by J. N. Chaney
Tong searched the ceiling in thought. He bit his lower lip in a very human show of concentration. “In your words, Remboshi name Mountains of Death.”
I looked over at Stacy with a deadpan expression on my face. “You hear that? Mountains of Death.”
“Why can’t they be the Mountains of Eternal Peace or the Mountains of Hope?” Stacy wondered, shaking her head. “I guess this place has it out for us every time we stop to look around.”
“Sleeping Remboshi,” Tong said, pointing to the southern portion of the map. “My people sleep here.”
“He’s pointing to that mist swamp place to the south, isn’t he?” Stacy said, shaking her head. “Of course, he is.”
I let a long exhale escape my lips. I’d never been to the mist swamp, but I remembered the story Doctor Allbright told of her escape ship landing there.
“Well, how about over here?” I asked, pointing with my finger to the opposite side of the mountains we knew nothing about. “What’s over here?”
Tong took a step back. If his face could have turned pale, I got the sense it would have. He shook his head from side to side. A mixture of fear and sadness in his eyes.
“Bad Remboshi,” Tong said. “Bad Remboshi called Rung. Rung fight my people. Rung create the Zyg. Zyg spread over planet try and kill us all.”
“Zyg?” I looked over to Stacy. “Do you think Zyg means…”
My voice trailed off. Stacy lifted a finger into the air, asking for silence. She pressed the pointer and middle finger of her opposite hand into her left ear. “Iris, can you translate the word ‘Zyg’ for us?”
“Certainly,” the Cognitive’s crisp voice came through loud and clear in my own earpiece. “A rough translation for the word Zyg in English would come back as Legion.”
“Holy bananas,” I said, piecing together the story Tong was telling us. “Tong, can you show us a picture of the Rung or of the Zyg?”
Tong nodded. He traveled over to the circular pedestal-type desk in the center of the room and placed his right hand on the stone pillar. A moment later, a holographic yellow control panel appeared in front of him.
“Hey, Iris?” I asked.
“Yes?” Iris answered.
“How come we’ve been working with Tong for a week now on communicating, and all of a sudden, today he can nearly have a conversation with us?”
“He has been showing improvement day by day. His race may learn at a different rate than we are used to,” Iris said through my earpiece. “Perhaps his kind learn through studying and thinking internally then show outward progress at once.”
“Right,” I said, gripping my blaster. I made my way with Stacy over to where Tong had activated the control section of the pillar.
“Did you know it could do that?” Stacy asked, pointing with her chin at the images popping up from the stone cylinder.
I noticed she was also holding the weapon tighter.
“Not a clue,” I said. “Tong’s been holding out on us.”
If Tong understood we were talking about him, he didn’t show it. The three fingers on each of his hands were racing across a holographic control panel. Each button on the control panel was etched in a symbol I did not understand. A wide screen appeared floating in space above us, showing an image of a Remboshi with metal pieces attached to its body.
“Rung,” Tong said, pointing to the image. “Our enemies.”
I took a closer look. The Rung were Remboshi that looked as though they had been genetically altered with technology that made them a bit larger than Tong. These guys had to be a foot taller and had used some kind of genetic enhancing.
It also seemed as though they weren’t afraid to experiment on themselves. The Rung in the picture had a left metal eye, and its right arm was completely mechanical.
Tong motioned to my ear and then again to my hand. It was something we had done in the past. He wanted to communicate with Iris.
“We can do one better for you,” I said, bringing Iris up on the smart pad I still held in my hand opposite the blaster. “Iris, Tong would like a word.”
“Certainly,” Iris said.
Tong rattled off in his language to Iris. It sounded like a series of hard clicks and hisses in my ears.
Iris answered him in his own language. She ended with, “Tong, if you want to learn English, speaking it is the fastest way to learn.”
Tong nodded then cleared his throat, or maybe he coughed; I couldn’t tell.
“Rung once part of my people,” Tong said, pointing to the picture. “Rung obsessed with enhancing body. Break off from main Remboshi clan and begin a war with my people. The Rung create the Zyg, or Iris tell me English name is Legion. Legion become self-aware, try to kill us all, Rung and my people. We hide underground and wait for Great Dawn to save us.”
Tong said this last part pointing at me with proud smile.
“What is Great Dawn?” I asked. “Why do you keep calling me that?”
“A prophecy foretold by our seer,” Tong said. “The Dawn would come once more to our planet.” He pointed to me again with a fat finger. “Humans are the Dawn. You are Great Dawn.”
“Listen, buddy, I wasn’t even supposed to come on this trip. We crash-landed here by accident,” I said, hoping he was understanding everything I was saying. “I’m not sure what this seer of yours told you, but maybe they have it wrong,” I said, shaking my head. “They had too much to drink one night and started spouting nonsense, that’s all.”
“No, you are Great Dawn,” Tong insisted, never losing that smile. “You are Great Dawn.”
“Maybe there’s a better way to go about this,” Stacy stepped in. “Tong, why do you think Dean is this Great Dawn?”
“You all Children of the Dawn,” Tong said with a sharp click of his teeth. “Dean is Great Dawn.”
“Yes, but how do you know Dean is the Great Dawn?” Stacy asked again.
Something must have clicked because Tong’s eyes widened and he went back to his control panel, bringing up another image on the screen above us.
“No freaking way,” I muttered, my voice barely a whisper. “How is that even possible?”
Stacy almost dropped her rifle.
It was a symbol. The same symbol I wore on the medallion hanging from my necklace.
2
I paced up and down the tent erected for Arun to use as an office. It was stationed against the open side of the Orion, the greatest scientific feat of engineering, which had come crashing down, thanks to the hate of a few extremists calling themselves the Disciples.
Now the Orion was nothing more than a massive ball that had been cut down the center. It rested on its side, exposed for the alien world to see. A wall had been erected around the open back half of the Orion.
The wall itself was two stories tall with a catwalk ringing the inside. A pair of watch towers were now under construction on either side of the massive gate that allowed survivors access.
Inside the wall was a city of tents. Those who didn’t want to have to live their lives in the sideways Orion made a home for themselves here. They used the pop-up shelters and tents the ship had carried here.
Each seed ship held enough shelter, food stocks, and supplies for a colony of one hundred thousand. Although half the vessel and many of its supplies had been lost in the crash, we had more than enough. There were only a few thousand of us now.
“Will you stop walking around like that? You’re making me nervous,” Arun told me without looking up from her smart pad. “It’s not going to help.”
“How is that even possible?” I asked, stopping myself from turning in her tent, only to walk down the short diameter of her office again. “I mean, that’s not a coincidence. That symbol is exactly like mine.”
Arun Drake massaged her temples. As an Eternal, her white skin and hair clearly set her apart. The grey uniform she wore was almost laughable under the circumstances, but I got that she still wanted to give the survivors a sense of order. They needed that m
uch right now. It was the uniform the officers aboard the Orion were required to wear, a symbol of order.
“I wish I had more answers for you, Dean,” Arun said with a weary sigh. She exhaled slowly. “The fact is, I don’t. If everything Tong is telling us is true, we have a much larger problem. Legion nearly wiped his people out the first time. What do you think he’s going to do to us?”
“Yeah, and that’s why you have got to tell the people out there what we’re dealing with,” I argued. I didn’t realize how strongly I felt about the subject until now. “You have to tell them everything. How this was no accident, about Legion and about the freaking lizard man we found.”
Anger flashed in Arun’s eyes. She stared at me with those cold blue irises of hers. I stared right back.
She knew I was right. That was probably why she broke off her stare first.
“I just wanted to give these people a better life,” Arun said, slumping in her seat. “I just wanted to give them something more, and now look at us. Some kind of viral weapon to the north that’s self-aware and aliens to the east.”
“Don’t forget about whatever is in the mist to the south,” I reminded her. “Whatever’s in there is creepy too.”
Arun gave me a deadpan stare.
“I wish I had more answers for you.” I repeated back her own words to me. “But right now, we have to share the information we have and come up with a solid game plan.”
Arun chewed at the inside of her cheek.
We heard footfalls on the other side of the tent flap then a familiar voice. “Is this a bad time?”
“No, Elon,” Arun said to her brother. “Come in. Dean was just telling me what I already know I have to do. I’m just sitting here like a stubborn child, not wanting to do it.”
Elon opened the tent flap and stepped inside. Like his sister, his snow-white skin and hair gave him away as an Eternal. The limp he walked with from the injury he sustained in the crash was completely gone.
I still marveled at the regeneration ability the Eternals possessed. Elon lost his entire leg in the crash, only to have it regenerate as good as new.
“I’m going to tell the survivors everything,” Arun said as if she were confessing to her brother. “I just wanted the walls up around us to give them a sense of safety before I snuff out what little hope they have. I just wanted to give them something to hold on to.”
Elon looked to me.
I shrugged.
“Did you do this?” he asked. “I’ve been trying to get her to tell everyone what happened since we crashed.”
“I think Tong got to her,” I said, fingering the medallion that hung off my neck. My thumb ran over the familiar grooves of the symbol. Two swords pointing away from one another, one thicker sword in the center with a circle around the blade. “With more questions than answers being posed, we need to tell people what we do know.”
“Well, at least we know what Legion is now and how it was created,” Elon said, scratching at the back of his head. “A weapon made by the Remboshi separatists that has gone rogue.”
“Now we need to know how to kill it,” I added.
“We have defenses, water, and food.” Arun sat straight back into her chair. The leader who had seen us through this was back again. I could see the fire in her blue eyes once more. “We have long-range scanners up and running. Thanks to you two and the expedition team you went out with, we even have a means of transportation and armor. What we need now is to find out what happened to our other expeditionary force.”
“And kill Legion,” I added. “You didn’t see it up close like Elon and me. The longer we allow it to spread to survivors and animals, the harder it is going to be to put it down for good.”
“Yes, of course,” Arun said, drumming the tips of her fingers against the desk top in front of her.
“I came to let you know that I installed a hard light emitter in the chamber where we found Tong,” Elon told his sister. “Now no one has to stay with him. Iris will be able to keep tabs on him and let us know if he needs anything.”
“Thank you,” Arun said, standing from her desk. “Well, let’s call an assembly.”
“You’re going to tell them now?” I asked, surprised.
“Better to get it over with and have the truth out in the open,” Arun said, shaking her head. “We have to tell them for their own safety now. I can’t have our people stumbling across the infected or running scared for their lives if they happen to get a glimpse of Tong somehow.”
“You’re doing the right thing,” Elon assured his sister.
“So, you keep telling me. Iris, can you call an assembly in the courtyard, please?” Arun asked the Cognitive. “Say, ten minutes?”
“Of course,” Iris said in all of our earpieces.
A moment later, I was striding alongside Arun and Elon as we moved through the tent city. The Orion itself acted as our backbone with the walls forming a large U-shape around the exposed end of the hull.
“Colonists of the Orion,” Iris’ familiar voice boomed through speakers erected both on the wall and on the exposed interior. “Please gather in the courtyard inside of the gates in ten minutes. There will be a short meeting to take place. Thank you.”
People hurried to finish their tasks around the tent area. Those who spotted our group gave us quizzical looks before hurrying on.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Ricky’s familiar voice found us as we walked toward the main gates. “Something wrong?”
“Why would you think that?” Elon asked him.
“Because there’s always something wrong,” Ricky said with a weary shake of his head.
“He’s not far from the truth,” Arun commented dryly.
Ricky knew about everything from the Disciples sabotaging the Orion to Legion and Tong. I found myself grateful to have a sounding board and a friend in Ricky. I should probably tell him that one day.
“Arun’s going to spill the beans,” I told him.
“All the beans?” Ricky asked, keeping stride with us. “Like the whole pot?”
“The whole pot,” I confirmed.
Ricky whistled low under his breath.
We finished winding our way through the encampment, past the cafeteria tents and the housing tents, all of which were the same dark green color. It was nearing midday; as such, the twin suns beat down on our heads.
Survivors looking forward to their midday meals were eager to find out why a meeting was being called instead.
We arrived at the main gates. They were two massive sheets of welded steel held shut by a series of tight-fitting chains.
Boss Creed led the mechanics working on the project. His broad back labored over a particularly heavy piece of metal. I had come to think of the man more as a friend than a former boss.
What’s gotten into you? I asked myself. Calling people friends now. You’re getting soft.
I thought back to the very real idea that there was a change taking place inside of me. Instead of trying to figure that out, I jogged over to where Boss Creed strained with the piece of steel to lend a hand.
The support beam was large enough for a three-man job, but Boss Creed was somehow managing to maneuver it on his own.
“Here, let me help. Can’t have you throwing out a hip on us,” I said as I leaned down and grabbed one end of the steel beam. The metal had been shaded by the wall. It felt cool in my hands, a welcome feeling from the warmth the suns brought.
“I’m not going to argue with you there.” Boss Creed gave me a wide grin. Tiny rivers of sweat dripped down his forehead. “I heard the notice Iris blared out over the speakers. I just need to get this on the frame, then I’ll come over too.”
I hefted my side, walking over the piece of unforgiving steel to the base of the left watch tower.
Boss Creed grunted as we heaved it into two rungs, then wiped a forearm across his brow.
He looked like he wanted to say something then thought better of it and grabbed a container of water res
ting by his feet.
“You have nightmares about them too?” I asked, reading his thoughts. I lowered my voice. There was no reason to get anyone else panicked. They would be worried enough once Arun made her announcement.
“Every time I close my eyes,” Boss Creed said. “I see them running at us, tearing Mark apart, ripping Tom right off the crawler. People need to know.”
“They’re about to,” I said, nodding over to where a large throng of survivors waited to hear what Arun had to say.
Someone brought a chair for Arun to stand on. Arun’s voice was loud enough to carry.
“I’m going to keep this short and straight to the point,” Arun began. There was no look of weariness in her eyes now, no remaining vestige of the slumped-over leader she had been in her tent. “Dealing with the events in the crash has been more than anyone should have to go through. You have all come together. We now have water, food, shelter, and even a wall.”
“Yeah!”
“Together!”
“That’s right!”
Shouts came from the crowd along with claps and cheers.
“Whatever comes our way, we will overcome together,” Arun continued after the cheers died away. “I know you realize this and that is why I feel comfortable telling you what we’ve discovered. The Orion did not fail from any faulty manufacturing. The terrorist group known as the Disciples planted operatives on the ship and blew it from space.”
The crowd silenced as they processed the information. There were murmurs as the survivors looked to one another for a consensus as to how they should feel.
“Apart from this, we have discovered a virus that is infecting survivors and changing them,” Arun went on, sweeping her gaze over the crowd. Seemingly bolstered by her own words, she continued. “The virus takes all rational thought from them and causes them to become violent. We’re still understanding this ourselves, but the signs of those infected are a black substance like oil that comes from their orifices.”
I felt my gut twist deep inside my stomach. I knew what was about to come next.
“Lastly, we discovered an alien structure on the planet and an intelligent alien species inside,” Arun continued. “Again, we are gathering information, but the alien does not mean us any harm.”
