you want here?”
Gold, jewels or riches? They definitely occurred to him.
“Most of all, I want to go home,” Eric said. “I don’t know how to activate the portal on this side to get back. I’m concerned that if I take too long, the ship might leave without me.”
“Ah, I can help you there,” he said, “but I want you to help us in return. If you do that, I’ll return you to your people.”
“I’m willing to help you in most ways,” Eric said. “The thing is, my suit only has around four hours of air left, and they don’t know that I can breathe the atmosphere here. If I can’t reach them soon, they’ll think I’m dead. Is t
here any way that I can get a message through to them?”
“That’s unlikely, but I have the means to send one myself. I will need their frequency.”
Eric gave it to him immediately; however, it wasn’t one that would allow the Lethians to overhear the comms traffic. Rather, it would allow them to contact the bridge.
“How long do you need me to stay for, to discuss these things?”
“A few hours ought to suffice,” he said. “I will notify your crew, Captain—?”
“Just Eric,” he said. “Thank you. I didn’t get your name?”
“I am Hannarin Eshe,” he said. When Eric got up to move, he shook his head. “Stay, but I will return.” Hannarin left moments later through the front door.
So much for talking to the crew himself. Eric saw that the woman who’d led him there was still watching him, and Hannarin’s daughters kept an eye on him as well. They spoke among themselves in the native language, but Eric couldn’t understand them.
He wasn’t sure he could trust Hannarin to do as he’d promised, but he had little choice but to wait.
Chapter 8
May 2080, The Lethian Settlement, On the Other Side of the Portal
Hannarin was gone for over an hour before he returned. In that time the others had brought Eric food and water, but while he declined eating anything because he wasn’t sure what it was, his thirst eventually won out. The water was clear and cool, with a slight flavour that differed from that on his own world and the water reclamation system on the ship.
“I have spoken with your Captain Viktor, and he said to tell you that you may bargain, but not to give away the kingdom.”
Eric couldn’t help it; he grinned. That was just the sort of thing Viktor would say. It was possible it was something Hannarin had somehow overheard, but the frequency Eric had given him shouldn’t have allowed him to. It was almost certain he’d spoken to Viktor. Normally Eric wasn’t so doubtful, but he felt like his life depended on it.
“If you’re ready, I have some questions. I imagine you do as well,” Hannarin said.
Eric nodded. “I’m not actually clear where we are. Are we in the same sector as the portal I came through?”
“There’s only so much I can tell you about that,” Hannarin replied. “Our people cannot reveal our exact location for reasons of our own safety. There was a war long ago, and it was only by withdrawing to this place that our people could live in peace. I can tell you we’re on a moon, not a planet, and we aren’t anywhere near the place you left. In fact, we’re in a different time as well.”
Eric had wondered that. After all, fifth-dimensional technology didn’t just allow for faster travel, but time travel.
“I’m also from a different time,” Eric finally admitted. “There were others planning to raid your facility,” he avoided using the word ‘vault,’ “and we travelled back fifty years so we could be assured of reaching it first.”
“Why didn’t you just travel back further in time and speak to living members of our people?” Hannarin asked with interest.
Eric couldn’t think of a better approach than to explain.
“It was the scholars’ belief that you were gone and had left a vault. Viktor hired me on as crew for the mission, and we didn’t think of going back further. As it was, the decision to travel as far back as we did was a snap decision, because we knew others were on their way and a ship was following us.”
“I see,” Hannarin replied with some concern. “So they know where our vault, as you call it, is located?”
“They do,” Eric replied. “They likely don’t have time travel technology, as we do, so they’re probably not going to reach it for another fifty years, though I can’t be certain of that. I’m sure though that unless the timeline changes, they’ll be coming. The fact I could find the portal at all means they probably could too.”
He was careful not to mention that the Rizian Syndicate had the coordinates first because he wasn’t sure how Hannarin would respond to that.
“That’s worrying news,” Hannarin replied. “At least it gives us time to prepare. Perhaps we’ve left our vault, as you call it, unattended for too long and it’s time we established a presence there again. We thank you for the information.“
“Sure, not a problem,” Eric said.
He almost wanted to roll his eyes. So much for the treasure trove of, well… treasure, that he’d been hoping for. Somehow surviving his adventure felt like enough, though returning home with no loot to show for their efforts wasn’t the ideal outcome.
Perhaps Hannarin saw his disappointment, because his expression turned more thoughtful.
“I’d like to hear about your people and what the universe is like these days—at the time you left and the time it is now,” Hannarin said.
“I’m from the planet Valtera, in what we call the Valteran sector,” Eric explained. “We have an alliance with other planets in our sector and we’re currently at peace with our neighbours,” he said. “That’s both in the time I’m from, and the current time as it is here now, though it hasn’t always been so. Like many planets, we have a colourful history.”
Eric had heard about his people’s war with an alien race known as the Trines—long before his time, but his people had annihilated them. His people had been left to consider the cruelty they’d inflicted on their enemy, but like most conflicts, it had gone both ways.
Hannarin nodded. “I understand what you mean about that, and the truth is our people were responsible for our war, just as the Orviens were, but we were able to stop it. They weren’t willing to, so we gave them no choice; not by destroying them but by leaving. I believe that decision elevated us as a species.”
Eric agreed, because not destroying each other in an unnecessary war definitely sounded the preferable option. He remembered some things about the Orviens and their former empire. They too had been a warlike people who considered themselves the centre of the civilised universe.
“As for the rest of the universe today, hmm let me think. There are planets that have their conflicts, but mostly, the primary trading worlds are at peace. There are some groups that are a source of trouble, and piracy is common in some sectors. We believe one such group will be the ones coming to pay you a visit.”
“Who are they?” Hannarin asked.
Eric couldn’t fault him for asking, but he didn’t want to say too much, in case he realised their own intentions weren’t entirely honourable.
“They’re called the Rizian Syndicate. Around a dozen trade cartels make up the Syndicate, but they’re involved in a lot of criminal activity. They’re funded by the rich and the powerful, who try to present a respectable image, but we know what they do. Piracy, smuggling, theft, and so forth. Whatever it takes to advance their goals.”
Eric knew his perception might not reflect that of others, but he knew what he was talking about.
“And what about you?” Hannarin asked, perhaps wondering if Eric was any better.
“I was a military engineer but retired recently. I changed postings and wasn’t happy where I was. I could’ve requested a change, but it made me realise I wasn’t really living my life the way I wanted to. There was a lot missing, if you know what I mean?
“There’s always plenty of private sector work for engineers, so I gave it a go. Ironically, I ended up back on a ship,” Eric admitted. “Apparently I’m not good at staying in one place for very long.”
He hoped that explanation was good enough to assuage Hannarin’s concerns.
“I am also like you—I build things,” Hannarin replied.
It seemed he focused less on the military part, more on the engineer. It wasn’t particularly inaccurate. Eric had always built things, even as a kid; long before he’d felt drawn to military life.
“Can you tell me what’s become of the Orviens?” Hannarin asked.
Eric knew he likely wanted to find out whether they’d want to begin their war anew if they discovered the Lethians had returned.
“I believe their planet is also in Draylach space and they were conquered. It happened hundreds of years ago,” Eric explained.
He wasn’t sure if they’d find this good news or bad; it depended on their feelings toward their once-enemies.
“Perhaps it’s doubly good that we left when we did,” Hannarin replied, deep in thought.
Over the next few hours, Eric explained further about the current state of the galaxy and marked changes on some holographic maps the Lethians showed him.
“The information you’ve shared with us is invaluable. We’re not ready yet for you to reveal to the rest of the universe that we’re still alive, but a time might come in the future when we do. Tell your people on the ship that we’re merely the caretakers of this place, and not the Lethians your scholars speak about.”
Eric knew that wouldn’t fly well with Viktor, but no one else knew the truth as he did. The Lethians’ existence wasn’t truly his secret to reveal, and so much might rest on it, like their peoples’ continued survival.
“You have my word that I won’t tell anyone you’re still alive,” Eric said.
Eric wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d refused to send him back, if he hadn’t agreed to keep that promise. Though it seemed they were true to their word, he wasn’t sure if he would’ve taken the same risk in their position. Perhaps that made them kinder people than he was, or more than likely, he’d become jaded about how the universe worked.
“I don’t mind giving you a parting gift from a ‘long-dead race’ that you might find takes on greater value in your time. It will need to be old, otherwise your archaeologists will determine it’s more recent, and we don’t want to provide evidence that we’re still alive,” Hannarin said.
