I nodded.
“Do you understand?” He stood straight, towering over me, his face grim.
I stepped back from the threat and answered him properly. “Yes, sir. I do.”
“This information isn’t even known by modern Gatekeepers,” he said, quietly locking eyes with me.
Gatekeepers. I mouthed the word, my lips sticking together as everything suddenly went dry.
The table screen showed the icons I was familiar with, but Kareem directed me to scroll to the left now. I did, and red icons appeared, each with their own unique symbol.
“If you type your code in, you can access information on each world.” He had me tap it, and then the icon for the first red one. What had to be a hundred language options appeared, and he showed me how to access English.
Trellion: Class three ice planet. Life forms: Core-dwelling bipedal. Intelligent.
The details went on for pages, and under different circumstances, I could have spent days reading about other worlds and learning why some were hidden over others. I thought back to the huge drilling ships we’d seen entering Earth’s atmosphere hours ago and knew I didn’t have time for that now.
“Where are the Bhlat?”
“They are here.” He had me scroll to the next page, pointing it out in the second row. “They live on multiple worlds now, but this is their homeworld, where their royalty lives.” Kareem let out a series of coughs, doubling over on the table. I lowered him to the ground, worried when he couldn’t seem to catch his breath.
“We have to get you back,” I said, reaching for the device.
“No. Let me die here. It would be an honor to die among the gods.” He coughed again, blood dripping from his chin. His skin was clammy, and he lay himself down on the stone floor. His breathing was ragged, and he closed his eyes between his hacking bouts. “Dean. This is your destiny. From the day you stepped foot in that restaurant in Central Park, you’ve been on a course. This is where you were meant to end up. Be the man I see you are. Change…the universe.” His words came out slowly, between breaths, and then it was over. His chest stopped rising and falling, and I sat there holding his thin hand as the last breath left his ailing lungs.
Change the universe.
TWENTY-ONE
“Thank you for following through on your word,” Leslie said, giving us each a hug. The normally cranky hybrid woman was in high spirits, having her friends back. The rescued hybrids were doing well, their ailments fixed and their body weights rising. We’d said goodbye to them before Terrance gathered us to fly us down to the portal.
“Look us up if you ever need anything.” This from Terrance.
“We will. You two take care of the others,” Magnus said with a wink. “And each other.”
The two of them looked at one another and smiled.
We left them behind, just the three of us on our way to another impossible mission.
“After it’s all said and done, I don’t mind those two,” Magnus said.
“You weren’t the one chasing them around on a fool’s errand,” Mary said, mirroring my own thoughts.
Soon we were back in the portal room, where Kareem’s body still lay. Some of his people had covered him with a veil, and a glowing shield surrounded him so he wouldn’t be tampered with. Mary looked at him uneasily, as if he would rise from the dead and walk toward us with his white sheet covering him. We were told the shield would prevent his body traveling with the portal.
“Time to get back to New Spero,” I said, scrolling to the right icon. The walls were glowing when I tapped the symbol for our destination, and when I opened my eyes, we were back in the mountainside portal room near Terran Five. I slid out the relocating device Kareem had gifted me and added this location into it. It would be a time-saver to be able to travel right here from Terran One later.
As soon as we got out of the tunnels and into the transport ship, exhaustion took over. We’d been up for a long time and needed to sleep before we took the next step. Running around alien worlds half asleep wasn’t going to do anything but get us killed.
My eyes fell closed, and as we took off for Terran One, I turned to a light sleep. Dreams of Kareem dying, of the dirty Siberian prison, and the impending trip to the Bhlat world hit me as my subconscious took over. In one of the visions, Mary ended up dying. It was a terrible glimpse into a potential future I was going to make sure didn’t happen.
When I woke, Mary’s head was leaned against my shoulder. Magnus was in the front piloting us safely back to the landing pad at the home base. It was dark outside, a cloud-covered night sky casting an unusual blackness to the surroundings. I woke Mary and hesitantly stepped down out of the comfort of the transport’s cab.
It was nighttime on New Spero, but that didn’t stop the base from being a bustle of activity.
“General, are we ever glad to see you back in one piece. Unless something happened, our fleet is due to arrive at Earth in less than two days,” a breathless uniformed officer said.
“Anything else, Tucker?” Magnus asked. He looked like he was almost asleep on his feet.
“One of our transport vessels went missing this morning,” Tucker said.
“Can’t you track it?”
The man shook his head. “The tracking was cut off. The culprit knew what they were doing.”
“Probably some kids going for a joyride. If nothing else is urgently needed, restock our supplies and charge our weapons. We leave at first light. Mary, Dean, are we good with that?” Magnus asked us. He was using his take-charge “general” voice.
“Yes, sir.” Tucker turned around and left at a brisk walk.
“You two want to go home for a few hours?” This from Magnus.
Mary nodded, and I knew Magnus was aching to see his family. I tapped the base location into the Relocator before we left. Then we were heading back down the dirt roads that had led us away from our house just a couple of days ago. So much had happened since then, and the weight of it all pressed on my temples as my head pounded.
Our house appeared, and we told Magnus we’d see him in a few hours.
“Say hi to Nat for us,” Mary said. “And Magnus?”
“Yeah?”
“Get some sleep. We need to be on our toes for this to work,” she finished.
He threw the Jeep in reverse and left us standing in front of our house in the dark.
Mary’s hand slipped into mine, assuredly squeezing my fingers. It was her way of telling me everything was going to work out, without saying it.
In less than ten minutes, we were both showered, hair still wet as we crawled into bed. The pillow felt like heaven as my head hit it, and I only had enough time to tell Mary I loved her before drifting off into a deep sleep.
____________
Dreams riddled my sleep, and I tossed and turned as I future-projected our upcoming day. Every way I saw it, Mary ended up dead. In one of the dreams, I saw us walking fictitious streets on the Bhlat world, and I walked into a house where a thin woman lay on a bed. My old bed. The one I’d shared with Janine. Only it was Mary coughing up blood. She looked at me with sad eyes. “When the ships come…wear the necklace.”
I woke in a pool of sweat, fumbling for my neck, where the chain still hung after all this time. Mary was still sleeping soundly beside me, and I leaned in, kissing her cheek lightly. I couldn’t let anything happen to her, and while I knew it was my subconscious worrying, my gut told me she couldn’t come to the Bhlat world with me. I needed to do this by myself.
The floor was cold to the touch as my bare feet hit it. I nearly tripped over the pants I’d left on the floor, and I snatched them up, careful to not let the belt jangle.
I fumbled in the closet, found a long-sleeved shirt of an unknown color, and walked to the hallway with the clothes. Once dressed, I made for the kitchen, where a notepad sat beside a pen. Mary’s gardening notes were listed on the first few pages, and I ripped a blank page out from the middle.
Mary was going
to be pissed with me, but I felt like there was no choice. Our fleet was arriving soon, and bringing in a half-dozen war machines wasn’t going to end well. We needed to beat them to the punch and use the warships only as backup.
My thoughts swung to my friends: Slate, Clare, and Nick, alongside Patty. They were up there with the Bhlat. I had no idea if they were alive or dead, and the irrational part of my brain blamed myself for not going with them, for somehow not protecting them from the Bhlat when I clearly couldn’t have changed the outcome.
After a brief stop in the safe under the living room floorboards, I took inventory. I had the small Kalentrek with the Bhlat DNA spec still loaded into it; the communicators that allowed us to talk in real time over any distance; and the Relocator Kareem had just given me. I could do this job by myself.
I scrawled out a long note on the paper, my hand cramping from the frantic writing by the end of the message. They had a big part to do, and I’d do mine. We’d reconvene when it was all over. One of the communicators sat on the counter beside the note.
When I was satisfied I had the plan relayed properly, I snuck back down the hall and gently pushed the bedroom door open. Soft light from the kitchen wound its way into the room, and I watched Mary as she slept, her chest rising and falling in even movements. I wanted nothing more than to just get back into bed, stick my head under the pillow, and let someone else deal with the second invasion of Earth, but I couldn’t.
“Dean. This is your destiny.” Kareem’s words echoed through my head.
I made a silent promise to my fiancée that I’d be back. That we’d have the wedding we both wanted, surrounded by our friends and family. That the threat would be ended in a day’s time.
With that done, I turned, leaving the door open a crack, and walked out onto the porch with my supplies.
The air was crisp as the sun began to rise over the distant horizon. Alien insects called to each other as the world around me woke for another morning. I took a deep breath in, letting my body revel in the fresh air, the freedom, and the feeling of home. Then I pressed the Relocator button.
TWENTY-TWO
I appeared at the base in a split second, the energy still tingling through me. I could get used to travelling so quickly but didn’t want to know what was actually happening to my molecules as I did so. People were moving around in the early hour; a group of trainees ran laps around the landing pad near where I appeared. I ducked and took cover beside a large-wheeled vehicle.
Clare had told me about some prototype uniforms that used the cloaking technology, and I needed every advantage I could get. I headed past a couple of buildings, careful to not be spotted. I knew there would be cameras on me, but hopefully, I’d be long gone before anyone spotted me creeping around on them.
The engineering building Clare had been so excited to show me before she left was to the side; I ran to it, and a locked door greeted me. I took out the keycard Magnus had given me, hoping it had clearance for the research and development areas. The light went green as the card slid, and I breathed a sigh of relief, pushing the door open.
The room was dark, but soft lights came on as I entered. She’d shown me the cloaks at the far end of the room, and I found them hanging on the wall, right where I’d seen them before. I lined one up against my body. Too long. The next one looked a better size, and I slipped into it, finding it to be manageable. It covered my boots and hands, with built-in grips on the soles of the clothing, and gloves for the hands.
All of it was covered in the newly upgraded cloaking material. It was lighter than I’d expected, and I pulled the hood up, then faced the nearby mirror. Remembering Clare telling me the on/off control was in the glove, I tapped my thumb and pinky together, feeling a light energy cover me. When I looked into the mirror, I could see the room behind me, but only a faint glimmer of a body was visible, and only if you knew what you were looking for. I stuffed one of the large ones in a pack I’d grabbed on my way in.
With the new suit on, I left the building, heading for the transport vessel where Magnus had told Tucker to leave our supplies. If Mary woke up and saw my note, they’d be on their way, so I had to hurry. Avoiding a few officers walking from building to building, I snuck over to the landing pad where our ship was sitting, ready to carry us to the portal caves.
Beside it three bags sat, one with pulse rifles and other assorted weapons. One had food and survival supplies, and the last had the EVA suits. I took what I needed, shoved them into my bag, and ducked behind the transport, leaving it between myself and the base buildings.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the Relocator and tapped it until I found the coordinates from the portal region by Terran Five. With a deep breath, I hit the icon and felt the energy spin around and then through me. When it stopped, I was outside the portal room. Before anything, I took a long drink of water and ate an energy ball from the rations. It tasted like mud but filled my stomach enough to stop the growling. I slid the cloak off and put on the thin EVA suit and clasped the helmet onto it. The oxygen from it cleared my tired head enough to make me feel temporarily rejuvenated.
I grabbed one of the hover scooters Mary and I had stowed away, then entered the portal room.
As I threw the cloak back on over the EVA, something made a noise nearby. It could have been a footstep or a rock falling from a wall. With a quick glance, I saw nothing out of the ordinary, so I moved to the middle of the room, where the once dormant gemstone began to glow.
“Here goes nothing.”
I followed the instructions Kareem had given me, thankful I had been able to memorize the intricacies in a short amount of time. There was no one to ask now that he was dead. The red worlds’ symbols appeared, and I found the one for the Bhlat home planet.
Before I pressed it, I took the time to read the few details they had stored into the system about the world. Not much of it was useful, but it did say the locals didn’t know of the portal’s existence, at least not at the time of the entry. A lot could have changed since then. There were a lot of warnings on the Bhlat. It said they were conquerors, always seeking out expansion of their colonies, often resulting in the extinction of worlds. The phrase hit me like a ton of bricks. The flying drills I’d seen coming down on Earth were what the notes spoke of. Earth was about to be eradicated. Time was running out.
I checked the seal on my EVA. When I saw the green light, I sat on my hover scooter and fastened the supply bag to it, keeping my rifle in my hand.
I pressed the icon and was bathed in light, hoping there were no long-term implications of using the portal so often over a short period of time. They were becoming an integral part of my unwanted adventures, and my tired body wished I’d give it a rest for a while.
My internal battle within my mind paused when the light ceased, and I saw someone in the room with me. How did they know I was coming? My rifle came up lightning fast, and I felt my finger brush the trigger.
“Don’t shoot!” a voice called in frightened English.
I lowered the rifle just enough to get a good look at the man, and he fell to the ground, rolled into a ball. He just kept repeating “Don’t shoot” over and over.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked him.
“My name’s Leonard Birkhower, sir. Don’t shoot.”
Leonard? “Wait, the Leonard who does the Survivors comic series?”
He moved his arms from covering his helmet in a futile attempt to stop my pulse rifle from killing him. “You know of me?” He grinned from ear to ear, and I almost laughed at how silly this young man with thick black glasses looked on the ground covered in dust.
I reached down, and he gripped my outstretched hand with a sweaty palm. “What are you doing here?”
“And miss out a chance to see Dean Parker kick bad guy ass?”
“You do realize I could get killed here?”
“Not you. You’re invincible.”
“Kid, this isn’t a comic book. I’m just a man like you.”
Who was this guy, and why was I feeling bad for him? He very well could get me killed. Of all the people I wanted to have beside me on the dangerous world full of Bhlat, Leonard the comic book artist wasn’t one of them. I mentally chided myself for not searching the room better before hitting the icon.
“Regardless, how did you get here?” I asked, my patience beginning to wear thin.
“I was at the base. One of my buddies is a custodian there. We drink beer and shoot rocks in the hills sometimes.”
“This buddy wouldn’t be where you’re getting top secret information about us, would it?” I thought of the issues I’d seen that touched a little too close to the truth.
He turned red and averted his eyes from my gaze. “Maybe. Your stories are too awesome to keep away from the public. We all need to know what really went down. You’re heroes, and we all need to look up to you guys. You give us hope. You think it’s easy moving away from Earth after seeing your family die on those vessels? Some of us have nothing else.” His pitch was rising, and I had the urge to give the kid a hug, but I needed to play hardball.
“How did you get here?”
“Jeb gave me a suit and showed me how to use it.” He flipped a switch; when he spoke again, a series of Deltra words echoed his speech.
“Enough of that. He knew where the portal was?”
“Is that what you call it? Of course, it makes sense. Yeah, he overheard the general talking with Tucker.”
We would have to take precautions now that the location of it was out there. People traveling to other worlds would bring a lot of issues.
“You can’t stay here. I have to bring you home.” I started to use the console to find New Spero’s portal symbol. For the first time, I looked around the room. It was much the same as the rest of them, but years of disuse showed. The ground was covered in a thick dirt layer, cobwebs hanging in all nooks and crannies. I wondered how far underground we were, and how far from a city we would be. The four corners had the columns like the other rooms had.
The Survivors: Books 1-6 Page 59
