Eventually, we entered a quiet area where no fighting was taking place. The pilot sped over the landscape toward the promenade near the entrance to the portals. Enough time had passed I knew my friends would be back home, to the caves by Terran Five. I wasn’t following.
“Rivo, I need an EVA.” Mine was stowed away in my pack at the hotel at the Peaks. It wouldn’t do me any good there.
Rivo crossed the ship to the rear, where she opened a closet. “You and my father are near the same size, even if you’re a little skinnier. Try this on.”
The suit was lightweight, top-of-the-line by all accounts, but what else could I expect from one so rich?
I hastily put it on, and Rivo cinched it at the waist for me. The boots were raised, making me six inches taller than I was.
“You can adjust the air levels here.” She showed me, and I changed them to match my own suit’s readouts.
The helmet was shaped differently from ours, but it was lighter, sleeker in design, and it connected with an energy seal. That was new. “Anything else I should know?”
“It has built-in thrusters on the back, and in the soles of the boots. The controls are here.” She pointed to them in the fingers, and it reminded me of the controls from the Kraski suits, when Mae and I had raced to tether the vessels together. The gloves stretched out a little longer than custom ones would on me, but overall, the suit fit well.
“Show me the translator,” I said, and she ran through it quickly. I connected my own earpiece to it wirelessly, since they didn’t have ears like ours.
Not many Bazarn residents or tourists would have access to the Shandra, and the promenade was nearly empty. All the normal vendors would be tucked away, seeking protection from the surrounding war zone. The pilot lowered us to the ground, where we’d come out from below ground in a transportation field.
“I want to come with you,” Rivo said urgently. She was already starting to put on an EVA.
“You can’t. I have to do this alone.” I was so close now. The pieces to the puzzle were finally falling into place, and soon I’d be able to see the big picture.
“But I can help. If you need someone to watch your back or fly a ship, I can do those things.”
She made a good point. Maybe I could use the help. “But what about your planet? Your father?”
“We’ll drive the invaders off. This isn’t the first time someone has made a play for the world.” Rivo sounded confident, but her posture belied her words. “And my father is underground with Regnig. He’ll be safe.”
I’d already sent my own friends back home to safety and suddenly wished I had one of them with me. Slate, preferably, but I’d put him through enough. As much as I appreciated everyone’s sentiments, part of me wished they’d stop volunteering for these risky missions.
“I’m sorry, Rivo. I can’t bring you where I’m going.” I felt the circular disk her father had given me, confirming it was still there.
She looked reprimanded, but she could tell I was serious. “Fine, but take this.” She ran across the space again and unlocked a compartment with a scan of her hand. She handed me a weapon – a thin gray gun – and a box, which she set into a backpack.
“The suit has stim injections if you’re hurt, as well as intravenous food. Just to be safe, take this too.” She threw in some packages from a cupboard, and some water bottles.
I’d been so tied up in getting the information and finding the Theos, I hadn’t planned on what I’d do about food. Maybe I should be taking someone like Rivo with me. Apparently, I needed to be looked after. I thanked her before I could change my mind.
The door opened, and I jumped off, my new weapon slung around my arm, my pack light on my back. “Thanks, Rivo. For everything. For getting me in with Regnig.”
“Dean, I’d either be dead on a pirate ship, or worse, still alive on a pirate ship. Anything you ever need, come to me. Good luck.” She smiled, and I found myself hoping I did see her again someday.
“Go help your planet,” I said, and she blew out a deep breath.
“I will.”
The ship’s door closed, and it lifted off, heading in the opposite direction to the one we’d come in from. There were fewer explosions in the air. Maybe an end was coming to the conflict. I hoped so, for everyone’s sake. If Lom was the one responsible for this attack, and he really was after the Shifter in my pocket, I could be in a lot of danger.
The whole promenade looked much different from when we’d first arrived. Only a couple of ships hung at the far end, likely empty. No smoke rose from the food vendors’ establishments as I raced across the grounds toward the invisible energy field. I walked toward the pillars and felt the familiar change of vibration.
I appeared on the stairs beneath the boardwalk and ran toward the portal doors. I hardly noticed the amazing surroundings as I passed a few bewildered beings, hiding out below for the battle to end. The guards were still stationed at the portal doorway, two on this side.
“Stop where you are!” one of them ordered, sticking a meaty hand out to push against my chest.
I didn’t have time or energy to argue with the guards. “I’m Dean Parker. Did Sarlun and the others travel through here?”
“Oh yes, the other Gatekeeper. I didn’t recognize you in…” His eyes widened. “In an Alton’s personal house suit. Where did you come by this?” He pushed me in the chest this time, knocking me off-balance, and I stumbled to the ground. The other guard lifted a rod in his hand, blue energy coursing through it.
Rage filled my veins. Mary needed me. The whole damned universe needed me to stop the Unwinding, and here I was being bullied by two ugly overgrown four-armed brutes. I felt my finger on the trigger before the action registered with my brain. Only at the last second did I realize what I was about to do, and I jerked my arm up, hitting the ceiling above them instead of pegging one in the head.
The gun was different from our pulse rifles. Instead of a beam cutting a hole above, a detonation blasted where it struck, and a hole five feet wide ripped open the ceiling.
Before they could react, I was up on my feet, pointing the gun between them, daring one of them to move so I could pick the other one off. “Listen to me. Garo gave this to me. He also has trusted me with something pivotal to stop the war going on out there. If you really want to piss me off, I’ll shoot you both, and tonight when I go to sleep, I’ll dream of nothing. No regrets, no blood, no violence; nothing.”
The one who’d pushed me stepped out of the way. “Why didn’t you just say so?” he asked, and the door opened beyond. Two guards inside looked ready to walk toward me, but the ones on this side waved them off.
I walked past the group of hulking guards and slid the gun back onto my shoulder. My hands shook as I lowered them to my sides, trusting I wasn’t about to get shot in the head as I made my way through the opulent room. Now that I saw it as I left, the etchings, the gold, the carvings and paintings felt nothing more than ridiculous and pretentious.
The portal table stood at the far end of the cavernous room. My boots clanked with each step against the hard stone ground. I tried to recall the symbol for Xatrin U3. The symbols on the walls lit up as I approached, glowing in multiple colors. The clear table screen shone softly, and I entered the secret code Kareem had given me when we’d returned the hybrids from the prison on Earth.
How far I’d come. Just over a month ago, my life had been great. I was married, and Mary and I were on adventures as Gatekeepers, visiting barren worlds and gathering data on them. That damned artifact. How had we even stumbled across that symbol on the ice world? It seemed too farfetched to be a coincidence. Were these two opposing races really gods of some kind? Could they pull and push others’ actions to suit their own needs?
The hidden symbols appeared, but not fully there like the others. They always stayed a little dimmer, like they were in the background of the otherwise clear screen. I sifted through them, looking for the symbol, but I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t
match it. Where was Xatrin U3, and why couldn’t I recall what it looked like? It had only been half an hour, maybe an hour since I’d seen it.
I fished out the small copier Suma gave me and found my suit had a built-in arm console. I fiddled with the device and found a way to link them together wirelessly. I tapped through the document, which organized the pages in the right order. There I found Xatrin U3 and the symbol. I looked at it. Three triangles, two wavy lines, and sun rays off the left pyramid. I went to the table to find it.
What had it looked like again? I cursed when I couldn’t remember. I found it on my arm screen but quickly forgot it. It was like something magical was wiping it from my memory as soon as I stopped looking at it. No wonder no one had been able to find their world. They’d found a way to keep it hidden. The mind couldn’t remember it, even if someone did stumble on it.
My breath quickened as I tried to figure this out. The guards at the end of the hall still watched me but were too far away to have any idea what it was I was struggling with. I was glad when neither of them came to ask if I needed assistance.
I looked around for something to write with. There was a desk nearby, along the wall, but everything was digital. No pens. No paper. Nothing to draw with.
To hell with it. I didn’t have time for this.
I kicked the wooden table. This got the guards’ attention. I looked at the image and broke the legs into a few pieces. I kept looking at the image on my arm screen while I laid out broken splinters of wood on the ground.
By now, the guards were quickly stalking toward me. I had to hurry. I looked down and saw it was close enough. Once I went to the table, I still couldn’t remember the image of the Xatrin U3 symbol, but I glanced to the floor to see three crude triangles. Bingo. As I found a symbol that closely resembled my rudimentary copy of the symbol, the guards closed in on me.
Without hesitation, I tapped the icon, and everything went white.
Twenty-Six
“WHO ENTERS OUR DOMAIN?” a voice boomed in my ears.
I was naked, floating in nothingness. A background began to spread across the blank canvas, as if I was watching an invisible artist at work. I spun with the image as it appeared, and soon I understood I was seeing my house and acreage back on New Spero. I glanced down to find Maggie sleeping beside me; the wooden deck boards were under my bare feet. When I looked up again, the picture was complete. It felt like I was home, only there was no scent, no wind, and I still had no clothes on.
“Dean,” I said quietly, answering the question before adding some volume to it. “Dean Parker.”
“WHY DO YOU ENTER OUR DOMAIN?” the voice asked, but this time, the sound came from around my house. I walked the few steps and peeked over the deck railing. I was walking toward myself, but this version of me wasn’t naked. He wore a white jumpsuit, with a gray cloak over his shoulders. He was clean-shaven, his hair shorter than I usually wore it.
“I need your help. The Iskios are back.” I followed the other me as he walked around the deck to the stairs and climbed them to meet me in front of my door. Maggie hadn’t moved yet, and I was sure she was just there as an imprint of my memory.
“Impossible. They are dead,” my alter ego said, this time at a normal pitch and in my own voice.
There we stood, two Dean Parkers, staring each other in the eyes. His were swirling radiant green orbs of energy and galaxies.
“They’ve returned.” I wanted to be as straight to the point as I could. I didn’t know how much time the Theos would give me, and I couldn’t mince words.
“How can this be? We sealed them away for eternity,” the other me said.
“They left a trap behind. We were tricked into thinking we were finding the Theos, but instead they took a vessel and have unleashed the Unwinding.” I watched as the Theos-infused version of me showed his cards. His posture changed, shoulders slumping enough to know he believed me.
“The Unwinding.” The words slipped from my doppelganger’s mouth, and the image around me began to melt. “Are you worthy, Dean Parker?”
Not this question again. I hadn’t passed it the first time.
“Worthy of what?” I asked, suddenly feeling like this wasn’t a question to answer while standing naked on my deck. The sky in the distance disappeared, leaving nothing but white light in its stead. The light continued to envelop the rest of the area. My yard, garden, driveway, all dissipated before the power of the bright light. Soon it was just me, once again floating, and facing the other me eye-to-eye.
“Worthy to be our champion?” he asked, his eyes softening.
I didn’t hesitate. I knew what I was being offered. “I am.”
“Then behold.”
I thought about it. How had no one found the Theos before? Or perhaps they had but had failed to get in. What would happen if they didn’t find me worthy? Would I just vanish within the stones?
To get here, I not only needed the code to find the hidden symbols of the mysterious Theos Collective, but I also needed to have access to Regnig and Bazarn’s concealed library. The odds were stacked against someone trying to find the Theos, but against all those difficult probabilities, I’d somehow accomplished it.
Within a single heartbeat, I found we were in a room, my clothing on me once again. I didn’t know if it was another apparition, fueled by the Theos and pushed into my head, or if it was a real space on their planet.
“Is this real?” I asked the figure before me. He had turned away, and something had changed about him. It clearly wasn’t my doppelganger any longer. This being was taller and wider than I was, but he still wore the gray cloak, covering most of his back and legs from my vantage point.
“Is anything real?” he asked back in an alien voice, no longer my own.
He slowly turned to me, and my blood ran cold. How long had it been since anyone had laid eyes on a Theos? From all of my readings, there were sightings only a few hundred years ago, but all my experience had taught me those were lies. The real Theos had been hiding away for far longer than that. Longer than most races had existed.
His cloak’s hood covered his head, but I could see the green glowing eyes beneath the shadows of the cowl. Gloved hands hung at his sides, strong powerful hands hidden under soft gray material.
“You’re real,” I found myself saying.
He laughed then, a real laugh, catching me off-guard. “Forgive me, but at times, I wasn’t so sure.” His arm reached out, tapping me on the chest. “Are you real?” He returned the question, all in my own language.
“I hope so. Otherwise, this is a very strange dream.” I smiled, even though my heart was racing as sweat dripped in long lines down my sides and back.
I finally got a look around the room. The walls were smoothed crystal; small stalactites hung from the ceiling with a green tint to them. The floor matched but was a darker tone. “Where are we?” I asked. There was furniture carved from the stone, and stone lanterns glowed along the walls, casting a colorful ambiance over everything.
“You’re at your destination.”
“Fair enough. Can you help me?”
I still couldn’t see his face, but it sounded like he sighed.
“Come, let us talk.” He led me away from the edge of the room and through an open doorway that led to a much more inviting space. Wooden floors ran in straight lines across the room. A table carved from crystal sat near what could only be a kitchen; two chairs were pushed under it. “I’ve not had guests before.”
“Then why do you have two chairs?” I instantly regretted my question. He didn’t seem to mind.
“For such an occasion.” He motioned for me to take a seat. “You can take that off, if you prefer.”
I tapped my helmet. “Are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t suggest it if I wasn’t. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have allowed you into my home.” His voice was deep, but perfect English spilled from his lips like he’d known it his whole life.
I tapped the release,
as Rivo had shown me, and removed the helmet, taking a breath of air. It was perfect – a hint of coolness to it, but refreshing, unlike what I expected from the closed-in home. I saw my own hand shaking as I set the helmet down on the wooden floor. The enormity of where I was finally settled in. I felt like a fly that could be squashed at any moment.
“Don’t be afraid. No harm will come to you here,” he said, reading my mind. “Tell me all, Dean Parker.”
“I don’t know where to begin.”
“At the start. When you became the man who sits before me. I think you know the exact moment, don’t you?” he asked, and I did.
“We don’t have much time. I need to find my wife. I need her back.”
He pulled back his hood, revealing a long face, two piercing green eyes, and a white mane of hair. He had no nose to speak of, but two nostril holes sat above gray lips; his skin was a pallid ash color. He was striking, and not at all what I expected from the ancient race.
“Here, time doesn’t exist. You are free to tell the tale as slowly as needed.”
“What then?” Would he help me? Could he even do anything? I saw a man of flesh and blood like myself.
“Then I decide if the unbalance I’ve felt is possible to fix, or if we stay here and let nature take its course,” he said. His face stayed impassive even as mine turned to a scowl.
“We can’t let it continue!” I started to shout, but he raised a long finger in the air, silencing me.
“Tell your tale.”
“You haven’t told me your name,” I said, somehow feeling this was important.
“You may call me Karo.”
It seemed too simple a name for the being across from me. I calmed, took a deep breath, and started. “The ships came at dawn…”
____________
“Clever. You are the thirtieth being to attempt to enter the portal here,” Karo said.
“Thirty! What happened to them?” I imagined them stuck forever in the nothingness.
“They were sent back, with no memory of my questions. They assume the portal is faulty and continue on with their lives.”
The Survivors: Books 1-6 Page 102
