“Don’t you dare leave me out of this ass-kicking. I’ve been thinking about it since the first time they chased me on that space station, almost killing me. I’m in too.” Mary stuck her glass in the air, and I hesitantly clinked it, along with Magnus and Nat.
The last thing I wanted was to fight the Bhlat, especially with Mary by my side. I wondered if there was a way I could stow her away with Suma, somewhere safe and protected. The Shandra. My mind clicked, and a piece of the puzzle fell into place.
“I have an idea.”
The doorbell rang as the first guests arrived. My friends looked at me, waiting, and when the bell rang again, Magnus stuck a finger in the air. “This conversation isn’t over. Dean, I love it when you have big ideas. It usually means a win for our side.”
____________
The sun beat down on us, and Maggie barked as I threw the ball down the yard. Mary beckoned me from beside the garden, her sun hat covering her face from this angle. I could tell she was excited by her posture.
Maggie ran to my feet, dropping the ball with another bark. I tossed the ball toward Mary, jogging after it while Maggie ran full throttle, ears flopping in the air.
“Look how well it’s coming along,” I said, standing beside Mary, who was beaming at the large assortment of sprouted greens coming from the twenty-by-forty-foot patch of garden. Some food like lettuce was already being used on a daily basis, and others were just growing, their cycle a lot longer from germination to harvest. The last few weeks had been a lot of work but had gone quickly.
“We should be able to feed our wedding guests with our own food,” Mary said.
Maggie dropped the ball at my feet, and I threw it as far as I could; the excited cocker raced after it. The ball bounced off the ground and she hopped, trying to catch it in her mouth but failing. She lay down with it in the cool shade of a New Spero tree, panting heavily.
The sound of a vehicle racing down the road carried to us, dust kicking up as it drove up our driveway.
“Are you expecting anyone?” I asked Mary, who shook her head in return.
We walked around the back deck, toward the front of the house. The instant I saw Magnus, I knew something was wrong. His face was dark, a scowl shoving deep lines in his forehead.
“We heard from them. You need to come with me,” he said. Maggie barked at him and rolled at his feet, but he was too upset and focused to notice her.
Patty and the crew had made it to Earth. It had been three months. My hand shook slightly and I took a deep breath, knowing suddenly that we were going to need to move ahead with my plan. I had hoped it wouldn’t be needed.
I picked Maggie up, putting her in the car, and we jumped in. “Let’s go.”
He raced down the roads, which rarely had other cars on them out here. He took the gravel streets around the city, and in ten silent minutes, we arrived at the base. I knew better than to even ask what happened. Magnus would talk when he wanted to. I saw sweat dripping down the big guy’s brow as he pulled into a parking spot.
“You two are going to help, right?” he asked tensely.
“You know we are,” Mary said, and some of the pressure eased in Magnus, like she’d hit a relief valve on his tank.
“Good. We need you.” Magnus opened the door and we all got out, Maggie following along and looking around timidly.
The base wasn’t large. It was made up of a handful of buildings that lined the landing pad. The largest structure was the hangar, where a couple dozen ships sat idly. People moved around now, more than I’d ever seen there before. They all wore uniforms.
Magnus led us into the two-story building beside the hangar, where he and Patty had offices. We walked past their offices and into an elevator that took Magnus’ fingerprint to access. We lowered, and the doors opened to the room where Patty had shown us the footage from Terran Five.
“We’ve had a lot of messages from our ship since they left. Once every couple of their days, to be exact. The farther they get from us, the longer the messages take. Two months to arrive, and one month for that last message to arrive to us. Technically, it’s been eighty-seven days. Today, we received this message. Daniel, play it, please,” Magnus said to the white-uniformed officer at the screen controls.
A message started, sound waves dancing on the screen. A throat cleared. “We’re about to arrive and should be able to see the station around Earth in a couple of hours. Our sensors are showing activity, but…” Patty’s voice went quiet, the sound bar falling to the bottom of the screen. “God help us…they’re here…If you get…” The message ended.
“That’s it?” I asked, a cold shiver racing through my spine. God help us. They’re here.
“That’s it. We’re waiting for another transmission, but we know that message is close to a month old. Anything could have happened by now. We need to discuss options. The other Terran military bases’ leaders are coming here for a briefing in a half hour. Do we tell them about your plan?” he asked me, putting the pressure on me now.
“No. The less they know, the better.”
“Dean, I mentioned some war vessels being built. I may have left a few details out. They’re ready.”
“Ready? I thought they were just a concept. Where are they?” Mary asked, expressing the same angry tone I was feeling.
“They were in-system but far enough away, should the testing go wrong. They’re operational.” Magnus had a grim look across his tired face.
“Then send them toward Earth. We may need the backup,” Mary said. “Are they capable of FTL like our smaller ships?”
“Same drives, just scaled up for size. If anything, we can go out fighting if things go south. I suppose it’s a good thing I sent them a month after Patty and the others left,” Magnus said, his grimness transforming with a smile.
“You sly old dog!” Mary shouted happily.
“They needed to be tested anyway. What better way than in defense of Earth?” Magnus asked. “The other Terran leaders will be here soon. I’ll tell them you’re off on a mission to help our cause.”
“Are you sure we need to even mention Mary and me?” I asked.
“It’ll give them hope. We named this world New Spero. Spero means I hope, and they need it. Earth needs it. Will you stick around?” Magnus asked.
I looked over at Mary, wondering if she was ready to do our part. “Dean and I will go now. Sarlun swore he would help us if we needed it. We need it.”
“Do you have the supplies I requested ready?” I asked.
“Daniel will show you to the lockers. I got them together the minute we started this plan. Take the transport to the mountains and do what you have to do. We need to know where the Bhlat homeworld is for this to work.” Magnus sat down, playing the message again.
They’re here.
We left, making assurances we’d be back as soon as possible. I was glad Magnus was staying behind for the time being. New Spero needed him to take charge, and Nat would be furious if we took him away without her saying goodbye. I could tell from his eyes he wished he was coming with us. He’d feel more useful out in the field on a mission than behind a desk with a bunch of suits, as he’d call them.
“I wish Slate were coming with us,” Mary said. With the rest of our crew gone on the trip to Earth, it was just the two of us.
We were at the lockers, just outside the hangar, standing in our underwear. I went to the door and made sure it was locked. “Mary, I’m sorry we got sucked into this again. I wish things were different. I wish we could just have a normal life.”
She walked over to me, placing a cool hand on my stubble-covered cheek. “We’ll never have a normal life. It’s not ours anymore. We were chosen to help the Kraski get our planet, and we foiled both sides. It’s up to us to protect the people we saved.” Her lips touched mine warmly. “Let’s end this. Then, and only then, can we say the word normal again.”
“You’re right. Let’s suit up.” I slid my uniform on, noticing how nicely it fit now
that they’d taken measurements. I slung a pack over my shoulder and felt my breast pocket, where I found the Deltra portable shield Kareem had given me. It still had Bhlat DNA in it, and I expected I’d need to use it again, though a strong part of me wanted to throw it on the ground and stomp it to pieces.
“We’ll do what we need to do, together,” Mary said, reading my mind.
I just nodded, grabbed the other pack, and moved for the door.
Soon we were in the lander, Mary piloting us toward the ice-cold part of our planet, heading for a portal to multiple worlds.
THIRTEEN
The caves were just as we’d left them. We used an air horn to startle away any of the dangerous creatures hiding in the area or tunnels. Terran Five dispatch told us they hadn’t had any altercations with the animals since Magnus and Mary had rescued my sister and the others, and I hoped that meant they’d moved on in search of other food sources.
The sky was clear, and the whole area was far more beautiful to look at now than it had been while I was sick. Snow piled down in sheets from the dark sky. It reminded me of the Rockies from my ski trips, and Mary said something along the same lines.
“Last time, you left here with a wild animal bite, and I left after spending the day on a deserted alien world. What will today bring us?” I asked, adding a chuckle.
“Hopefully, right back here in an hour, with the Bhlat planet icon for your portal.”
“My portal? I don’t think it’s mine.”
“Then why did you get drawn to it?”
“I think it has to do with Mae’s blood inside me. It’s changed me…made me part Kraski…I don’t really know.”
We left the supplies we didn’t need to bring, and we each carried a pack on our backs, with our rifles held firmly in our hands.
“This way.” We entered the caves and took the path down the tunnels Slate and I had walked a short few months ago. It was all familiar, but in the way a dream was familiar. I knew the path, but if you’d asked me which directions to go before heading in, I wouldn’t have known. My feet led us to the doorway where the Shandra stood. “Here we are.” I unslung the pack and headed for the middle of the room. The large gemstone in the center of the room began to shine; the hieroglyphs on the walls shone to life in their blue luminescence.
“It’s beautiful,” Mary said, spinning to catch all the different icons on the walls. “The spacing seems off. Are some missing?” she asked. I just shrugged and walked to the table.
My blood wasn’t singing or burning this time, and my body movements were of my own volition, so I hoped I could make the stone work. The room was bathed in blue light as I touched the table. I slid my tablet out of my pack and found the data from Sarlun. A series of icons appeared on my handheld screen, and I picked the one labeled for their world.
After finding the corresponding icon on the table, I took Mary’s shaky hand and tapped the icon, which glowed bright green. Instantly, we were covered in green light.
A flurry of deep squawks came at us as the light dimmed.
“Is this it?” Mary asked me quietly.
“Yes. Turn your translator on.” I used the pad on my sleeve to turn the recently upgraded translator on. We had earpieces in and small mics at our suits’ necks that would take our words and relay them aloud in the appropriate language. After a few more squawks came to us, the translator clicked, telling me it was ready.
“Greetings. We’re here to see the Gatekeeper,” I said in English, then heard the Shimmali language emanate from my suit.
The voice had been coming from a speaker, and after a few minutes of silence, the main far doors slid open. Something was running toward us. Mary looked ready to hold her rifle up, but I set a hand on her arm.
“Suma!” I called. The short, stout alien girl ran on thick legs, approaching quickly, then stopping suddenly as she saw Mary.
“Who’s this?” she asked, her black eyes staring at Mary.
“I’m Mary Lafontaine.”
“You look funny,” the small alien said.
“This is my mate. Mary’s a human female,” I said.
Mary just smiled at this.
“What are you doing here, Dean?” she asked, her snout lifting in the air.
The deep noises of Sarlun carried down the open room. “Dean Parker. To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“We need your help.”
____________
Outside, music played in the garden, where amazing flowers and plants of all colors and sizes grew. Shimmal’s two stars burned at opposite ends of the sky, and I was sweating the instant we stepped from the cool building into the humid tropical outdoors.
The melody was soft and instrumental. Our races really weren’t that much different from each other. Other Shimmalians walked around, some wearing robes, others in uniforms. Some were in what I could only guess was loungewear, the equivalent of shorts and a tank top on Earth.
“You want to find the Bhlat homeworld? We don’t like to speak of them here. Though they are far away, the tales of their power have reached even our distant world.” Sarlun gestured with his four arms as he spoke.
“So you don’t know where they are?” I asked, feeling my hopes crumbling quickly.
“They are not on our Shandra table.”
“Does that mean they don’t have a portal?” If they didn’t have a portal, our plan was going to be almost impossible with the time crunch we were under.
“Not necessarily. The Shandra were created ages ago by the Theos, long before any races of beings lived on the worlds on which the portals existed.”
My fingers were going numb. Sweat beads ran down my back, and not just from the humidity. He was telling us a race of gods had created the portals before any of us existed. Was that possible? “How do you know this?”
“We’ve studied with dozens of other beings, compiling and contemplating religion, history, and science. This is the truth we have come to know.” Sarlun sounded sure of himself.
“Could there be worlds with portals that aren’t on the table?” Mary asked, and I chided myself for not thinking of it. It was nice to have her analytical mind around.
“Yes. We believe some have been shut off. Whether they were removed as a safety precaution, or for other reasons, stands to be seen. We believe the Deltra had something to do with it. They were always trying to get ahead of their time: a young race with highly skilled scientific minds. Last we heard, they were under the thumb of the Kraski, but if your tale is to be understood, they are gone now.”
Guilt at his casual discussion of our destruction of the Deltra aboard the Kraski mothership echoed through my body.
He continued. “If there was any hope of opening the hidden worlds from the Shandra, they would be the last resort now.” Sarlun’s black eyes stared hard into mine. He knew we’d killed the Kraski off, and most of the Deltra with them. I judged his people to be a peaceful one, but I wondered what he would do if his world was threatened. He seemed to have an understanding with me.
“The Deltra may not all be gone,” I said, watching his expression change and his snout twitch.
“Is that so?” he asked, his usual deep squawk now lighter, airier.
“Can you help me find a world on the table? I have the coordinates in here.” I pulled out my tablet with the location of the hideout planet Kareem was on.
“Come with me.”
An hour later, we were in Sarlun’s private office, which was substantially cooler than outside. Everything on this world was so cold and sterile on the surface; then you would see a splash of color and understand how much they appreciated the arts. Less is more might have been their mantra. His office was no exception: cool white walls, with one small bright piece of art in the center of each.
We stared at the star chart: a wonderful 3D hologram of the system in question appeared. The planet was highlighted, and the icon for its portal was showing on the wall screen.
“That’s it. We haven’t been there for
over a century. Last time we arrived, there was nothing but flora and some wildlife. Dangerous creatures.” Suma sat beside her dad, staring up at him as he spoke.
“Dean, where’s Slate?” Suma asked, sipping green liquid from a glass.
“He’s in danger. That’s why we’re here. All of our people are in danger.” I hoped we’d find the answers we were looking for with Kareem.
“Dad, is there anything else we can do?” she asked.
“Where was their town?” Sarlun asked.
Mary took over and directed him to the spot where we’d landed and walked to their village.
“The Shandra is not close. We’ll supply you with a few things to assist you along the way.” Sarlun hit a comm-button and started squeaking out orders, turning off his translator. “The supplies will be ready. I have something else to share with you.” He reached down, pulling out four small devices, and handed them to Mary.
“What are these?” Mary asked, carefully looking at them.
“They will allow you to communicate instantly with anyone, no matter their distance in space,” Sarlun said.
“Thank you. These will come in handy.” Mary passed one over to me, and I noticed it looked much like a cell phone, but with a clear crystal casing.
“Thank Suma. She wanted to be able to reach you.”
Suma sat in her chair, her legs hanging down, and her snout lifted slightly. “I’ll show you how it works.”
Ten minutes later, she considered us able to communicate between the devices. Once we were able to lock in her frequency so she could talk to us, she was happy we understood how to work them.
“With these, you might have an advantage against your enemy. Or they might have the same knowledge, but at least you’ll be on an even playing field.” Sarlun stood up, his large frame making the office feel small. “Whatever happens, do not utter our names to the Bhlat. We haven’t had dealings with them and would appreciate staying out of their way. We do these favors as friends, but that friendship only goes so far. We are a peaceful world.”
The Survivors: Books 1-6 Page 53
